The 2026 election reshaped the political landscape:
Democrats now have control of both the U.S. Senate and the House, securing majorities as votes continue to be counted in several remaining races. Five governorships changed hands, Democrats gained control of at least 7 state legislative chambers, and 6 states now have new Democratic trifectas. New leadership brings new priorities, new coalitions, and new audiences to engage, and the transition window to reach them is already open.How long is the transition window actually open?
About 60-90 days. That's the entire window between Election Day and the point when new governors have hired their teams, named agency heads, and set first-year priorities on data centers, healthcare, redistricting, and more, all at once. Positions are still forming, and the people around each new leader will help form them.
It's also a crowded room. What reaches a new leader's desk is filtered by chiefs of staff, transition advisors, donors, and trusted voices, and a single meeting competes with hundreds. The message that comes from the people they're already most familiar with is the one that gets the follow-up. That's why Tunnl built a New Congress audience for immediate activation.
Why should I advertise to this New Congress audience?
Because the transition window is when you have the most influence, and it doesn’t last long. Between the election and swearing-in, incoming members and their teams are hiring staff, settling on priorities, and forming views on the issues they’ll vote on. Reaching them now means your message is part of how their positions take shape, not a reaction after they’ve already formed.
Tunnl’s Halo research team built this audience specifically around incoming Members of Congress and their transition teams: the people actually making decisions right now. It indexes high on our influence scale, so you’re reaching people with outsized sway over policy and not spending on broad political reach.
Put simply, a new Congress means a new set of decision-makers, and this is the window to reach them before the agenda is set.
How does Tunnl Halo map the circle around a leader, and how is this New Congress audience different?
We know every decision-maker has a circle: staff, colleagues, donors, and the people they trust. Tunnl Halo builds that circle out to about 2,000 real individuals, organized across different circles of influence. When you work with our team, we also include direct feedback on the names that matter most to include in a stakeholder sphere of influence.
The incoming class of Congress and the people forming their offices has already been built in the Tunnl Platform and covers more than 200 different media markets where these newly elected individuals and their trusted advisors reside. The difference here is our research and professional data includes people working in transition organizations, staffing pipelines, party leadership, and campaign support.
What's the experience like inside the Tunnl Platform?
Inside the Tunnl Platform, you get access to the New Congress Halo and any custom Halos we build along the way for your team. Explore insights around each audience using hundreds of demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes, then plan an ad buy using Tunnl's media consumption data, which shows how your audience actually consumes media.
How do I get started?
The New Congress audience is ready for activation. Reach out to our team today for pricing and to begin your advertising to engage this highly influential group of people. Campaigns run at Tunnl's standard CPMs, so there’s nothing new to figure out on the media side.
Need something more specific? Name the five people who matter most to your issue this transition, and we'll show you what a custom sphere looks like in a 20-minute walkthrough.
Book a Halo walkthrough
FAQ
What is Tunnl Halo?
An entire set of audience solutions and insights for stakeholder influence including audiences for scaled engagement nationally or across industries, and precision-mapped circles around a decision-maker, staff, colleagues, donors, and the people they trust.
How does a Halo sphere come together?
Each hyper-targeted sphere combines the stakeholder's personal and professional circle (family, staff, company executives, board members, former colleagues) with their influence circle (policymakers and philanthropic connections), matched to about 2,000 real individuals. All of this is ready for digital activation with paid advertising.
Can I run the campaign through my own media team, or does Tunnl handle it?
Tunnl does not buy or place media. Your team runs the ads on whatever platform it already uses. Tunnl also works directly with your media buyer to measure reach and optimize delivery as the campaign flight progresses.
How is a Halo different from targeting by demographics or geography?
While many audiences are built around broad profiles, demographics, or even behaviors, these audiences are built using high-fidelity professional data for this specific use case. Instead of guessing that someone might be influential, we know based on their current job status, role, and proximity to key stakeholders.
What else is included in Halo?
Halo contains three solutions. Tunnl runs a quarterly Halo insights survey targeted at U.S. Policy Opinion Makers to understand and gauge how this influential group reacts and understands brand, policy, and cultural issues. Halo also includes scaled up, ready-made audiences for influence nationally or across industries, for campaigns that need to move a whole statehouse or national conversation. The third solution are the Halo spheres, custom curated around the stakeholders that matter to each situation. You can put the entire solution to work as a Tunnl Platform subscriber.
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