Want to get elected in Hamilton? Study finds campaign success doesn't come cheap

Running for election once in 2014, for a Hamilton councillor seat, and once in 2018 for school trustee cost Cam Galindo big bucks.

In 2014, he spent about $7,000 in his failed bid for council. In 2018, when he won the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board trustee seat for Wards 9 and 10, he spent nearly $10,000, more than any other trustee candidate that year.

But coming from a single-parent family,arriving inCanada from Colombiawhen Galindo was seven years old, he didn't have deep pockets.

He says the money largely came from his academic scholarships, which wasn't ideal, but he knew from his first effort that he needed name recognition, which meant flyers and lawn signs in addition to spending all of his available time going door-to-door in the wards.

"Had I not invested as much as I did in mailers in 2018, I wouldn't have been successful," said Galindo, who defeated Wayne Marston, a three-time NDP member of parliament for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, by 388 votes. Now 28, he was 24at the time.

"It was more expensive to have Canada Post deliver my brochures than it was to actually print them, but it was extremely effective."

What 2018 spending averages tellus

There's little question that money plays a big role in political campaigns. But how much does it cost to win a municipal election? That depends on whether you're an incumbent ora challenger, according to an extensive analysis of election financial returns in Ontario's largest cities by Hamilton-based researcherChris Erl.

Erl found that, in Hamilton, it cost challengers nearly twice as much per vote in 2018 as it did for incumbents. He calculated, based on candidates total expensesdivided by number of votes they earned, that $6.34 was the average cost for challengers, compared to $3.92 for incumbents. For wards with open races in 2018, the average cost per vote was$12.30.

Inthis year's municipal election, which will be held on Oct. 24,six out of 15 wards in Hamilton are without an incumbent.

Winning candidates for council spent an average of $24,082.11, compared to an average of $6,896.91 for unsuccessful ones, while Baby Boomer candidates had more to spend than Generation X candidates, who themselves spent more than Millennials.

"There is a very clear connection between the amount of money a candidate will spend and the amount of the vote they get," Erl told CBC Hamilton.

"What this really shows us is the importance of name recognition and how much a candidate has to put into their campaign to earn the trust of someone in the community."

Erl conducted the study as part of his doctoral dissertation in political geography at McGill University.Based on his research, he says a candidate looking to run for council should ask themselves whether they can raise between $18,000 and $30,000.

"For school trustee, $1,500 to $3,000 would probably do it," he adds. It helps if you have some money to donate to your own campaign, he said, notingMayor Fred Eisenberger, and councillors John-Paul Danko (Ward 8) and Nrinder Nann (Ward 3) each gave at least $10,000 to their own campaigns in 2018.

Erldocumented even higher spending in Toronto and Ottawa in 2018.

In Toronto, mayoral candidates raised onaverage$107,869, while the average was$25,471for council candidates. In Ottawa, mayoral candidates raised$40,592on average, compared to$14,297for would-be councillors.

The way Erlsees it, being wealthy helps a campaign, but is not the only element candidates can sometimes make up for lower spending with a reputation as someone who is engaged in the community thus earning them donations from others with deeper pockets.

"You need to be active enough in the community so that when you do go to potential donors and supporters and ask them for money, they will know who you are and trust you to cut that cheque."

'This is an equity issue'

But Galindo, who is not running this year, points out that not everyone has an equal ability to participate in the community enough to earn such recognition, or to take time away from their responsibilities to campaign.

He notes candidates may need to take time away from work during the campaign to make a serious go of it, which can mean less income, putting the whole idea out of reach.

"I was lucky. Because of my relative youth, I probably had fewer responsibilities than other candidates in the race," he says. 'If you're a single mother raising a family, it is hard to find the money but also find the time."

"This is an equity issue," he adds. "It's not surprising to see there isn't a lot of diversity [among those elected] when we have systemic equity issues that contribute to that."

The YWCA Hamilton is among those in the communityworking to change that narrative for women and gender-diverse people of colour, who are typically among the least represented in elections.

Its Reaching for Power program "is about helping folks to engage with local issues in many ways, including learning more about how to delegate at council, utilize social media, understanding platforms, and run a campaign," explained CEO Denise Christopherson in an email to CBC Hamilton.

She notes that women often have less money to put into campaigns because they make less than men on average. In late August, the YWCA released an analysis of candidates running locally that found that while women and gender-diverse represent about 51 per cent of the population, those numbers are not reflected in the people seeking election in this campaign.

• Of more than 70 candidates for Hamilton city council, only 27 are women or gender-diverse.
• Of the 51 candidates for Hamilton school board, only 18 are women.
• In Burlington, 16 of 52 candidates are women.

"There are huge barriers for women and non-binary people when it comes to running at any level of government, but particularly municipal government, which doesn't offer any support from an organized party system," said Christopherson.

"Everyone running for municipal government has to come up with their own campaign team, their own platform, and pay out-of-pocket for signs, literature, advertising, and more.

"As you can imagine, this puts running for municipal government out of reach for so many members of our community often those who are already the most marginalized."