OSINT resources for political campaigns

In this article, we'll explore OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) resources for political campaigns. Whether you are conducting opposition research, looking for questionable things for your own campaign to develop a strategy for any potential surprises, or looking at how your constituents are responding to information from all sides, these resources will help your camp in its efforts to address these questions.

News media

From local newspapers to national news outlets, you can learn about the causes, organizations and groups your opponent supports or aligns with. You will see that the people in their orbit are their strongest supporters. With this information at hand, your campaign can begin relationship mapping, which may reveal interesting exploration opportunities.

Google Alerts [ https://www.google.com/alerts ]: Set the keywords you want Google to monitor and send them to your email address or RSS feeds.

Campaign contributions

See who is contributing to your opponent and give your campaign a better chance of finding out who is in your opponent's orbit. On the other side of the coin, who is in your candidate's orbit. This allows you to address any potential issues on your side and possibly adjust your message to appeal to your opposition's followers.

followthemoney.org [ https://www.followthemoney.org/ ]: This site has a wealth of data to explore. When looking at candidates, a few points of interest are the "Top Donors" and "Top Industries" sections.

OpenSecrets [ https://www.opensecrets.org/ ]: Similar to followthemoney.org, but more focused on national public officials, dark money, lobbying, and news.

Blockchain.com [ https://www.blockchain.com/explorer ]: A resource like blockchain.com’s explorer allows you to view Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash transactions. In the 2020 election cycle candidates jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon and began accepting donations. If you know the candidate’s crypto address, you can use sites like blockchain.com, or similar, to see transactions from their wallet.

Social media

Through social media, we are dipping our toes into the SOCMINT (Social Media Intelligence) space. From social networks to online forums to blogs, there are tons of places to explore. What your constituents post on social media platforms will tell you what they think about the issues, what they think about your candidate, and what you disagree with. If your candidates and opponents are active on social media, the content they share is also valuable.

Use their search function to find content manually, regardless of the platform. Whether it's about the candidate you're working with, the opposition, or to see what voters are talking about. Plan the keywords to search for and also include hashtags for topics.

Google Social Search [ https://www.social-searcher.com/google-social-search/ ]: This custom search engine allows you to search Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. This allows you to scratch the surface of these social media platforms based on search results.