Political Paid Social That Won a Town Commission Seat
A candidate who needed to move fast
David Weingot stood in a competitive Surfside Town Commission race — four seats, eight candidates, and no particular reason for local voters to know his name. The challenge was building recognition before polling day. Most agencies couldn't help. Political advertising on paid social carries compliance requirements that slow standard onboarding down, and the short campaign window made the usual process unworkable. Weingot's team needed someone who could get campaigns live in days, not weeks. Lightning Agency stepped in. We set up the paid social operation quickly, produced short-form video ads and static image creatives, and ran targeted campaigns geo-fenced to Surfside and the surrounding Miami-Dade area. Every impression went to someone who could actually vote.
He won a seat on the Surfside Town Commission.
David Weingot took 15.7% of the vote — enough for one of the four available seats in the at-large race alongside Donna Dayana Benmergui, Andrea Travani, and incumbent Gerardo Vildostegui, who held his seat by just six votes in a recount. After the result, David described voters approaching him on election day saying they recognised his face from social media. That's what 440,453 reach at 2× frequency produces — not just numbers, but familiarity. In a local election with eight candidates, familiar faces get votes.