05/20/2020
Thanks & Observations from an Incredible Campaign
Friends and Supporters,
Thank you. Thank you for your ideas, for your encouragement, for your contributions, for your kindness and desire to always keep improving our community. Politics is a challenging endeavor for all of us. Our campaign held true, focusing on making Oregon a better place to live, work, and play for everyone. We are proud of the race we ran, and we couldn't have done it without you.
Oregon’s Primary Election voters last night did not ultimately choose me as their nominee for the Democratic Party in the General Election. There were four candidates vying for the spot, and I congratulate Lisa Reynolds for winning the nomination. Yesterday's result marks the end of this campaign’s bid to represent House District 36 in the 2021 State Legislature.
I’ve learned a lot about how our political and election systems work and must change. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of those thoughts with you so that we may all grow from this experience:
Campaigning v. Governing. It takes a different set of skills to win an election than it does to govern successfully. While we would like elections to be about ideas, they most often end up being about the candidates. Campaigns end up being about me, me, me – this is why I’m great, and this is what separates me from my opponents. Alternatively, good governance is about bringing people together, bridging divides, solving problems, and helping people. We need an election system where the same attributes required for successful, sustained governance are also those which help elect candidates on the campaign trail. So long as there is a divergence, we will continue to have an imbalance.
Money. Unsurprisingly, we were up against great odds, with a nearly 10-1 advantage, other candidates were able to bring in corporate and institutional funding, and tap into special interest messaging that our campaign could not match. I’m proud that we relied primarily on small donations of $50 or less, but we could not compete with $5,000+ donations other candidates were able to secure. This discrepancy in how special interests and wealthy donors can impact elections shifts power away from every day people. We must find ways to take money out of politics.
Contact with voters. The COVID-19 pandemic made it challenging to reach voters in person. Advertising costs big money that most people don’t have. Additionally, working people, or those with families (or attending evening law school), can hardly be expected to knock on doors for hours every day. This limits who can run. New candidates face immense challenges identifying themselves to voters who understandably are busy with their own lives. We need unbiased and fair mechanisms for candidates to reach voters.
Ideas v. buzzwords. Campaigns are not long enough to encourage deep conversation with massive numbers of people – only long-term civic engagement can do that. Campaign messaging inevitably gets boiled down to what someone can fit on a postcard or in a Facebook add (or even worse, it just becomes about name recognition or a popularity contest). Messages often stretch truth to the breaking point, and target audiences have little ability to fact check. This is no way to make informed decisions on who should be running our government. We need ongoing and informed civic discussions focused on fact-based learning, setting goals, and long-term plans rather than sporadic campaigns with evocative buzzwords.
Participation & the Partisan System. We need everyone to get involved and play a part. Oregon has been a national leader, making it easy for voters to participate with vote-by-mail, however, many people still do not vote. Non-partisan voters cannot help pick candidates in partisan primaries -- the whittling of candidates who are most likely to go on to win in general elections. This tends to have the effect of selecting polarized voices who in turn represent a select group rather than everyone. This encourages divided government. Options like ranked-choice voting and open primaries may help counter this. We also need informed, moderate voices to speak up on important issues rather than stay silent.
These are just a few observations and thoughts I’ve had based on many individual and shared experiences over the campaign. I am humbled by how much I have learned from this experience, which has been quite different than I had first imagined. I hope my observations are informative for you too, as you journey through the world of civics and politics.
Once again, I’m incredibly grateful for all the ideas and support I’ve received during this campaign. A campaign is not a solo sport, and I'm proud of our team. I will take these lessons forward in efforts to reform the system and make our community a better place. As always, please reach out and connect anytime.
Thank you,
Adam and the team
