I thought this would be an interesting and unusual thread. Certainly one that hasn’t been around the bend a few times.
So.
I am running for City Council-at-Large in my small town in Ohio. Should enough people be interested I will answer questions and share my experiences on the campaign trail and events and suchlike.
I ran for County Commissioner here as a Democrat last year but, um, it wasn’t exactly a good year for it, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, if you fine people are interested this could be interesting.
Is there a specific issue motivating you to stand for election?
What does ‘Council-at-Large’ mean? Is it that you’d be representing the whole city, rather than a specific ward/borough/geographical area of voters?
What type of voting method is it? First post the post, preferential, STV etc?
Are there limits on the amount of money that you can spend on your campaign? What is going to be your main means of canvassing votes: advertising, public meetings, doorknocking etc?
What does a County Commissioner do? (I know that’s not the job you’re after this time, but I’m still interested).
Is there a specific issue motivating you to stand for election?
I’ve always been a business development guy. I want to see the city reach out more to help new small businesses form.
What does ‘Council-at-Large’ mean? Is it that you’d be representing the whole city, rather than a specific ward/borough/geographical area of voters?
Yes, that’s it exactly. I would be one of three who represent the city in its entirety rather than a specific region.
What type of voting method is it? First post the post, preferential, STV etc?
It’s in the US so there’s nothing fancy about it. But there are three slots for At-Large so the top three vote getters hold office.
Are there limits on the amount of money that you can spend on your campaign? What is going to be your main means of canvassing votes: advertising, public meetings, doorknocking etc?
**There are no spending limits for any elected position in the US of which I am aware. Last year I spent about $15,000 in my losing campaign. The average amount spent for an at-large seat is between $1500 and $2000 so I’d estimate somewhere in there. Though a lot of my name recognition work was performed last year so that initial $15000 will still have benefit.
I’ve been doing some meetings and I’ll do door-knocks and I’ll have volunteers do the same. There will certainly be some television and radio ads for the final six weeks of the race or so. For now it’s quiet.**
What does a County Commissioner do? (I know that’s not the job you’re after this time, but I’m still interested).
In Ohio a County Commissioner is an indepedant official (there are three) that represents the state government to the citizenry. They oversee road and water and such outside of municipalities. They also oversee the Sheriff and other functions.
I was required to get 50 signatures from citizens of the city who met these requirements:
Of voting age
Lived inside the city
Of my party
The procedure is designed to determine who gets to compete in the May 3rd primary for each party. I had several people help me with that and got on with little trouble.
True for 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties. In Cuyahoga (greater Cleveland) and Summit (greater Akron) counties, there is an elected county executive, sort of like a president or mayor of the county, and a county council, which is the legislature of the county.
I’d say it’s harder without a party, yes. However, those without a party who are running independent, can get on the November ballot by turning in 250 signatures by the primary. So for them there’s the ability to skip the primaries completely and to find oneself on the final ballot regardless of party. But without the organization behind you it does become more difficult to get elected.
This is really not meant to be rude although it may sound that way…
So you raised a near record amount and lost? My question would be what have learned from that experience that leads you to believe you’ll be more succesful this time around? In my experience many (maybe even most) campaigns don’t learn from prior mistakes.
Also, I’m not sure I quite understand your numbers, 15K for County, but only 1.5K for City? Or is there a zero dropped somewhere? And you’re going to run tv ads? On 1.5K? Things are sure cheaper in Ohio…
Who determines which parties hold primaries? What prevents somebody from just gathering fifty signatures, declaring his followers a political party, and having himself chosen as that party’s nominee, in order to avoid the 250 signature requirement for an independant?
With three open slots being filled by a common election, do parties run multiple nominees? Do they limit it to three?
I’m not sure what the value of that would be, since anyone who can’t find 250 family and friends to sign a petition has no chance whatsoever in the election.
I can’t speak to Ohio specifically, but I think in most states it’s tied to performance in a previous election. Typically something like any registered party that received more than some percentage of the vote for a statewide office in the last general election.
Here in Colorado, a conservative former Republican, Tom Tancredo, ran for governor last year under the Constitution Party after losing the Republican primary to a tea party activist. There was some hope among Democrats that the Republican candidate, who ran an abysmal campaign, would get less than the required percentage (ten percent, I think) and relegate the Republicans to “minor party” status for the next election cycle: meaning no state-funded primary and no favored position on the ballot. (“Major” parties, i.e., Democrats and Republicans usually, get listed first.) In the end, he managed to get just enough to keep the Republicans a major party while splitting the conservative vote, and so helped the Democrat, John Hickenlooper, get a well-deserved (IMO) victory in a tea-party-dominated year.
A former local Mayor (age 76) formerly of my party, getting into the race as an independent. He and I split the D vote and lost. It was frustrating.
Also, I said I raised a near record amount not that I spent a near record amount. My Republican opponent had been a successful businessman for many years and spent twice what I did from his pocket. He raised less than $1000 from donors.
There are a few things that make me believe I’ll have better luck this time.
First, of course, is that I chose to run for a position for which there are multiple winners. I don’t have to come in first (though I would like to) but rather in the top three. There are currently five major party candidates so I think I have a shot. In addition, the average needed to attain election is 1750 votes for this position (over the last ten years) and even with the former Mayor I took 1200 in these precincts last year (he took about the same so if I can hold 50% of his take I should make it. In addition two of the three incumbents elected not to run again.
As for expenses? The difficulty in the county is the sheer size of it. One of the largest by square miles in the state of Ohio it’s also very thinly populated making door-to-door and direct mail expensive. In addition, with the hotly contested WV Senate race and the Ohio governor’s race last year television time became expensive. I didn’t buy any but the only broadcast TV station in the area charge $3500 per 30 second spot over the last two weeks. I bought six weeks on cable (eight channels) and one week of ‘The Today Show’ on broadcast as well as a bunch of radio ($18 per spot).
Yes, it’s cheaper here. That figure I mentioned (1.5 - 2k) represents the outlier for campaign expenses for similar races over the last ten years. I feel confident in my numbers.