The Great Battlefield Redefining How Super PACs Can Contribute with Danielle Butterfield of Priorities USA
Feb 25, 2026
Danielle Butterfield, Executive Director at Priorities USA and veteran digital ad strategist, discusses reshaping how super PACs operate. She talks about shifting from big ad buys to training, building tools like Ad Hoc and Warbler, and the value of upper-funnel branding. Short takes cover balancing R&D with immediate needs and blending data with human judgment.
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Family Experience Sparked Political Career
- Danielle Butterfield's political awakening came from her brother on the autism spectrum which showed her government can tangibly help families.
- Seeing educators and California support for her brother made her believe policy could change lives and motivated her career choice.
Small Google Grant Launched Ad Career
- A small Google Ads project on a local congressional campaign got Danielle placed on the Obama ads team because it was the single tactical line on her resume.
- That chance led her to love political advertising's mix of creative and analytics and set her career direction.
Digital Work Is Continuous Art And Science
- Political digital work requires constant balance between creative messaging and analytic rigor rather than pure left- or right-brain tasks.
- Danielle says today's challenge is integrating R&D and creative so they don't compete but complement each other across campaigns.