How To Win A Local Election When You Have No Money

It doesn’t matter if you have a better grasp of the issues. It doesn’t matter if you have better qualifications than your opponents or you are a more eloquent speaker. The fact is, if you raise and spend less money than your opponent, you are much more likely to lose your election.

In fact, 90% of the time, the better-financed candidate wins. That said, it’s virtually impossible to win a political campaign with no money.

Candidates get their funding in a number of ways. Being personally wealthy certainly provides a significant advantage when running for office. Rich candidates can self-fund their campaigns and do not have to worry about raising money. They also tend to have a circle of friends and acquaintances who can make substantial donations. That lessens the need for more ‘grassroots’ or small donations from individual donors.

But let’s assume you are not wealthy. Let’s assume you are broke, or nearly broke. You don’t have much of a budget, but you still want to make a run for office.

That means you must fundraise and build a donor base. Local races usually cost several thousand dollars to run. But if you are running for Congress or state office, you’ll need to raise a lot more money. According to USAFacts, the median fundraising amount for Senate race winners was $5 million in 1996, when adjusted for inflation. By 2018, it had risen to $11 million. In that year, the eight successful Senate non-incumbents spent an average of $23.8 million.

The costs are even higher today. Because of this, working-class people may find it extremely difficult to afford a run, especially for federal office.

Even for local school board or town council races, you’ll still need to raise and spend a significant amount of money.

Here is a basic outline for winning a political campaign without much money:

Put together a strong team
How much money do you need to win an election?
Raise initial funds to get started
Open a campaign bank account
Friends and family – your first donors
Set up your ways to accept donations
Throw a kick-off fundraiser
Leverage influencers
Leverage your grassroots efforts
Leverage technology to win
Always follow the law
Conclusion

A political candidate with no money is in for a tough race…

How to win a local election – Put together a strong team

One of the most important parts of any political organization is the campaign team. Those positions include the campaign manager, fundraising manager, event coordinator, volunteer coordinator, finance director (treasurer), and grassroots coordinator. Larger organizations may have additional positions such as a communications and advertising director.

Local candidates, like those for the school board or city or town council, may not have a large team. If you don’t have money to hire staff, you’ll need to leverage your friends and supporters to handle the various roles. Everyone involved should know the chain of command and where they fit in the organization.

In small municipal races, one person may handle several roles in running an effective grassroots organization. What your campaign lacks in size, you will need to make up for in strategy.

A dedicated team can perform more effectively than a large team. Focused volunteers and staff can be extremely productive if they are committed to helping you win a political campaign. (This is how to win an election as an underdog candidate.) Hiring the right people can be a big advantage, but that can be done as the organization grows.

How much money will you need to win the election?

Winning a local election starts by getting your finances in order. To start, you should determine your foreseeable expenses and make a budget. That will tell you how much money you will need for the campaign. This includes signage, print and online ad spending.

How many mailers you’re going to send out? What staff, if any, are you going to hire? What other expenses do you expect to incur? The amount can be influenced by several factors. If you face a primary or are up against multiple opponents, you may find that you need a greater budget.

Look up how much money was spent by the winner of the last few elections. That should give you an idea of how much you should expect to raise and spend.

To achieve that number, you’ll need basic fundraising plan. Say you determine that you need $25,000 to be competitive in the race. Your donor breakdown could look something like this:

50 donations of $500 = $25,000
125 donations of $250 = $25,000
250 donations x $100 = $25,000
500 donations x $50 = $25,000
1,000 donations x $25 = $25,000

You’ll need a mix of larger and smaller contributions to reach your goal. That’s where your donor research will come into play. You will segment your donor requests based on past history. It makes no sense to ask wealthy donors to contribute $25 when they have a history of contributing larger amounts to similar races.

Besides money, you must know how many votes are required to win. Research into the past few cycles and find out how many votes the winner received. Winning candidates focus on the number of votes they need to win. To get an average cost per voter, divide the amount of money you need by the number of votes required.

Now you have your financial goal and total voter goal.

Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take the first step.
—MUHAMMAD ALI

Raise initial funds to get started

Figuring out how much money you need is the easy part. Now it gets a little more complicated as we put together the pieces of your campaign’s finances.

At this point, let’s assume that you have already established a political committee with your local county Board of Elections.

You’ll need a campaign treasurer to track income and expenditures and handle financial reporting.

Open a campaign bank account

In most jurisdictions, you need a campaign bank account in order to legally deposit political donations. Consider using a local bank, if you can. Here is information on how to open a political campaign bank account.

Friends and family – your first donors

To start, you will need initial seed money. This can be tough for first-time candidates who cannot self-fund. The first people that you will ask to give will be your friends, family and other wealthy supporters you know.

