Campaigning 101.2 – The sometimes not so obvious basics
It seems so obvious, but the truth is many if not most candidates just don’t get it.
At public forums, in letters to the editor, and when knocking of doors in the neighborhood, candidates will speak with deep personal conviction about issues they are most concerned about – perhaps focused on the environment, food self-sufficiency, or matters of social justice.
The voter listens patiently (or perhaps not) thinking to themselves, “That’s all fine and dandy and yes, important. But what about the potholes I bounce over every single flipping day? What about the unbearable traffic? How come every time I go to a public park there’s no toilet paper? And when are they going to paint my children school and repair the playground equipment?”
In the world of electoral politics, to win, a candidate must connect with the issues most important to voters, not the issue most important to themselves. This doesn’t mean the candidate must set aside their own priorities and values, but it does mean they must listen to voters in their district and elevate those issues front and center – if they want to win.
Yes, speak with passion about those issues you care most deeply about, but speak also with conviction about those issues most important to your constituents – which may be different and focused purely on their own neighborhood, school, road, or park.
To put a point on it – in order to win an election to serve in public office, it’s the constituents who live in the district who vote that matter the most. Yes, you serve everyone and yes you can and should work on those issues that matter most to you personally – but to win you must put the immediate need of voting constituents in the district first.
I’ll never forget a teachable moment my incredibly akamai daughter shared with me, that I will now share with you.
It was mid 1998, I was a candidate for the County Council preparing for an upcoming candidate forum. We were sitting at the dinner table discussing my planned “stump speech” when my young somewhat precocious daughter interrupted to tell me, “Why don’t you just tell them you’re going to get rid of the junk cars?”
Kelli-Rose at 10 years old knew exactly what our community wanted. It was brilliant really. Thankfully she shared that brilliance with her dad who then began talking more about getting rid of junk cars and less about the big picture stuff.
Junk cars – it was not a flashy issue, but it was important to the daily lives of the people living and voting in my community.
The Wall Street Journal a few months earlier ran a front page story calling Kauaʻi “the Garbage Island.”
At the time derelict, abandoned, stripped down, graffiti sprayed cars, were everywhere. There was no Puhi Metals Recycling Facility and the problem seemed at the moment to be insurmountable.
Some will say that today, 25 years later we still have that problem but trust me – todays junk car problem is nothing compared to what it was in 1998.
So what issue is front and center today, at this particular moment in time in your district?
Remember, most voters are older folk. Young people have the very worst voting record. The houseless and unemployed also aren’t known to be particularly dependable voters.
My guess is it’s the high cost of housing, traffic, education and those darn pot-holes. But it could be building that new school, or a safe walkway to that school, or more parking at the beach park, or beach access, or perhaps crime.
Personally, I live in Wailua Homesteads and drive up and down Kuamoʻo Road every single day and I think about those potholes every single day. Rep. Evslin, Senator Kouchi – are you listening?
The candidate who promises to re-pave Kuamoʻo and get rid of those potholes will have my vote in 2024 that’s for sure (unless of course they are corrupt, MAGA, conspiracy theorist, bigoted, or some unhinged/fascist trying to censor our library books).
Note: Please also read “Campaigning 101.1 – First Steps” AND “Campaigning 101.3 – What is the worst thing someone is going to say about you?”