Elections How an all-woman, pro-gun control ad crew is flipping Republican seats Moving from state to state, Sarah Ullman’s crew has attempted a small-scale revolution in the political admaking process

When Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut gave his now-famous filibuster in the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, his impassioned plea for increased gun control galvanized liberals across the country. One of them, all the way on the other coast in Los Angeles, was Sarah Ullman. The 30-year-old had once interned for Murphy and relocated to pursue a career as a filmmaker, but she was moved deeply enough that she launched a special undertaking, separate from but related to her primary career. She began to make political ads for progressive, pro-gun control candidates across the country with her super PAC, One Vote at a Time.

But Ullman wasn’t satisfied with the traditional admaking process. Where other admakers would see an opportunity to spend big-time campaign dollars on glitzy feathers in their cap, Ullman saw a market inefficiency. Employing a crew of all women, Ullman decided to make her ads fast, cheap and straight to the point, allowing her to provide them pro bono to progressive candidates in crucial state-level races. Moving from state to state, Ullman’s crew has attempted a small-scale revolution in the political admaking process, providing professional-quality spots for candidates who might otherwise have had to cough up crucial campaign dollars for them. Of the 190 candidates for whom Ullman’s group cut ads, 76 won their races this week, all except one of those offices flipping from red to blue — a result that Ullman hopes to continue to improve upon in 2020.