As election season picks up, so does the negativity. One of the ways voters see this is in opposition research, or gathering and sharing negative news on candidates. So how does this world work? And how is it changing politics in Wisconsin?
In the state’s gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Joel Brennan recently did oppo research on himself and shared it publicly.
“I will tell you that every candidate who is in this race, if they tell you they haven't done any research into themselves, they're either the most naive candidate ever to run for office or they're not telling you the truth,” says Brennan.
Joel Brennan, who is relatively new to politics, says it’s important to know what’s out there about yourself. What are your strengths? Weaknesses? What could be the pitfalls to your candidacy?
“You pay an expert to go out and see what is publicly available on you, and you have them put all that together and you live with what the results are.”
He said his consultants called it one of the most boring reports they’ve ever seen. And it’s true, there’s not much there to critique. But as we ramp up to election season, we’re seeing more and more oppo research on candidates, especially those running for governor. Reports like Francesca Hong’s now paid credit card debt, or Sara Rodriguez’s flubbed financial reports.
“Self-opposition, you know, proactive or counter intelligence research is really effective,” says Wes Anderson, founder of Reveille Advisors. “It's something that I recommend any client we work with engages in.”
Anderson and Reveille are a private intelligence firm and will put together oppo research for any party. But that’s not all they do. They also gather intelligence for corporations, individuals and help with PR. Basically, they have a skill set that’s customizable. But a lot of what they do is dig, and they do it in a couple of ways.
“Open source intelligence is anchored on public records, property records, corporate and business filings, campaign contributions, social media, news mentions, basically everything,” Anderson says.
This is what a lot of oppo research is based around – what can we find out that’s public record? But the recent cautionary tale from Maine’s senate race included a different kind of intelligence. This is where women came forth accusing Democratic nominee Graham Platner of abuse and misconduct. Anderson calls this human intelligence.
“HUM-INT and that stuff that you gather by working relationships,” he says, “following leads. Very similar to an investigative journalist.”
Anderson says a lot of people might think of oppo research as back channel and shady.
“That absolutely exists,” says Anderson. “You can Google shadowy firms and you can find them. But that's not what the industry is as a whole.”
When Reveille starts working with a client, Anderson says they lead with their ethics policy. All the things they will and won’t do.
“If someone needs to be brought to task for their actual behavior that has a paper trail and votes and records and paying contributions that support a perspective, we're fine with showcasing that and letting the reader and or law enforcement agency, public institution news outlet do their dissemination and due diligence.”
Brandon Weathersby, communications director from American Bridge and he says there are other misconceptions to working in oppo research.
“You know, [like] oppo research is primarily these large smoking guns of extreme scandal,” Weathersby says. “But the bread and butter again is just a lot of what Republicans say and do in public. And what they say and do behind closed doors as well.”
American Bridge is one of the largest oppo research firms nationally. Weathersby says oppo research is changing. Speed is everything. There’s no perfect gotcha moment because you’re always building a dossier.
And with younger candidates, so much of their lives are online. Which can be a problem.
“We are seeing a lot more social media mining happening, digging up old posts or videos and things like that. And I don't think that's going to stop,” Weathersby says. “And, I do think you're going to see a lot more AI integration.”
A political strategist told me that the world of oppo research in Wisconsin is different because even as big as the state is, politically, it’s incestuous. Their word. But it’s a smaller political pool. For new political candidates like Joel Brennan, oppo research is a way to get in front of a potential case of buyers remorse like in Maine. And he says it is inevitable in this world.
“We should be in a position to know who we're voting for and not be in a position where people are hoping that the bad stuff about them never comes out,” Brennan says. “It’s better to know.”
