diff --git a/scripts/populate_new_carrier_startup_campaign.py b/scripts/populate_new_carrier_startup_campaign.py
index eceaac2..e9eac57 100644
--- a/scripts/populate_new_carrier_startup_campaign.py
+++ b/scripts/populate_new_carrier_startup_campaign.py
@@ -204,25 +204,19 @@ def usable_email_filter(cols: set[str]) -> str:
 
 
 def startup_date_filter(cols: set[str], days: int) -> str:
-    # FMCSA add_date is text in the seed migration. It is commonly YYYY-MM-DD or
-    # MM/DD/YYYY depending on import source, so handle both and fall back to row
-    # creation date if parsing fails.
-    parts = []
-    if "add_date" in cols:
-        parts.append(
-            """
-            CASE
-              WHEN add_date ~ '^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}' THEN add_date::date
-              WHEN add_date ~ '^\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{4}$' THEN to_date(add_date, 'MM/DD/YYYY')
-              ELSE NULL
-            END >= CURRENT_DATE - (%(recent_days)s::int * INTERVAL '1 day')
-            """
-        )
-    if "created_at" in cols:
-        parts.append("created_at >= NOW() - (%(recent_days)s::int * INTERVAL '1 day')")
-    if not parts:
-        return "TRUE"
-    return "(" + " OR ".join(parts) + ")"
+    # Use FMCSA's carrier add_date only. Do not fall back to our row created_at,
+    # because historical FMCSA carriers can be newly imported into our database.
+    if "add_date" not in cols:
+        raise RuntimeError("fmcsa_carriers.add_date is required for new-carrier targeting")
+    return """
+    (
+      CASE
+        WHEN add_date ~ '^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}' THEN add_date::date
+        WHEN add_date ~ '^\\d{1,2}/\\d{1,2}/\\d{4}$' THEN to_date(add_date, 'MM/DD/YYYY')
+        ELSE NULL
+      END
+    ) >= CURRENT_DATE - (%(recent_days)s::int * INTERVAL '1 day')
+    """
 
 
 def has_order_exclusion_clause(order_cols: set[str]) -> str: