Should You Run?

So what’s it like to run for office? We spoke with five experts – Dems who currently hold local or state office or have recently. They all have excellent advice, suggestions, cautionary tales and inspirational experiences to share.

We spoke with:

Eric Delehoy, previously candidate for Oregon House District 44; lost to an appointed candidate.

Mark Gamba, currently Oregon state representative, House District 41; previously Mayor of Milwaukie, Milwaukie City Councilor, member of the Clackamas County Coordinating Committee and Metro Mayors’ Consortium-Executive Committee

Jan Lee, currently member of the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Directors; previously Sandy city council member, Oregon state representative, chair of Clackamas County Democrats, vice president of Oregon Trail Democrats, Clackamas County Planning Commission

Robert Massey, currently Milwaukie City Councilor; previously member of the Milwaukie Planning Commission

Rob Wagner, currently Oregon state senator, Senate District 19 and President of the Oregon State Senate; previously member of the Lake Oswego School Board

Below are our questions and their responses.

Tell us about the first time you ran for office.

Massey: I was engaged with the community, and I was in my fourth year on the planning commissions. I wanted to take on a wider variety of issues important to Milwaukie. I talked with current and past city councilors – which is really the best insight you’ll get – and people were very forthcoming with providing their experience and what steps to take.

There is a lot of information you need to access, like online forms and fees. Filing and running involve quite a bit of work, more than you might think. You have to keep track of campaign contributions and report on them, and you have to set up a campaign committee. You can do this on your own or work with a company that does this for you. My expenses were $1500 or so to run my campaign.

I was running against someone with a lot of name recognition (Elvis Clark). He’s well-known and a prolific writer and he often testifies in public meetings. So my biggest issue was getting my name out there. I really focused on name recognition.

I had a website that listed my policies so people could learn more about me. You have to build a website, and that takes time; spend time on this but not too much.

You also have to write for the voters pamphlet and meet the word count. You also have to get endorsed by your party if possible.

Special interest groups will also want to interview you for a possible endorsement, and they might have a lot of paperwork you have to fill out too. I have mixed emotions about this process. The downside is they want you to commit to various agendas, and I was generally uncomfortable with it. I didn’t want to commit until I heard all points-of-view, and I told one group that.

One of the more valuable things I did was to provide info to Clackamas Review, and they turned it into a piece about me and my opponent. That turned out to be very valuable. I did not go door-to-door and did not think this was a good time investment. I elected to meet people on the sidewalk at the farmers market, and I wore a lanyard around my neck and worked to get my name out there.

I got on the slate card, and I made that decision to get my name in everyone’s house.

I took out an ad in the Clackamas Review, which was my biggest expense - it was a quarter-page, and it got my name and photo out there.

Gamba: I ran for City Council back in 2012. I had never run for office before and had no idea what I was doing. My wife was my treasurer, and she said she would do it once and then never again. The mayor recommended I knock on doors, and the most common question I had was “we have a city council??”

I raised about $3600.00. I did yard signs and a mailer and knocked on doors whenever I could. I was working on a feature film and that limited my time. It helped that I was an active and outspoken planning commissioner.

Wagner: I have been very politically active for a couple of decades, and then when Trump was elected, I remember my daughter was weeping. I told her I will do anything I can so you can be anything you want to be. My mom and sisters who are teachers and they were planning their trip to the march on Washington, D.C., and I started planning my run for school board.

I had a lot of endorsements, I had interviews, I had 187 donors and raised more than $26k in a matter of weeks. I ran unopposed.

Lee: The first time was for state legislator. I was in a swing district – Happy Valley to Estacada – and it was a contentious race. Future PAC spent a lot of time with me, helping with the campaign. We had TV ads, radio talk show interviews and knocked on lots and lots of doors.

I had a number of training sessions, including training from lobbyists, training in speaking publicly, training for the TV ads, training on how to modulate the ads. It cost over $400,000 the second time I ran. Currently Janelle Bynum has this seat (HD39), and she spent close to a million dollars. Running in a swing district is very difficult in terms of funding.

I had an advantage, because I had been doing lobbying work, so I was able to get lobbyists’ support of money and time.

Delehoy: Sometimes you run even though it doesn’t matter, because it’s already been decided. We need people outside of the organizations to run and to listen to people, and that’s where I come from – outside of the echo chambers. The candidate I ran against knew everyone, and I was blown away by the huge wall that was built in front of the campaign. I wasn’t able to tell my story to the constituents. I felt like people should have been given a choice, even though I didn’t think I’d win. I knew I wouldn’t get it, when I heard the position would be filled by an appointment.