When asking, you should explain why you are running and how their initial support can help. Your initial backers will be some of your strongest advocates going forward. They’ve made an investment in you and your election. They want to see you succeed.

It may be difficult, but if you don’t ask for money, you won’t get any.

Set up ways to accept donations

At this point, you should already have a website in place. While checks are nice, you should be able to offer the ability to make online donations right from the start. A political campaign website can be easily created, makes your budding organization appear established, and it provides a fixed place to send donors.

Next, you’ll need a way to accept donations online. There are a variety of online fundraising services. Some are partisan, most are not. Many services incorporate social sharing, e-ticket sales for events and other viral tools. They are geared for the reporting requirements of states or the FEC.

Some candidates today are ‘testing the waters’ by using crowdfunding services to secure initial financial support. You can get pledges of support before establishing a formal run. It’s a technique that has become more popular for many down-ballot candidates.

Throw a kick-off campaign fundraiser

Once you’ve raised some seed money, you’ll soon have your first opportunity to spend it. Kick off your official campaign by having an event. Some make their initial event free, in order to attract more people to hear the candidate’s message. Other campaigns may make the kickoff event a fundraiser. It’s up to you.

Eventually you will need to host an initial fundraiser. For local candidates, you can go with a number of political fundraising ideas. You may want to go simple, such as an event held at at a friend’s house, a local restaurant or a part. You may want to charge $25 or $50 a person.

Put together a press release (and press packet) to announce your event. Submit it to your local newspapers as a way to announce your candidacy. Promote the event online through your social media and email contacts.

When planning a kickoff event, you will need to front some money to cover expenses. Make sure your event costs and attendee pricing is set up so you will have a positive return on investment (ROI). The last thing you want is to have a fancy event and actually lose money on it at the end of the day.

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Leverage influencers

Find the influencers in your district. These can be individuals or organizations. Be engaged with your local party. They can provide substantial support in the form of donor lists and other information. (But don’t necessarily rely on them for financial backing.)

If you can identify and reach individual and group influencers, then you can leverage their connection networks. For example, non-profit groups may not be able to publicly support a candidate, but you may be able to speak at group meeting. Individuals may help you set up meet-and-greets or host additional fundraising events.

Start early and lock up key endorsements as soon as you can.

Leverage your grassroots efforts

If you can’t afford traditional advertising, you’ll need to boost your grassroots efforts to get your name out there to voters.

A grassroots campaign is about getting your message to the masses on a one-to-one level. These activities can include:

Door to door canvassing – and target your audiences with specific messaging.
Literature drops
Voter registration efforts
Social media – viral media targeting local issues.
Events and fundraisers

You’ll also need yard signs to boost name recognition. You may want to start with a small number early on just to get your name out there.

“The basic job of any campaign is to translate grassroots energy into turnout.”
– Jon Ossoff

Leverage technology to win your election

In all aspects of your campaign, make sure you leverage technology to accomplish your financial and person-to-person goals.

Social media – Use Facebook and Twitter to promote your campaign events. Don’t use personal accounts for your campaign. However, you will want to encourage your personal followers to follow your campaign social media accounts. Facebook advertising is affordable and can be well-targeted to reach specific voter segments. You will want to have your campaign verified well in advance before you start running any ads.
Campaign website – Keep your site up to date with events and news. Make it an inviting place for voters to learn more about you and the issues that effect them. It’s also your donation hub, so you’ll leverage it to raise money. Campaign websites do not need to cost a lot of money. (Use Online Candidate for your political web design needs.)
Accept online donations – Depending on your platform, you can set up donation forms on your website, through email links and through social media. Be sure to track what channels your contributions come through. It will help you become more effective in asking for more support throughout the election cycle. Set up recurring online donations through your fundraising platform so donors so can keep supporting you through Election Day.
Email – This can be one of your most effective digital channels. Start building your email list as soon as you can, starting with friends and relatives. Put a signup form on your website and add emails from offline sources (with permission, of course).
Online advertising – You can advertise on social media, through pay-per-click, through banner advertising on local news sites, through retargeting, P2P text messaging and IP targeting. Those take money, of course, but my the end of the campaign, you should have some money available to advertise and get out the vote.

Always follow the law

You need to know the campaign finance laws and regulations of your state. If you skirt the law, even inadvertently, it can cause problems. It’s a distraction you don’t need and an advantage you don’t want to hand to an opponent.

In conclusion

Let’s face it. You can’t win an election without raising money at some point. The best strategy is to start early, be organized, and leverage every advantage you can. With limited resources, it’s all about getting more votes for less time and less money.

Good luck!

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