POLITICAL TEXT MESSAGING
P2P Texting for Political Campaigns and Voter Outreach
A text reaches voters on the one device they carry everywhere. Vertical Web runs peer-to-peer and MMS texting for campaigns, with real people answering the replies and every opt-out honored, for races in Houston and across Texas.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253
WE ACTUALLY WANT TO WIN
Who is answering your voters' texts?
The team answering your voters’ replies is on your side of the race. We read what voters tell us, flag what is working and adjust the script, because we want you to win, not just to hit a message count. A text lands in the most personal space a voter has. One careless message can become the story of the week.
Beth Guide has been saying for years that a big share of people, especially anyone under 35, would rather text than pick up a call. She jokes in class that she sometimes texts the person across the room because they answer faster. Voters are no different. If your campaign only calls and mails, you are missing the channel a lot of your district actually reads.
Texting is one part of our voter outreach services, run by the same in-house team that handles your email, calls and campaign website. That matters most on the days it is busiest, because one shared opt-out list and one calendar keep the channels from stepping on each other.
P2P VS. BROADCAST
P2P texting vs. broadcast texting: which fits your campaign?
The difference is how each message gets sent, and that decides which rules apply. What follows is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.
Anyone who gets an unwanted text can forward it to 7726 to report it, which is one more reason to text with care. Campaigns that blast a cold list on autopilot do not just risk complaints. They risk carriers filtering the whole program right when early voting reminders need to land.
USE CASES
What do political campaigns use text messages for?
Texting works best for short, timely messages that ask for one small action. For longer stories and fundraising appeals, pair your texts with political email marketing.
MMS
When is MMS worth using for a political text?
MMS adds a picture, a short video or another image to a text. It usually costs more to send than plain text, so we save it for moments when a visual does the job better than words.
- A candidate photo. A friendly photo helps a voter put a face to a name on the ballot, especially in an introduction text early in the race.
- A short video message. A brief video from the candidate feels personal in a way text cannot. We keep these short and add captions, so the message works with the sound off.
- A sample ballot image. Down-ballot races can be hard to find on a long ballot. Have your treasurer or attorney check the disclosure on any image before it goes out.
- A polling location map. A map image with the address removes one more reason not to vote, especially when a polling place has moved.
THE CASE FOR VERTICAL WEB ON CAMPAIGN TEXTING
Fewer, better texts from one team
REPLIES
Who answers when voters text back?
Replies are the whole point of peer-to-peer texting. Our team handles them using rules your campaign approves before the first message goes out.
- You approve the script. We draft the opening text and a set of approved answers for common replies, in English and Spanish if you need both. Your campaign signs off on every word.
- We agree on escalation rules. Press questions, upset voters and offers to donate or volunteer need the campaign, not a script. We decide up front what gets passed to your staff and how.
- Our team sends and responds. Members of our in-house team send the texts and answer replies from the approved script. Anything outside it follows your escalation rules.
- Opt-outs are honored and logged. A voter who replies STOP, or asks to stop in other words, is removed and goes onto the shared suppression list your email and call programs also check.
- You get a clear report. After each send you see replies, opt-outs, sign-ups and flagged conversations. Useful answers flow back into your voter records for the next round.
BEFORE YOU SEND
What does a campaign need before sending political texts in Texas?
Texting takes more setup than email or calls. Carriers, federal rules and Texas law each ask for something different, and meeting one set of rules does not satisfy the others. This is a summary, not legal advice.
- 10DLC registration. Carriers require political senders using standard 10-digit numbers to register a brand and a campaign through The Campaign Registry. Unregistered traffic gets filtered or blocked. Our political 10DLC compliance guide walks through it step by step.
- A Campaign Verify token. Political senders reach the political use case with a token from Campaign Verify, a nonpartisan nonprofit. Eligible committees include candidates, parties and PACs organized as 527 committees and on file with the FEC or a state, local or tribal election office. Our Campaign Verify and 10DLC registration help handles that filing for you.
- Consent for automated texts. If any part of your program is automated, you need prior consent from the mobile numbers you text, and we keep a record of where each consent came from. The email and SMS compliance page covers record keeping for the whole program.
- Texas disclosure language. Texas Election Code Section 255.001 requires political advertising with express advocacy to say it is political advertising and name who paid for it. We build that disclosure into texts and landing pages, and your treasurer or attorney should review the final wording.
- A clean list of numbers. Our voter data and phone append service matches numbers to voter records. Texas law makes it a crime to use registrar voter data to advertise commercial products or services, so these lists stay political.