It was an eye-opening experience. There were some structural hurdles put in front of voters. People often say: ‘That’s just politics.’ But does it have to be?

Would you do anything differently today?

Massey: Probably not; I won by a wide margin.

Gamba: Not that much, really. I thought the yard signs were worth the money; people want to support you, and it’s important to them to be able to support you when you’re their candidate. Fundraising and house parties are not the best way to raise money, but they are a great way to meet and greet many people all at once who want to meet with you.

Lee: There is so much you have to do a certain way to be successful. If I was running today, I’d have support from the local party. Back then there was limited local level support.

Delahoy: When you start a campaign, you have no idea what you’re getting into. What I learned was to discover my own voice and be clear with that. My campaign manager told me not to label myself and to instead talk about what I believe and what I stand for instead. And then the campaign became so enjoyable. I wouldn't listen to consultants this time around. I understand people in my district more than a consultant would. I understand myself more.

I would have been braver and called the appointment out for what it was. I would have said that the voters need to decide this.

I think it’s really detrimental for elected officials and organizations to engage in primaries. For example, I didn’t get the Planned Parenthood endorsement, but I greatly support womens’ reproductive autonomy. When you have two strong candidates it doesn’t make sense to have those groups involved. That’s what I wish was different. How can we get some of the machinations out of a primary?

Did you work with the Democratic Party of Clackamas County on your election?

Wagner: In the school board race I didn’t, but I have been involved with the DPCC for a long time. I was secretary in the 90s, and I was a delegate years ago too. And I have always been a Precinct Committee Person. When I was going for the senate appointment, PCPs were critical. They are the ones who select a candidate and forward it to the county. I talked to every PCP. I spoke to the group once, and I asked them who knew me, and they all raised their hands.

Massey: Democratic endorsements outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. I got the DPCC’s endorsement. DPCC District Leaders know me because I am a Precinct Committee Person and a Neighborhood Leader, so some of them displayed my yard signs, which is also a great way to get name recognition.

Lee: It would have been nice to have the DPCC’s Neighborhood Leader program back when I ran for legislature 20 years ago. We didn’t have that in Clackamas County back then. I think that is a super tool to have now. Social media is also available now. We didn’t have that and other digital tools 20 years ago.

Gamba: I won my first mayoral race with 92% of the vote and then was voted back in with similar numbers. When I needed the party really badly was when I ran for the primary for Congress. I didn’t get it, but I think I did get people to start thinking about incumbents vs new candidates and ask themselves, if there is an incumbent who doesn’t support our platform, should we still endorse the incumbent?

What I learned from Jamie McLeod-Skinner’s race is that Republicans are willing to utterly lie, and we have to assume that going in. We believe if we tell people the facts they will vote the right way, and that doesn’t work when your opponent is willing to completely lie, and nothing you say can counter that lie. We have to think very hard about that as a party: How will we work to counter straight-up lies?

What advice would you give to a first-time candidate?

Gamba: It depends on what they are running for. I have had dozens and dozens of new people come to me, and I always spend a couple of hours with them to give them everything I can like introductions to the people you need to talk with. We don’t do that as a party. When you talk to voters, they think the party is choosing who runs in the primaries, but we don’t do that, and as a party we don’t talk to them or help them. Maybe in general we do; but by then they have been through the gauntlet. I have been helping candidates at every level since I became mayor.

Lee: You have to have plans, you have to be ready, you have to have thought out what your position is and have your talking points ready on all the issues. When I ran for legislature, I was putting out published ads through a firm and putting out TV ads. I had so much support, which is the one positive thing about running in a swing district.

Wagner: Get some training. Learn about your district, and go deep on that. Know what you are running for and what you stand for. Get to know who the players are, and be active in your community. It takes a lot of grit. You have to be willing to spend the time and be active out there.

Be really diligent and, depending on the size of your community, you can really talk to a lot of people. You can knock on as many doors as you want, and that costs nothing but time.

Massey: There’s going to be significant time demands. You owe it to your constituents and yourself to put in the time to be an effective and productive officeholder. And be available to people.

Someone can call me or talk to me on the sidewalk, and they will get the same response: I will recommend they submit comments in writing even by email to city staff or come to a public meeting and testify. We need to hear all views before making a commitment.

Delahoy: Surround yourself with people you know and trust. You need people to give you unfettered advice. Be careful whom you trust. Be true to yourself and your values. Then you can serve authentically. If you can win by being yourself, that is the goal, but it’s hard to do that.

