How a Millennial Wins a Senate Seat – Zach Whiting
I hope y’all are doing well and are geared up for the slightly over 3 months we have before the general election! Some of y’all still have primary elections ahead, like Florida at the end of the month, but most of you know who’s headed on to November.
Zach Whiting is one of those folks who knows he’s on the ballot in November and he’s our guest this week. Zach popped onto my radar because he’s married to a college friend of mine and I followed his campaign through her Facebook posts over the last year or so. In June, he won his Iowa State Senate Primary with 62% of the vote as a 30-year-old. He won every county and 47 out of 49 precincts in the district.
Before we get to the rest of Zach’s resume, I want to recommend a book to y’all. The title is Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss. It’s all about negotiation and draws from Chris’ decades of experience as a high-level hostage negotiator for the FBI. I interviewed Chris on episode 59 of this podcast and have only become a bigger fan of the book since then. There are a lot of potential applications for the information within this book in the realms of politics and fundraising so check it out on Amazon or Audible!
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Zach Whiting is a 5th generation native of Northwest Iowa. He’s been married to his wife Juliana for 6 years and they have one son and another child on the way! He’s a licensed attorney and currently serves as a policy advisor to Congressman Steve King.
As you’ll hear during our interview, Zach is serious about providing strong representation for his constituents and can clearly state his WHY. Throughout his career, Zach has been active politically and like many of our previous guests, his first candidacy was a failed one. But he learned from it and this cycle he crushed the opposition and is on track to an uncontested election in November.
A lot of cool parallels between Zach’s background and my own came up during our interview and we both had a great time discussing what he’s learned through this crazy political process. I hope y’all enjoy it as much as we did!
What You’ll Learn about Zach and Millenials in Politics In This Episode:
[00:00] Podcast Introduction and Zach Whiting Introduction
[02:55] How Zach got into politics
[07:30] Focusing on your family
[10:03] Jumping into the race
[15:15] Laying the groundwork for a strong campaign
[20:57] Working smarter, not just harder
[25:22] Raising the money
[34:53] Touching voters where they’re at…not just where you want them to be…
[41:04] Fun rules of Iowa elections…
[45:20] Running THROUGH the finish line
[50:45] WHY to run for office
[53:57] How to find Zach Whiting online
Links from the Podcast:
Connect with Zach Whiting on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Learn more about him at Zach Whiting for Iowa.