Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D-I-Y’ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
Over the course of this series we’ve talked a lot about city, county and state house races and yet, one issue that hasn’t come up as frequently is why we fight to win these small races. In our forum at Netroots Nation in 2016, I was asked: “What impact do these races have, really?”
This week, we’re going to discuss the kind of impact that your city and county elected officials make, and why great campaigns by them are essential to ensuring Democratic success in the future.
Recruiting people to run for city & county offices is often one of the more difficult recruitment trips you can make. People have a fair understanding of what state and federal office holders do, but they may not recognize the importance of local elected officials. As a result, these offices have become almost open playing fields for Republicans. This week, I’m going to focus on why these races are very important for our Democratic campaigns, not just as a set of starter wheels for future campaigns, but for how we live day to day.
City and counties are the immediate actors on our day to day life.
While we spend a lot of time on Daily Kos discussing federal campaigns and the race for US House and Senate, we don’t often discuss our municipalities and county office holders. Most Americans, though, are much more likely to run for local office, and all Americans are impacted by the decisions of local office holders.
Often, we only hear about city governments when things have gone horribly wrong, like Ferguson, Missouri or Detroit, Michigan. But policies put in place by city and county governments have a major impact on issues on national policy issues.
Large cities and counties are the ones who act as the vehicle to promote everything from body cameras to nondiscrimination policies in local businesses. As a result, city and county governments can have a big impact on how you live your life.
Great elected officials in your school board, city government, and county government can significantly improve the life of the residents in that community, no matter who is in the White House.
Your school boards can help set up the kind of education environment your student participates in. Great school boards can make a positive difference; bad school boards? Well, bad school boards can make poor financial decisions, push agendas, or work against the educational goals of children.
And, no matter what a governor or president says, your city officers decide where the stop lights go and how to handle policing practices.
I want to run for one of these offices, but I might not know enough. How do I learn?
City offices can be councils, committees, or even mini-legislatures. School boards can be large or small, divided by wards, districts, or schools in multi-school districts. If you are considering running for any of these offices, the best way to become familiar with them is to attend public meetings.
Meetings of your city government and school boards are open to the public, and you can go and watch how your school board works. You may find that your school board or city council member effectively represents you. However, if you have concerns about the direction of these offices, why not run?
In many places—even larger communities, these races can be unchallenged or face a fleet of new comers. In Knox County, Tennessee, the races featured real discussions of issues, but not a lot of money spent or attention.
If this happens in large county elections, what happens in your local small communities? You’ve got it. Around the country, numerous races for city councils and school boards and county officers go unchallenged.
If you go to your local meetings, you can determine what is happening in your city and county offices, or your school board, and build an idea of why you should run. Frankly, in many areas of the country if you make a habit of going to the school board meeting you have an inside track to becoming a school board member.
Democratic mayors are one of our most important resources.
In a letter sent to DNC members, Barbara Moore advocated for the Democratic municipal officials saying: "Even in places where traditional Democratic voters have been seduced by national Republicans, voters continue to place their trust in local Democrats.”
Mayors are often the face of that advocacy, and effective mayors present communities with a standard of what local leadership looks like. Mayors of large cities, of course, can help set the tone for our nation, but it is often mayors of small municipalities that have opportunities for transformational moves for their community.
Mayors can promote everything from green environmental policies, community transportation options and work to address food deserts.
Think it takes a long time to integrate yourself and make change? Tell that to Rachel Hundley, who moved to Sonoma and three years later finds herself the mayor. Now, she’s in a position to make changes about how that community grows, and those impacts matter for every one of the residents.
Final Thoughts
Often, we dismiss races for school board, city councils, mayoral and county offices as “small ball.” This attitude on behalf of too many Democratic party members is a deterrent to great candidates. But these small offices can make a big difference, up and down the ballot. Sly James, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, made the case this way: “If you have more Democratic mayors and local elected, you can do a lot of good, and stop a whole lot of bad.”
Next Week on Nuts & Bolts: Candidate Training Programs. Are they worth it?
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Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.