What do you wish you knew before you ran?

Lee: I wish I knew how much time it took for campaigning. If I’d known, I might not have done it. Three to four hours campaigning a day and then hours on the phone making fundraising calls.

Massey: Serve on a board or commission before you run, and see if you like it.

Gamba: When I ran for Congress, fundraising was such a critical part of a race at that level, and I had never had to do that before. All of my earlier races I raised between $3-5000, and I did that through phone calls. The sheer amount of effort you have to put in to get your message out to those numbers of voters is hard to believe until you have done it. I started a year before the primary, and while I had a lot of contacts going into the race, it was still super hard to raise the kind of money it takes, especially if you’re principled about what money you will accept. That makes it really hard to raise the money you need to raise.

The experience set me up well for running for State representative – that was a piece of cake compared to running for Congress.

What information specific to Clackamas County should a candidate know?

Lee: You should know the logistics of the county. You can learn about the economics and the makeup of the residents on the county website. Learn about the people you represent and what the issues important to them are. The same is true with Sandy. I read the minutes from past meetings from several years and talked to people to learn more about the issues there.

Wagner: Be aware of multiple constituencies, depending on where you are. A county race is fascinating because it is hard to define. Know your constituency, know what you are running for.

Gamba: The cities in Clackamas County have a dinner every month with the mayors and city councilors, and this is a way to network and get to know each other, to share what you’re working on, what has been successful and what hasn’t been successful. You can meet people and find out what they are interested in.

It’s important to follow all the legal requirements to get registered. Signatures are needed to even get on the ballot, as defined by the city where you run, and everything goes through the election board. Your city residency had to be verified.

What are the advantages of running even if you lose? What skills do you learn?

Delahoy: You come out with a lot of confidence. It brings you back to you. I’m still that scrawny, small-town farm boy.That’s my values and how I navigate the world, and that never changes. That was super powerful, and it made my family relationships better. If you're running for the right reasons, you are gaining a lot of perspective.

I would change the circumstance but I don't regret running at all. Not at all.

Lee: The skills you develop as a result of campaigning you can use in your life, in your job. You gain confidence, develop speaking skills, get involved in your community and get to work on local issues.

Wagner: In the “Red to Blue Program,” we encouraged candidates to run even if we knew the numbers weren’t there, which held opponents to account for their votes. It’s important to get people to run for a lot of different positions.

Massey: You learn more through failure. I gained confidence too since I ran against an opponent, so I’ve been battle-tested.

How much time does your current position take?

Lee: In the legislature it was full-time. For the conservation district it’s about a day-and-a-half a month. For city council it was three to four days a month. We had committees we were on in Sandy that met once a month.

Massey: 15-20 hours a week; there are meetings, and there is a lot of research and readings you have to keep up with. We each have a portfolio of commissions or boards (3 or 4 assignments) some can be internal to the city, but some are regional, like Metro transportation for example. Some of these can be time demanding. Others include Milwaukie’s Audits board, Regional Water Suppliers Board, various social service consortiums. Some meet monthly, some meet quarterly, and you have to be there to be heard.

What are the next steps a newly elected official should be thinking about?

Lee: Continue to learn the issues and be involved locally in the community. It’s important to understand the budget and financial information. I have been on various city budget and financial committees, and that experience really helps you learn about your community. I encourage people to look for city, county and state committees that are available.

Massey: Network, get familiar with your assignments and attend the meetings.

Why should someone run for office? What are the benefits?

Wagner: At the core it goes back to the definition of community service in a democracy - regardless of the position, school board or Congress. In order to have a functioning democracy, we need people who are engaged. The day that I walk into the Oregon State Capitol, and I look at the rotunda, and this job loses its sense of awe and responsibility and feels more of a job than public service – that's the day I step down. It’s really about giving back to your community, about public service.

Delahoy: It’s a difficult decision to run for office. If someone wants to make things better, and they want to serve, they should run. They should think about how they can change their district, not about the next position you can run for. The deep problems we have are not served by someone who is only in the role briefly. I want to see someone who runs and focuses on the difficult problems we need to solve. Don't run for prestige - do it because you want to do the work.

Lee: Because you want to help. You want to be part of the team working to help resolve issues and to make life better for the constituents. Because you want to serve, and not for any other reason. I’ve already worked in natural resources, and the conservation board is very aligned with what I support and know – that is very important.

Gamba: In the best of all possible worlds, people run for office because they believe they can make a positive difference for their community. They are willing to put in the time and the sacrifice for their community. That is why people should run.