Virginia's Congressional Campaign Twitter Breakdown

In effort to better understand each Virginia race I have decided to breakdown the social media campaigns of each Virginia congressional candidate.  Here is the complete breakdown of Twitter.  If you think I missed something or have something to add, please leave a comment and I will update the post.  Enjoy.

*Incumbent

Red = Republican

Blue = Democrat

Black = Independent or Libertarian

Interaction = Retweeting or replying to followers

Klout = Twitter influence (Not flawless but pretty solid)

Virginia’s First District

Analysis:

Rep. Rob Wittman‘s (R-VA) campaign account is significantly weaker than his House account (@robwittman).  He doesn’t use hashtags, interact with his followers and his tweets are mostly boring.  Wittman’s has a decent mix of content, but he needs to work on the wording of his tweets.

Democrat Krystal Ball’s tweets too much drivel, “Just reserved some crabs for this weekend! So excited.” However, when I look at Ball’s tweets I get the sense that it is really her tweeting.  While Ball’s tweets aren’t as bad as Creigh Deeds, she doesn’t have enough substance to her tweets.

Winner: Wittman

Virginia’s 2nd District

Analysis:

Challenger Scott Rigell (R) has clearly embraced Twitter far more than Rep. Glenn Nye (D-VA).  While, Rigell trails Nye in the followers department he has a higher Klout rating from HootSuite.  Rigell has a clear opportunity to dominate the Twittersphere and an increase in tweets, with a mixture of new content and new hashtags should help boost his presence.

By his lack of tweeting and disregard for following back, it doesn’t appear that Nye has ever been serious about Twitter.  To me, his half-assing it on Twitter is worse than not being on it at all.

Winner: Rigell (By a lot)

I will be doing VA-3, VA-4 and VA-5 tomorrow.  If you have anything to add or something I missed please leave a comment under this post and I will add it to my analysis.

Virginia’s 3rd District

Analysis:

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) doesn’t have a Twitter account, so there isn’t much to compare.  Challenger Chuck Smith’s (R-VA) tweets come about once every ten days and they tend to be inspirational quotes, “Courage is not what we run from, it is what we run to. And inclusion is not just a concept for a few people, it is a principle for all. Yes?”  Smith rarely tweets about Virginia, issues pertaining to Virginia voters or his campaign, which means his account is basically a personal one.

Winner: Smith (Only because Scott isn’t on Twitter)

Update: (H/T @Jenin140) Chuck Smith lists Virginia Beach as his location; however, Virginia Beach is not included in Virginia’s 3rd district.  But as we have seen with Morgan Griffith in Virginia’s 9th district, residency is not a requirement.  Not a serious mistake, but it adds to my belief that Smith isn’t using his Twitter account for campaign purposes.

Virginia’s 4th District

Update: AnnieFlies pointed out that Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) also has a verified account @Randy_Forbes, which is linked to his House website.  @RepRandyForbes is linked to his campaign website, which I assume means it will be his campaign account.  It would make more sense if the two accounts were switched.

Analysis:

While Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) doesn’t have a lot of followers, it isn’t for a lack of tweeting.  Forbes regularly tweets multiple times a day and most of the tweets include links to different areas of his campaign website.  I think Forbes could benefit from using hashtags (especially Virginia hashtags) to push his message beyond his followers.

Challenger Wynne LeGrow (D) doesn’t have a Twitter account.

Winner: Forbes

Virginia’s 5th District

-@crashtheirparty is former Republican candidate Jeffery Clark, who is now running as an Independent.

-Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) has a Twitter account that he maintains while he is in office, but this is a breakdown of campaign accounts.  If you Google “Tom Perriello, Twitter” the only result is his office account  (@TomPerriello).

Analysis:

None of the candidates in VA-5 are using Twitter correctly.  Twitter is a two way communication tool, which is something that few politicians understand.  Republican candidate Robert Hurt tweets sparingly and too many of the tweets start out with “Check Out.”  Jeffery Clark’s Twitter account is dedicated to discrediting Hurt (which may be his only goal in running).  Perriello’s tweets include a wider range of content than Hurt or Clark and he has begun to tweet more regularly.

All three candidates could benefit from using hashtags, tweeting more consistently, and interacting with their followers.

