By Nate Jurewicz
During every election, I feel like it’s movie night and I’m watching the movie "Groundhog Day," where everything just keeps repeating over and over. A Republican candidate looks strong heading into election day...
The polls look solid. The messaging sounds right. Supporters feel confident. Then the votes come in — and somehow, they lose.
Sometimes it’s close. Other times, it’s not even competitive.
When that happens, the excuses start right away. People blame the candidate. They blame the message. They blame the voters. But after reading "Run Right: A Complete Election Playbook to Win" by Cliff Maloney, it’s clear that most of those explanations (or excuses) miss the real problem.
The issue isn’t what conservatives believe. The issue is how they operate.
The Problem Is Execution, Not Ideas
Maloney makes one thing very clear early in his book. Conservatives do not have an ideas problem. They have an organization problem.
Conservative voters care deeply about their beliefs and consistently show up with passion and talk about the issues, but unfortunately, passion alone doesn’t win elections.
Organization does.
Maloney isn’t just sharing a hypothesis — he’s sharing a case study.
His teams have knocked on more than 9 million doors and helped secure over 400 campaign victories. That kind of real-world experience matters.
It shows that his ideas are based on what actually works.
Why “Disney Politics” Leads to Losses
One of the most important ideas in "Run Right" is something Maloney calls “Disney politics.”
This is the belief that if you have good intentions, say the right things, and care about voters, you will win. It sounds nice. It feels right.
But it’s not reality.
Politics is not a movie with a happy ending just because you deserve one. It is about power. Always has been.
He explains that smaller, well-organized groups often beat larger, disorganized ones, and that’s exactly what we’ve seen happen again and again in elections all over America.
The Left has built systems. They have structure. They follow a plan.
Meanwhile, the Right often relies on energy and hopes that it will be enough.
It’s not.
Respect Comes From Strength
Another idea that stands out in the book is the difference between access and power.
Many grassroots activists believe that if they can build relationships with elected officials, they will have influence. That sounds logical, but it doesn’t work that way in politics.
Maloney puts it plainly: “Unless you are politically feared, you will not be politically respected.”
That line cuts through a lot of confusion.
In politics, being liked is not the goal. Being effective is. If a politician does not believe you can help them win — or cause them to lose — your opinion does not carry much weight.
Real influence can only come from the ability to affect outcomes.
A Blueprint to Winning
What makes "Run Right" different from many other political books is how practical it is.
Maloney doesn’t just talk about big ideas. He breaks campaigns down into clear steps. He explains exactly how to pick the right district, how to build a budget, how to raise money, and how to manage volunteers — all based on how he has helped conservatives win hundreds of key elections across the country.
One of the most useful parts of the book focuses on targeting voters.
Instead of trying to reach everyone, Maloney teaches campaigns to build a “target universe.” That means dividing voters into groups:
Your base
Voters you can persuade
Voters who will never support you
Unfortunately, you can’t persuade everyone, nor can you motivate everyone to take the action necessary to win elections.
So you have to focus your time and energy on the people who are open to your perspective and willing to do the hard work — these are the only voters who actually matter. It sounds both harsh and simple, but it’s reality, and most conservative campaigns fail to do this.
They waste time chasing voters who are never going to change their minds. At the same time, they ignore voters who could be won over.
That’s not just inefficient. It’s a losing strategy.
Door Knocking Still Works
In today’s world, it’s easy to think that social media and digital ads are the most important tools in politics.
Maloney disagrees — and his results back him up.
Knocking on doors and talking to voters face-to-face is still one of the most effective ways to win elections. In fact, it may be even more powerful now because so many campaigns have stopped doing it.
That creates an opportunity.
In 2024, Maloney worked with Charlie Kirk to launch PA CHASE, which included 124 people who knocked on more than 510,000 doors and resulted in a major increase in support for Donald Trump among mail-in voters. This approach has also been used successfully by conservative candidates like Ron DeSantis, Lauren Boebert, and Byron Donalds, as just a few examples.
It’s not sexy. It takes lots of hard work. But it delivers real results.
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The Hard Work Begins After the Win
Most campaign books focus only on how to win elections. But Maloney goes further.
He talks about what happens after victory.
And this is where many politicians fail, in part because the system is broken, and in part because doing the real work of legislating is hard.
The bottom line is that winning an election means nothing if it doesn’t lead to conservative policies getting implemented. But because of how the system is set up, many politicians lose focus on their original goals and instead focus more on staying in office than on delivering what they promised to voters.
Maloney says this is one of the biggest problems in politics today.
Success is not just about getting elected. It’s about staying true to your mission once you are in office.
The Risks Ahead…
Looking forward, Maloney points out two major risks for conservatives.
The first is relying too much on one leader.
There is no question that figures like Donald Trump have had a major impact. But movements that depend on one person often struggle to grow. When that person is no longer in the picture, the movement can weaken.
The second risk is confusing talk with action.
Commentary is important. Media matters. But talking about issues is not the same as building campaigns and organizing voters.
Real change requires work. It requires systems. It requires people who are willing to organize and put in the time on the ground that’s needed to win elections.
That’s something conservatives just haven't done. It’s no surprise because many are busy running businesses, raising families, and leading in their local communities.
But if the goal is to win, that absolutely has to change.
A Clear Message for the Future
"Run Right" is not a quiet or neutral book. It is direct. It is focused. And it is aimed at conservatives who are serious about winning.
But the lessons in it go beyond politics.
At its core, the book is about execution. It’s about turning ideas into results. That applies to many areas of life.
For too long, the Right has relied on energy and belief. Meanwhile, the Left has built systems and structures that produce results.
Maloney makes it clear that this gap must close.
Because in the end, elections are not won by the side with the best ideas. They are won by the side that shows up, does the work, and follows through.
That’s not a theory.
It’s a fact.
The only question now is whether conservatives are ready to take that lesson seriously—and act on it.
Nate Jurewicz is a citizen journalist covering politics and real estate, both local to Florida, and on a national level, as well as a conservative political activist and aspiring politician.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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