Trade associations can display political prowess through various means. This can be expressed in the form of campaign finance, fundraising capability, successful lobbying efforts, grassroots deployment, among other methods.

For the Alabama Forestry Association (AFA), the state’s most prominent landowner and timber industry advocacy organization, its influence in the U.S. Senate race was exhibited most effectively through well-timed polling.

Katie Britt, who was AFA’s endorsed candidate in the GOP primary contest and the frontrunner to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa), benefited from consistent polling commissioned by AFA from nationally-renowned polling firm McLaughlin & Associates.

As recently outlined by Politico’s Environment & Energy Publishing, which referred to the association as Britt’s “secret weapon,” AFA’s steady release of polling data conveyed to interested parties the viability of Britt’s candidacy throughout the hotly contested race.

The strategically-timed polling, conducted by one of the nation’s leading polling and analytics firms, paid dividends for the first-time candidate’s senatorial bid.

Jim McLaughlin, president and founding partner of the firm, is actively involved in numerous highly watched U.S. Senate races across the nation.

In a recent conversation with Yellowhammer News, McLaughlin spoke to the vigor of the primary contest and described Alabama’s electorate as being well informed.

McLaughlin pointed to early polling commissioned by Club for Growth, which had U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) holding a 43-point lead over Britt. The first-time candidate’s ability to stay the course amid the race’s momentum shifts spoke to Britt’s dynamic skills as a campaigner, said the pollster.

“I really believe the [Alabama] Republican primary and Katie Britt’s victory was one of the most fascinating races in the country,” McLaughlin told Yellowhammer News. “Here you have somebody who was virtually unknown to the electorate and she was running against one guy, who this was his second time running statewide and had a national profile in Mo Brooks. And she was running against somebody like Mike Durant who had a very compelling biography and was also in some ways a national figure.”

“And she starts to campaign with virtually no name identification, and then yet she wins this thing almost two-to-one,” he noted. “It was a truly fascinating race. I think it’s the perfect example of where candidates really matter. She was just the better candidate and she really connected with the Republican primary voters in Alabama. Through good old-fashioned campaigning and grassroots campaigning, first she won the support of the Alabama Republican primary voter, and then she won the support of President Trump.”

According to McLaughlin, Britt’s stock will only continue to rise once she becomes Alabama’s junior senator. He said that the Republican nominee’s popularity among the business community and Evangelical conservatives, both crucial GOP voting blocs, demonstrated Britt’s unique skill set.

“I look at her, I think she could become a national figure. I think she could be a rock star,” McLaughlin said of Britt. “I think she could give you all the good stuff, the great constituent service that Senator Shelby gave you. But I also look at her as being a national figure. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about her at the presidential level.”

Britt enjoyed the support of multiple influential Alabama trade associations. However, AFA’s support of her candidacy was unique in that it is widely seen as the organization that is most closely aligned with the conservative grassroots base of the Republican Party.

While other trade associations hold the capability to direct significant financial support to their favored candidates, within AFA’s arsenal of political weapons sits a well-organized and dedicated grassroots network.

In detailing the association’s efforts on behalf of Britt, AFA president and CEO Chris Isaacson indicated that tapping into the forestry community’s expansive grassroots apparatus paid dividends in delivering vital support to the campaign.

“Once our board endorsed Mrs. Britt, we were directed to do what we could to ensure she was successful,” said Isaacson in a statement to Yellowhammer News. “We don’t have the financial resources that some other organizations do, so it was going to be difficult to have a material impact, especially considering the huge amount of money that was spent on the race. We do have an extensive grassroots network that could make a difference, however.”

By utilizing the services of the Trump-favored polling firm, Isaacson asserted that AFA was able to convey Britt’s support among the state’s GOP electorate to interested parties.

“So we decided to utilize our relationship with Jim McLaughlin to conduct surveys during the course of the election and communicate the results to mobilize that network,” he advised. “Jim and his staff are the best in the business and we knew that we were providing our members with the best information available.”

Isaacson concluded, “We had no idea the race would have as many shifts as it did and it was our surveys that were tracking them. Our members were interested, got involved, and their involvement appears to have made a meaningful impact. We have worked hard on our grassroots and it was gratifying to see it pay off.”

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL