Saru Jayaraman, long-time activist and leader of One Fair Wage, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss the historical origins of the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers in the US and the power of that community to drive higher wages. The movement has now expanded beyond tipped workers to a broader coalition fighting for a living wage for all. Saru emphasizes that any political platform that focuses on affordability must also include raising wages to be effective.

Deepak and Saru talk about:

• Organizing restaurant workers dating back to the response to 9/11
• How COVID empowered restaurant workers to demand higher wages
• The composition of the workforce most impacted by low minimum wages
• Why addressing affordability requires policies that drive living wages in more states

#TheDemLabs #OneFairWage #FairWage #LivingWage #RestaurantWorkers #LaborRights #EconomicJustice #Affordability #WorkersRights #TippingCulture #SocialJustice #OrganizingMatters #DigitalPolitics

OneFairWage.org

TheDemLabs.org

Javan Van Gronigen, Founder of Donately considers 2025 as a year of testing the water for peer-to-peer and crowdfunding for political and advocacy campaigns. AI is enabling organizations to create and deploy fundraising content more quickly and target specific audiences. Increasingly, digital tools are showing effectiveness for all donor levels, whether turning a small-dollar donor into a recurring one or engaging a major supporter.

We talk about

• Digital outreach to mobile-first donors
• Common mistakes on donation pages, including overly complicated forms
• Value of fundraising appeals tied to rapid response to current events
• Need to create compelling stories about real people to motivate donors

#Donately #DigitalStrategy #OnlineGiving #NonprofitMarketing #DataDrivenNonprofits #DigitalFundraising #NonprofitTech #DonorEngagement #AIForGood #MobileFirstFundraising #AdvocacyTech #SocialImpactTech #StorytellingForChange

Donately.com

John Fitch, The Fitch Law Firm, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss the importance of victims reporting sexual abuse not only for their own justice but to break the cycle and prevent perpetrators from harming others. John warns that delayed reporting can lead to the loss of essential physical evidence, making the case harder to pursue.

Deepak and John talk about:

• The staggering widespread prevalence of sexual abuse in small towns to big metropolitan cities
• Behavior of sexual predators
• Lifelong trauma victims endure
• Challenges victims face in seeking justice

#TheDemLabs #FitchLawFirm #SexAbuse #Lawyer #Ohio #NewYork #SexualAbuseSurvivors #Justice #LegalAdvocacy #BreakTheSilence #ChildProtection #LegalRights #SexualAbuseAwareness #LegalSupport #EpsteinFiles

JohnFitch.com

TheDemLabs.org

Behdad Jamshidi is the Founder of CJAM The Marketing Connector, which has vetted over 1,000 marketing agencies to identify those most qualified to deliver on their promises. The idea of a single agency handling all political and advocacy campaign needs is no longer realistic, as there are an increasing number of channels to reach voters and supporters.

We talk about:

• The vast majority of agencies are execution focused while clients often expect high-level strategic thinking
• Red flags of agencies noted during the vetting process and from their work with clients
• The need for constant testing and adjustment to messages in this rapid response environment
• If a marketing firm is not using AI, it is falling behind the competition

#CJAMMarketing #PolitcalCampaigns #Advocacy #MarketingAgencies #DigitalPolitics #CampaignStrategy #PoliticalMarketing #MarketingROI #DigitalStrategy #CampaignManagement #PoliticalConsulting #MarketingPartners #ElectionMarketing

CJAMMarketing.com

Ivan Pardo, Founder of Solidarity Tech used his organizing platform to successfully manage the over 100,000 volunteers for the campaign of Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York. This platform was originally designed to be multilingual from its inception to organize non-English-speaking rideshare drivers. While technology was key to the Mamdani success, the authenticity of the candidate and message discipline were key to connecting with volunteers and voters.

We talk about:

• Deep organizing at scale focusing on getting volunteers to commit and show up for shifts, re-engage and recruit their friends
• Converting social media engagement into volunteer sign-ups
• Why multilingual capabilities are essential for reaching diverse communities
• Bridging online enthusiasm with offline action

#ZohranMamdani #ZohranforNYC #CRM #LaborOrganizing #CampaignVolunteers #GrassrootsTech #PoliticalInnovation #CommunityOrganizing #CivicTech #Democracy #VolunteerManagement #PoliticalCampaigns #NYC #SocialImpact #TechForGood

Solidarity.tech

Nicole Dunger, Vice President of Growth, and Ryan Davis, CEO of People First, highlight the value of integrating influencer content into paid media strategies, a practice becoming more common in the political and advocacy space. The use of micro-influencers is key for state and local races, and the paid amplification can promote authentic voices to hard-to-reach voters. Campaigns are planning their influencer strategies earlier in the campaign cycle and effectively using creator content to inform messaging to a broader audience.

We talk about:

• The common practice of commercial brands to use creator content in paid advertising
• Why micro-influencers with 5,000-50,000 followers are the sweet spot for congressional races
• Measuring ROI from influencer campaigns
• Learning to cede creative control to influencers, trusting them to know how best to communicate to their followers

#PeopleFirst #Influencers #InfluencerCampaigns #InfluencerMarketing #PoliticalCampaigns #DigitalCampaigns #VoterOutreach #Election2026

peoplefirst.cc

Josh Justice, CEO of Peerly, highlights the new Video in Motion technology, an evolution of their previous HD video texting service. This next-generation tool allows for sending 4K high-resolution video to voters' phones via text message, bypassing the limitations of MMS protocols. This is a direct-to-voter messaging model that Josh argues is superior to traditional OTT and CTV advertising because it delivers a measurable interactive experience directly to voters.

Josh and I talk about:

• The integration of AI for video captions and thumbnails using AMP AI to handle replies that text campaigns generate
• The benefits of delivering messages directly to a voter's phone versus paid advertising
• The value of the robust real-time metrics tracking 64 different points of engagement
• Need for campaigns to take a mobile-first strategy to meet voters where they are in motion and not just sitting in front of a screen

#Peerly #VideoInMotion #CampaignTech #PoliticalInnovation #DigitalOutreach #VoterEngagement #MobileStategy

Peerly.com

Aram Fischer, Co-Founder and CEO of Change Agent, joins Deepak Puri, CEO of The Democracy Labs, to discuss values-aligned generative AI and how it contrasts with mainstream AI platforms. Aram warns about built-in societal biases and misinformation in tools like ChatGPT that need to be identified to better align data with proper action.

Deepak and Aram talk about:

• Shortcomings in existing gen AI platforms related to data privacy and implicit and explicit biases
• Practical applications for AI for voter data analysis and fundraising
• Using AI to support campaign communications and messaging
• Creating a library of pre-built workflows to improve campaign efficiency and automate time-consuming tasks

#TheDemLabs #TheChangeAI #ChangeAgent #Nonprofits #NonProfitTech #AI #GenAIinPolitics #PoliticalAI #EthicalAI #Activists #SocialJustice #Fundraising

Change Agent

TheDemLabs.org