Why Access Is the Strategy That Will Win the 2026 Midterms

We can't continue to depend on corrupt systems that are owned and operated by the far right

I’m guessing that Democratic strategists are aware that they shouldn’t purchase advertising for their candidates on Truth Social.

That’s obvious right?

If you purchase advertising on a right wing platform, you end up funding right wing policies with liberal money.

Some people might argue, “Well, using a platform like that allows us to reach voters who are outside our base.” However, I think that argument is based on faulty assumptions.

Right wing platforms lie and cheat. What’s the point of wasting critical funds by purchasing advertising that’s only seen by bots and white supremacists? They’ll be laughing at you all the way to the bank.

You wouldn’t want to advertise on Truth Social any more than you’d want to advertise on 8chan. Those are extremes. But the question remains, where is the line?

As far as I’m concerned, left wing candidates need to avoid any algorithm based social media platform. My belief is that they’re all corrupt, and even if they take your money to show your advertisements, I suspect they swarm them with malicious bot content designed to undermine your message.

Instead of playing their rigged game by their unfair rules, we have to find a way to circumvent the obstacles. Everybody’s aware that we’re living through unprecedented times.

I recently had a conversation with Julie Roginsky. The simple fact that I was talking to her is proof of how topsy turvy the world has become. She’s a Democratic strategist and a television personality. I’m a father of two and a high school teacher.

I didn’t have a platform a year ago. Today, I schedule two to three talks a day with political candidates all over the country. Everyone has been activated. The entire landscape is in tatters. We’re living through an era of building the plane as we try to land.

In the recent past, candidates could rely on advertising in social media to spread their message. But today, with the proliferation of AI, and the corruption of algorithms, these platforms no longer wield the same level of power.

People are sick of having their electricity bills triple to pay for data centers. They’re leaving traditional media in droves. They’re sick and tired of being lied to.

Do you know what the general public is hungry for as we approach the 2026 midterms?

They want authenticity. They want to talk to real people who look and act and sound like them.

For too long, our representatives have been shielded from the general public. They hide out in their mansions in their gated communities and they never have to face any accountability for the hardships inflicted by their choices.

The people have had enough.

We are looking for candidates who are willing to come and talk to us.

Today we have the advantage of technological tools that allow candidates to interact directly with more people than ever before. Subscription based platforms like Substack give us a mechanism for avoiding malicious algorithms that are programmed to bury our content.

Subscribing to a newsletter is one of the few places in our modern society where people are afforded a choice. The readers get to curate the content they receive. The readers get to withdraw their support from publishers who don’t serve them.

This is the closest thing we currently have to a democratic media, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

It has been shown again and again that grassroots candidates can win elections by focusing on community rather than money. If you’re willing to go door to door and face the people directly, you’ll gain the kind of support that cannot be bought.

There’s always a lot of focus on money when it comes to changing the hearts and mind of the public. But I propose that money isn’t as critical as distribution.

All the money in the world isn’t going to help you if malicious forces control the distribution mechanisms where you try to advertise. That’s our reality.

So, we must find a way to circumvent those right wing controlled systems. The answer is for candidates to address small creators directly. They need to avoid all algorithm based systems, and instead support the small creators who have earned the trust of their readers.

This is so simple and so logical that it’s no wonder nobody’s figured it out yet.

It’s stunning to me how much people will spend on an assumption. The idea that throwing money at a right-winged owned platform and just having faith that they’ll actually follow through on their commitment strikes me as ridiculous.

The right relies not on quality but on destroying all other options. That’s why they’re the book burners. That’s why they claw and scratch and fight to write the history books and ban academic theories from being taught in school.

They don’t rely on merit because they know nobody wants to read what they have to say. So, they focus on shoving their beliefs down our throats by depriving us of choice.

The way we combat this isn’t to beat them at their own game, it’s to not play at all.

Remove the gatekeepers. Remove the filters. Candidates need to find the courage to face their constituents and earn their trust.

Why should we vote for some overfinanced candidate that will only speak to us through AI generated videos that show up incessantly on our feeds? I revoke my consent to see things like that.

If a candidate wants to earn my vote, they have to show me their face and speak with their voice. I want to see them answering questions from a group of real people, not a pre-selected studio audience.

