Digital Dialogues: Political Texting in 2024

With at least 25 billion political text messages projected to be sent between now and election day, texting ecosystem partners must work together to navigate the intricacies of texting in our modern, AI-filled landscape.

Last month at the annual Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) of the Americas conference, our Founder & CEO, Thomas Peters, shared insights into the critical role of text messaging in political campaigns in 2024 on a panel titled "Digital Dialogues: Political Texting in 2024."

This session, moderated by David Diggs with co-panelists Krishna Ghodiwala, Anna Quint, and Jonathan Vimont, delved deep into the intricacies of political texting in 2024. 

Overview 

Anna Quint, the Executive Director of Campaign Verify, shared crucial statistics and information to frame the issue and give the audience a solid foundation leading into the rest of the discussion.

Political organizations use three main channels to send text messages: short code, toll-free, and 10DLC. Short code texting, which utilizes five-digit numbers,  is the leading solution for high-volume texting utilized by large-scale Federal and state-wide campaigns. Toll-free allows access to 8XX numbers and has seen significant adoption by all types of campaigns. Lastly, 10DLC, which utilizes numbers with local area codes,  is the most utilized and scalable solution for campaigns up and down the ballot. 

Later in the discussion, Thomas shared a crucial statistic that became the headline for MEF's Event Roundup article on the panel —texting volume in 2024 will easily be 50% bigger than in 2022 when 16 billion political text messages were sent. So, he will not be surprised if we surpassed 25 billion political messages between now and November 5th.

"I would be surprised if we didn't at least reach 25 billion political messages, on both sides, between now and November 5th of this year."

-Thomas Peters, RumbleUp Founder & CEO

Navigating Legal Guidelines and Compliance in 2024

Navigating the legal frameworks governing text messaging in political campaigns is complex and challenging. Jonathan Vimont, the Director of North America Messaging at Sinch, stated that the goal is to have a common repository of essential information written in a digestible format that all direct connect aggregators like Sinch can point all campaign service provider (CSP) partners in the space to, enabling clear onboarding of new texting traffic.

However, this resource still needs to be created, so it is up to the aggregators and their downstream partners to stay informed about applicable laws and regulations to help their political campaign clients avoid potential pitfalls associated with non-compliance.

Thomas and Krishna Ghodiwala, founding partner at Message Digital representing the Democratic & Liberal side texting on the panel, both echoed this sentiment of the need for a unified place where changes in political texting policy are posted with an anecdote of the change in policy last year for ActBlue and WinRed donation pages that took weeks to release to the public. 

Those with close connections to the top of the ecosystem, like Thomas and Krishna, get accurate answers for their clients more quickly than those working in a silo who are more prone to spread outdated or false information inadvertently.

Organizations like Campaign Verify recognize this dynamic in the ecosystem, and their advisory boards are working hard to solidify communications and reward good actors in the ecosystem.

AI in Texting

Early in the discussion, Thomas recognized that campaigns have already and will likely readily adopt AI because they have to be highly innovative to maximize their resources and increase ROI.

Krishna noted, "this is going to be our first election with AI at the forefront. Messaging is not exempt from that. We need to make sure that we're working with good actors who are not sending misinformation." 

Despite AI being "the wild west," as Thomas so eloquently put it, both political campaigns and political software are enabling its use, which can be "very dangerous without guardrails."

That being said, AI has proven to be a massive time saver when used ethically for campaigns of all sizes. We have incorporated AI in our software with our AI Assist message writing tool while barring third-party AI tool access to be piped into our platform.  

“We’ve used AI to positively leverage campaign time so that they can send better messages with less time investment”

-Thomas Peters

Bottom Line

The MEF panel on "Digital Dialogues: Political Texting in 2024" underscored the critical role of text messaging in modern political campaigns. At RumbleUp, we remain committed to providing campaigns with the tools and resources they need to navigate the complexities of text messaging while upholding the highest standards of ethics and integrity. 

As we look to the future of political campaigning, text messaging will continue to play a central role in connecting candidates with voters. With RumbleUp, campaigns can leverage the power of text messaging while staying compliant and driving meaningful engagement.

Want to join us in revolutionizing political communication and shaping the future of democracy? Text or call our expert team at (833) 530-4400 or email sales@rumbleup.com to learn how we can help you start texting today.