PARTY OUTREACH
Does P2P texting work the same for every campaign?
The mechanics are the same. The targeting is not. Texas primary history, the makeup of your district and whether you are in a primary or a general election all change who gets a text and what it says. We text for Republican and Democratic candidates alike and keep every campaign’s data separate. To see how targeting differs, read about Republican voter outreach and Democrat voter outreach.
And if your plan also includes recorded calls for landline voters, we will help you decide whether political robocalls belong in the mix, so each channel does the job it does best.
Get out the vote
GOTV texting: how a P2P SMS platform scales for election day
Get out the vote is where P2P SMS for political campaigns earns its budget. In the last days of early voting and on election day, a campaign may need to reach thousands of voters in a few hours, and every reply needs a person. That takes a texting platform built for peer-to-peer sending, a team ready to staff it, and a plan written well before the rush.
Scale is mostly planning. We split the list by precinct and by voting history, schedule the sends so replies arrive while the team is on shift, and keep a short set of approved answers for the questions voters ask most: where do I vote, what do I bring, are polls still open. When a polling place moves, we update the script and the map image once, for every texter at the same time.
Mass texting on autopilot is the fastest way to lose deliverability. Carriers watch for complaints and sudden spikes from new numbers, and filtered messages never reach the voter. Registered numbers, clean lists from our voter data service and a steady sending pattern keep delivery rates healthy when they matter most. GOTV texts work best as part of a wider voter outreach plan, with email and calls on the same calendar.
Measuring political comms
P2P texting for voter outreach: response rates, fundraising and what to measure
Political comms teams often judge texting by how many messages went out. That is the wrong number. The useful ones are response rate, opt-out rate, clicks on the link, and what voters actually said. A low response rate on a first introduction text is normal. A high opt-out rate tells you the list, the timing or the message is wrong.
Every report we send breaks those numbers out by script, so you can see which message worked. If one version of a volunteer ask gets far more YES replies than another, the next round uses the winner. Survey answers and supporter IDs flow back into your voter data, so each round is aimed better than the last.
Fundraising and donation texts need extra care. A personal text with a short link can work near a deadline, but supporters tune out a campaign that asks every week. Keep messages short: a standard SMS holds 160 characters, and longer texts split into parts, which can raise cost. We track the cost of each send against the result, the same way we track paid ads. For the online side of the race, our campaign website design team builds the donation and sign-up pages your texts link to.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Political text messaging questions
Yes, when it follows federal rules, carrier rules and Texas law. A text typed and sent by a person, one at a time, needs no prior consent under FCC rules. Autodialed texts to mobile phones need prior consent. Carriers require 10DLC registration, and Texas requires a disclosure on political advertising with express advocacy. This is general information, not legal advice.
For peer-to-peer texts sent by hand, one at a time, FCC rules do not require prior consent. For automated or broadcast texts to mobile phones, you do. Many campaigns use P2P for voters on the file and broadcast only for supporters who signed up. Every voter can opt out, and that request must be honored.
Yes. We write Spanish-language scripts and approved replies alongside the English versions, with the same message, ask and disclosure. When language preference is known, we split the list so each voter gets the version that fits.
The number is removed from the program and logged on the shared suppression list. We also treat plain-language requests, such as asking to be left alone, as opt-outs. That list is checked before every text, email and call send.
Not always. Some older voters still rely on a landline, and a short recorded message may reach them better. Many campaigns use texts, calls and email together, each for the job it does best.
Start early. You need a Campaign Verify token, a registered brand and campaign, a website with a privacy policy and texting terms, and approved scripts. Carrier review can take time, and we cannot promise how long it will take.
Cost depends on list size, plain text or MMS, how many rounds you plan, how many replies need an answer and whether you need registration help or phone append. We do not publish prices, since no two texting programs look alike. Schedule a consultation for a plan and a quote.
Yes. We are a nonpartisan shop that texts for Republican and Democratic candidates alike. Scripts, reply logs and lists from one campaign never reach another.
Phone banking is when volunteers or staff call voters from a list to ask for support, share a reminder or answer questions. P2P texting does the same job by text, and many campaigns run both so each voter is reached the way they prefer.
Response rate shows whether the message and the list fit each other. A strong rate on a volunteer or survey ask means the script works. A high opt-out rate means the timing, the audience or the message needs to change before the next send.
Start the conversation with your voters
Let us register your numbers, write your scripts and answer every reply with care. We will map a texting plan from your first introduction text to Election Day.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253 | info@verticalweb.com