North Texas just wrapped another “nonpartisan” election weekend, but you wouldn’t know it from the partisan flyers, web pages, emails, texts and social media posts prevalent throughout the region. In Mansfield, for example, the partisanship was palpable as the Lone Star Project on the left and Keep Tarrant Red on the right went all in for their respective candidates, incumbent Mayor Michael Evans and his challenger, Julie Short, supported by Republicans.
That mash-up of curb-and-gutter issues with culture-war cash is now the norm across North Texas. The only real question for anyone eyeing local office is not whether partisan forces will brand you red or blue, but how ready you are when they do.
For would-be candidates looking to enter the fray but refrain from choosing a side, there’s good news: You won’t have to; a side will be chosen for you, says political scientist Matthew Wilson.
The PACs pick a side — yours.
“With these PACs — whether they are left-leaning or right-leaning, or whatever their ideological mission — they really pressure candidates to sign on to become part of a list or an endorsement slate,” says Wilson, an associate professor at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. “If they decline to do so, it can be very difficult to get elected since these local elections tend to be low turnout affairs that can be controlled by the activist base. If candidates don’t get on board with one slate or another, it can be tough to retain their office or get elected in the first place.”
The reality check
Every May, a fresh slate of volunteers decides it’s their turn to run. Some hope to stanch the partisan flow. That ship sailed a decade ago, Wilson says, especially in school board contests. Hot-button issues — race, sexuality, curriculum, etc. — give outside groups a turnkey way to mobilize voters. City council budgets, meanwhile, are parsed through ideological lenses, too. Mansfield’s Short, for instance, referred to funding partnerships with food banks as “opening Pandora’s box.” These cracks, small as they might appear, give oxygen for opponents to label one another, creating just the opportunity needed for partisan players to swoop in.
“Some people might want to spend money differently than others, and that can provide an opening for people to insert a partisan lens, as they try to pigeonhole the opponent,” said Wilson. Whichever tag — “left-wing Democrat” or “MAGA Republican” —drives turnout, that’s the one your rivals will use, he says.
Campaigning in a partisan minefield
When politicians and leaders lament how low turnout is at the core of what ails elections nationwide, I don’t disagree, but increasing turnout in local elections appears to be a pipedream at the moment. My counsel to would-be politicians is to face reality, not run from it.
- Nail your colors to the mast. Voters will ask which state or national players you back. You don’t have to cheer them on, but you’d better be clear whose jersey you’re wearing.
- Plant your flag first. On Day 1, drop a single-page making clear “this is who I am and what I stand for.” Otherwise, a slate card writes that story for you.
- Control the money narrative. Post your donor list each week, bragging about the checks you turn down. If you don’t tell that story, your opponent will.
- Carry a 20-second, no-flinch answer on abortion, guns, DEI, policing — everything your office can’t touch but every voter will ask about.
- Prepare a digital campaign to fight rumors spread online.
- Line up bipartisan character witnesses early. These should be retired mayors, prominent community figures, local clergy. Their faces snuff out caricatures before they catch fire.
- Disabuse yourself of the notion that you’re running a local election.
Right on cue, last week I spoke by phone to a friend who is a resident of a nearby city and who’s gearing up to run for city council next May, after years of service to his community. The goal, he said, is to do things differently: run for office without the support or the backing of partisan players by occupying the middle ground, in hopes of changing the tone and showing the community that it can be done effectively. My answer wasn’t the one he expected.
“Don’t run for office, then,” I said. “There is no such thing as a middle ground in politics now. In today’s scorched-earth politics, the middle isn’t neutral ground; it’s the blast zone. Suit up or stay home.”