Competitive Races Benefit Other Candidates

I’ve been going over numbers in various parts of town and it reminded me about something I’ve never really written about in-depth.

Obviously countywide races are run differently than district races. Often the district races get over-looked because of the fact that countywide races are bigger and involve more people and money. But there is a reason people like to run on slates in some races.

Because they understand the ability to pool resources and make your campaign dollars stretch is very helpful. Every voter costs a certain amount of money to get to the polls. Every savvy campaign takes that in to consideration.

But there is a huge benefit to some candidates when they are running countywide and there is a competitive race going on in a sub-district. When there is a competitive race in a sub-district, and its an area you are popular in, you are going to reap some benefits. Campaigns might be sticking knives in each other trying to get each vote, but if you are popular in the area and running for something like a judicial race, you could care less who wins, you just want the campaigns to work hard and get votes out for you.

Look at a race in the valley like the Gonzalez-Chavez race. Anyone running a countywide race benefits from the turnout of a competitive race like that.

So it will be interesting to see what competitive races are out there in this election and who will benefit.

Stay tuned because the races are just around the corner and campaigning and fundraising have already started.