Cygnal Pulse Podcast

Cygnal’s Director of Research & Analysis, Victoria Waddail, joins Brent to kick off this episode.
Victoria joined Cygnal along with the team from Harper Polling in September. They discuss how Republicans can get back on track in rebuilding the Republican coalition – It comes down to principles.

Our guest this week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 19) is Wesley Donehue, CEO of Push Digital. A difficult childhood led him into the world of politics seeking a way to change things for the good. A political consultant, digital marketer, and investor, Wesley has served as a digital advisor for numerous campaigns including Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Tom Cotton, Senator David Perdue, Senator Marco Rubio, Congressman Trey Gowdy and more candidates, PACs and issue advocacy groups than we can count. He has advised numerous corporations on branding and/or crisis communication including SeaWorld, Kmart, Sears and HSN.

Our guest this week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 18) is Eric Wilson, managing partner of the Startup Caucus, an incubator and investment fund for Republican campaign technology. As a part of the Startup Caucus, he is involved in the Center of Campaign Innovation. In 2016, Eric led Marco Rubio’s digital team during his campaign for president. He later served as digital director of Ed Gillespie’s campaign for Virginia Governor in 2017. Eric was also a digital strategy advisor for NRSC in 2016 and the Liberal Party of Australia.

Kicking off the episode, Chris Kratzer, Cygnal’s VP of Research & Analysis and Matt Hubbard, Cygnal’s VP of Data & Analytics discuss their favorite subject - GOOD polling. They talk about what goes into making a good poll and what Cygnal is doing to ensure they’re producing the most accurate polls in the industry.

Our guest this week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 17) is Jay Walker, Executive Director of the Georgia House Republican Caucus and political consultant. In 2020, Republicans kept their majority for the Georgia House of Representatives with all 180 seats in the chamber up for election in 2020. Ceding only two seats, the Republican Party ended up with a 103-77 majority. Inspired by Ronald Reagan, Jay got into politics to keep the conservative movement and ideals alive and moving forward.

Kicking off the episode, Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer discuss a new Cygnal service the team has been working on for quite some time that will change the way you get data called District and Issue Tracking (DIT). DIT provides a topline level look at what is happening in each state legislative district without polling each district which would be extremely expensive, time-consuming, and in some cases impossible. Yet again, Cyngal is at the forefront of disrupting the world of polling and data.

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 16) is our first Pulse Pod of the year. Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer discuss what they see changing for lobbyists and public affairs practitioners as their interactions with legislatures this year will be significantly limited due to the ongoing pandemic. Polling will be more important than ever during this year’s legislative sessions.

Our guest is Parker Poling, Executive Director of the NRCC. Under her leadership, the NRCC came through one of the biggest upset cycles both winning seats and having no losses by incumbents. An argument over the New Deal with a high school teacher sparked Parker’s interest in politics; the rest, as they say, is history

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 15), Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer take a break from talking about politics. Instead, they discuss the importance of reflecting on the past year and planning for the year ahead.

Our guest is Eric Hollander, a GOP Operative, who just successfully managed Darrell Issa’s comeback bid in California. Eric also managed Ted Cruz’s reelection in 2018. Eric was working in sports broadcasting when he started volunteering for the Guiliani for President campaign and realized he should have always been in politics and never looked back.

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 14), Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer begin with a discussion about what it is like for an entrepreneur acquiring their first company; a timely topic as Cygnal recently acquired Harper Polling and this week’s guest is the firm's founder, Brock McCleary.

This week’s guest is Brock McCleary, one of the country’s foremost experts on the political landscape of Congress. Brock’s interest in politics was sparked at age 12 when his mother’s husband turned their home into a mini campaign headquarters for Dick Gepharts’s presidential campaign. Brock has served as a pollster and consultant to Members of Congress, nonpartisan public policy groups, trade associations, and businesses across the country. In 2014 and 2016, Brock served as Senior Advisor to the NRCC for political landscape evaluation and resource allocation. He is now the VP of polling for Cygnal.

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 13), Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer begin by discussing what issue work looks like for lobbyists as they may not be allowed in the building to meet with legislators in the same way they have before. Polling can be the key to “get in the door.”

This week’s guest is Bo Staples, Director of Political Action Committees and Governmental Reform for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). Bo got his feet wet in politics during his time at LSU when he became a member of the student government. He found his passion and switched majors from pre-med to political science. Bo has been a part of Louisiana State politics for over 13 years and jokes that he now has 230 elected bosses.

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 12), Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer examine the influence voter emotions had in the 2020 election and talk about the state of the polling industry after this week’s results.

This week’s guest is Felix Cao, expert in neuromarketing and founder of Happy Buying Brain. Felix, the first non-political guest of Pulse Pod, describes to Brent how he got interested in the field of neuroscience and how he launched his company. In addition, he analyzes and explains how campaigns can use neuroscience to persuade voters.

A few days before the 2020 US general elections, Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer discuss how this election has more in common with a past election than most realize and what campaigns should be doing in the final days leading up to November 3rd.

In this episode (Ep. 11), Brent hosts the renowned Liesl Hickey, former Executive Director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, ad producer, and media placement guru. Liesl provides Brent with her insight surrounding how to design effective campaigns, and the best ways to reach voters from her long experience in advertising.

This week on the Cygnal Pulse Pod (Ep. 10), Brent Buchanan and Chris Kratzer analyze the
rise of the “rule of law” voter, and discuss the issue of defunding the police and its effect on the
electorate.

This week’s guest is Adam Piper, Executive Director of the Republican Attorneys General
Association. Adam shares how a personal tragedy turned into the catalyst for his political
career, as well as experiences from the campaign trail, and how a career in politics affords
people the opportunity to truly make a difference in an “extraordinary way”.