Preparing for U.S. Election Season: Navigating the Fast-Moving News Cycle

By Tara Greco, Executive Director, and Nicole Haber, Executive Director

Election season shifted into high gear last week with the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, followed by the announcement of Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate. There are also 34 U.S. Senate seats, every U.S. House seat and 11 Gubernatorial seats (Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia) up for vote on Nov 5. Here's a look-ahead at key dates related to the election, which could impact brand and product promotions as well as business announcements for the balance of the year.

July 15-18: Republican National Convention (Milwaukee)

Aug. 19-22: Democratic National Convention (Chicago)

Sept. 10: ABC Presidential debate (Location TBA)*

Sept. 18: Former President Trump sentencing

Nov. 5: 2024 Presidential Election

Dec 11: State executives appoint electors (6 days before electors meet)

Dec. 17: Electors record their votes in each state

Dec. 25: Electoral votes arrive in the U.S. Capitol. (by the fourth Wednesday in December)

January 6, 2025: Congress counts the electoral votes

January 20, 2025: Inauguration Day

*Timing for a vice-presidential debate is TBD.

If your business or brand has announcements, promotions or campaigns that coincide with any of these key dates, consider:

• Establishing a system to monitor the news during these moments to ensure the climate for your announcement or launch still makes sense.
• Reminding your employees about company policies around social media, especially as it relates to political posting on social media.
• Arming social media community managers with a monitoring strategy and an escalation protocol so that if they encounter political or otherwise inappropriate comments on content, it is clear what the next steps are and to whom it should be reported.
• Only engaging with a political beat reporter if information about your company appearing in election-focused coverage is incorrect or if the company is being incorrectly positioned in any news story linked to election coverage or commentary.
• Checking a reporter's social media feeds (X and LinkedIn) before pitching them to see if they are covering the political stage at this time. Sometimes beats shift during peak moments.
• Ramping up monitoring to spot if your brand is being linked to a candidate's position or comments on key campaign issues (e.g. immigration, abortion, Israel-Hamas conflict, climate change, diversity and inclusion) in news stories or on social media.

If you would like to learn more about how to carefully navigate the fast-moving, highly polarized news environment, please reach out to Golin's 2024 election communications experts by sending an email to [email protected].

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