Winner: Perriello

Virginia’s 6th District

Analysis:

Very tough comparison here.  Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) does a decent job on Twitter.  He tweets regularly and gives a good mix of both national and Virginia issues.  However, he doesn’t use his account to interact with his followers (excluding the rare RTs of Republican Congressman).  His opponent, Libertarian Stuart Bain, on the other hand uses his account to interact his followers, “@comoncents85 Thank you, sir! For now, enjoy your trip to the beach. Hit me up when you get back and we’ll sit down for lunch and talk.”  Bain’s interactions give his account a personal feel – something that politicians struggle with.  While Bain does a good job of interacting with his followers (which is only 59) he doesn’t talk about the issues, which may be limiting his ability to be RT’d.

Both candidates could benefit from using hashtags to amplify their tweets.

Winner: Tie (I know cop out)

Virginia 7th District

-I’m finding (especially with incumbents) that their tweeting is only just beginning to pick up, which is most likely because their campaigns are just starting up.  However, this is making it difficult to determine tweet frequency.

-Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) also has the twitter account @gopwhip.

Analysis:

Cantor has been on the forefront of the Republican new media surge and has huge name recognition, which has made him a serious player on Twitter.  However, as I mentioned earlier, he hasn’t been using @ericcantor very often, which makes his account hard to breakdown.  Cantor mostly tweets about national issues and includes national hashtags, which is not surprising because he is part of the Republican leadership.  I would assume that as his campaign progresses he will begin to use @ericcantor more regularly.

Cantor’s Democratic opponent Rich Waugh has a middle of the road Twitter account.  I say that because he doesn’t do anything good or bad, everything is just ok.  Waugh’s tweets consist of the standard “Come to my event” tweets, what I’m doing tweets and a lot of oil spill tweets.  Waugh only incorporates hashtags related to the oil spill.

Independent candidate Floyd Bayne’s tweet, “I have got to remember to keep up with my tweets. Please welcome aboard my new campaign manager – Tammy Parada. July 3 parade in Brandermill,” shows me that he isn’t serious about Twitter.  I understand that he is extremely busy, but sending a 140 character tweet should take no more than five minutes a day.  Bayne (like a majority of Virginia’s candidates) doesn’t use Twitter to interact with his followers, but he also doesn’t use it to direct his followers to his website or other content pertinent to the campaign (Twitter is great tool to transport people back to a campaign website).

Winner: Cantor.

Virginia’s 8th District

Analysis:

Incumbent Rep. Jim Moran’s (D-VA) Twitter account is not a campaign account (this may change as the campaign season ramps up).  Moran’s tweets are almost entirely about his activity on the House floor or his votes.  Moran (I know this is getting repetitive) doesn’t take advantage of Twitter’s two way communication capability.

If Republican challenger Patrick Murray keeps up his tweeting regimen throughout the campaign he should see a steady growth in followers.  Murray tweets multiple times a day, uses Virginia hashtags, directs people back to his website and attacks his opponent consistently (maybe too much).

Libertarian Matt Mosley’s twitter is a joke.  He joined in March and has only tweeted 12 times, with many of those tweets being duplicates.  Most of his tweets are links to libertarian articles.

Winner: Murray

Virginia’s 9th District

Analysis:

Republican challenger Morgan Griffith wins be default because Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) doesn’t have an account.  Griffith uses the account mainly as a way to recount what he did that day.  On June 26th, he tweeted six times between 10:20 pm and 10:48 pm, telling his followers about the events he went to that day.  While it is a good idea for him to keep his followers informed of his efforts offline, he needs to mix in new content and tweet at various times during the day.

Winner: Griffith

Virginia’s 10th District

-Not related to his Twitter use, but Jeff Barnett guest posts on Blue Virginia, which in my opinion is a great move for him because it gives him exposure on one of the top Democrat blogs in Virginia.

Analysis:

Like Morgan Griffith in VA-9, Democrat Jeff Barnett wins by default because Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) doesn’t have an account.  Barnett mainly uses his account to inform his follower of what he is doing offline (events, meetings, etc.) and to point his posts on Blue Virginia.

Winner: Barnett

Virginia’s 11th District

Analysis:

The best Twitter use is in Virginia’s 11th district.  Both Republican challenger Keith Fimian and incumbent Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) are using Twitter effectively.  Both use national and Virginia hashtags, interact with their followers, and mix up their content.  While both candidates do these things well, Fimian is better in each of the areas.

Winner: Fimian

What I Saw:

1. A large majority of candidates are not taking advantage of all Twitter has to offer (mainly its two way communication).
2. Most candidates don’t use hashtags.
3. Republicans are more effective on Twitter than Democrats.
4. Several candidates don’t have their Twitter (or any social media accounts) visible on their website, which makes it difficult to find their account.  This is especially problematic for incumbents, who have often times have two accounts.
5. Incumbents are just beginning to tweet more frequently, which is almost certainly related to their re-election campaigns starting up.