I am tired of artificial reality telling me what to do. I’m tired of having all my options dictated to me. I’m an adult. I want a say in the matter.

The first candidates who figure this out are going to have the advantage of early adopters. They will have read the room, and they’ll have a head start in reaching the people where they are.

The 2026 election cycle isn’t about money. It’s about access.

Treat the people with enough respect to actually go out and talk to them. Show up on livestreams. It’s time we strangled the algorithms that are controlled by our enemies. Don’t use or support a system that’s designed to destroy you.

We’re in the midst of the primaries in a political cycle that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. This is the first election where I’ve spent time not just researching every candidate in my district, but I’ve actually been interviewing candidates all across the country.

I don’t want to be content to flip my seat from red to blue. I want to flip every red seat blue, and every blue seat even darker blue. Through the process of interviewing a diverse array of candidates, I’ve learned more about my country than I ever imagined. These are candidates who know their districts better than the folks in Washington DC because they’ve been out in the streets. They’ve been talking to people. They have their fingers on the pulse of our current political moment.

Knocking on doors will always tell you more than evaluating spreadsheets.

If a candidate can’t gain support by talking with regular people, then that candidate doesn’t deserve the power of political office.

The American people have been lulled to sleep, but we’re again waking up to the truth about how much power we wield. We don’t have to accept curated choices. We can pick our own choice and choose that. We don’t have to rely on technological systems that filter out the content we want. Instead, we can rouse ourselves, demand control of our reality, and select exactly what we need.

We don’t have to feel grateful for an insufficient choice that doesn’t go nearly far enough. We have the right to demand a solution that works for everyone. We don’t have to listen to what established power structures tell us is “fair.” We get to define what is fair and what isn’t.

I’m looking around at the world today. It isn’t fair. We need to rethink everything and rebuild from the ground up. That starts not by funding algorithms but by knocking on doors.

Access is what the good candidates need to provide if they’re going to earn the support necessary to win. They have to listen rather than lecture. They have to come to our houses rather than demand we send money to theirs.

We have to strike while the iron is hot. We have to abandon the ineffective strategy of appealing to non-existent “swing voters” and instead appeal to those that have never seen enough representation to compel them to turn up.

If we want the voters to change their behavior, our candidates must also change their strategies.

Depriving the people of access is how a campaign is lost.

In order to ride a wave to victory, you have to come in contact with the wave.

Access is the strategy that will be the most effective in 2026 and beyond. When candidate show up on independently owned platforms that are outside the corrupt algorithm mechanism, these candidates help build a media system that corrodes the power of our opponents.

Candidates that refuse to talk to people will be left behind. Guaranteed.

Candidates willing to work with the community to restore the power to the people will be embraced. Guaranteed.

It’s not about money. It’s about distribution. It’s about integrity. It’s about access.

Access is what’s going to motivate people to leave their homes and go out and vote. The people just want to see something different. They recoil at the same old status quo arguments and strategies that got us into this mess. Anything new will provide a magnetism that the people cannot resist.

The Democratic party can no longer submit to allowing the Republicans to control the media and the framing of how every political issue is presented. We can’t allow that.

We have to stop playing within the confinements of a corrupt system. It’s time to flip the tables and demand equivalent representation for our perspective.

ACCESS!

We can’t sit back and expect to make our point in an eight week election cycle when Republicans are out poisoning the minds of the voting base twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.

Candidates have to take it upon themselves to uplift the journalists that defend their positions. We have to prepare and educate the general public. Republicans deliberately preach ignorance, and our society wonders why the citizens vote for foul candidates.

It’s time that the country remembered that our representatives are servants, not masters. They have to come to us.

We need a political movement that’s committed to avoiding the algorithm system entirely. Algorithms choose for you just like abusive partners. We need a political movement that empowers the people to choose for themselves.

Prominent politicians can build this by appearing on small platforms. As those platforms grow, they can use their newfound status to elevate others. It doesn’t require money. It requires integrity, time, and access.

Let’s cut out the machines and make this about real human beings. We need people asking questions of those who are elected to serve as representatives. If our representatives don’t talk to people, how do they know about the problems that need to be fixed? The algorithms don’t know. The people do. Talk to the people.

Access has been deprived for too long and access will be the key to victory in 2026 and beyond. Let’s pull the plug on the machines and give the power back to the real human beings.