Nesbitt & Parrinello is pleased to announce that our firm won Gold at the 2025 AAPC Pollie Awards for Best Use of Opposition Research for our work on Gil Cisneros’s successful campaign in California’s 31st Congressional District. This win is shared with our fantastic partners Bergmann Zwerdling Direct, who created the impactful mail pieces (you can find our collaboration and their other award-winning mail here) and “Wrong Side Rubio” microsite, and Orrin Evans at Armour Evans, who produced the compelling “A Toast” television ad.

Our team dug deep to uncover the connections between our opponent’s campaign contributions and her voting record. We found clear patterns showing how funding from oil, pharmaceutical, and private prison industries aligned with her legislative decisions. This research, paired with creative execution by our partners, became the backbone of a campaign that saw Cisneros climb from a distant 6% to ultimately winning with 23.6% of the vote, while our opponent fell from frontrunner status to fourth place. Our award-winning “Them” mail piece can be viewed here.

The Pollie Awards are hosted by the American Association of Political Consultants, “the only bipartisan, nonprofit organization for political professionals.” The Awards “set the standard for excellence in the political communications and public affairs industries.”