100 Days in a Campaign

As of today, July 16th (the publishing date of this piece), we are 100 days until the 2022 Ontario Municipal Elections. Whether you are reading this article the same day or much later, you might think there is a lot of time until election day. However, for a campaign team, 100 days feels like no time at all. Here are six reasons why.

A good candidate for public office — whether Prime Minister or City Council — wants to meet as many people as possible. And wow, are there a lot of people to meet. Even for a City Council Campaign like Joe’s, there are more than 20,000 households of people to meet. The main strategy for meeting people is door-to-door canvassing. If Joe went canvassing everyday from now until election day, he would have to have conversations at the door with 200 people a day and knock on way more doors than that given the number of people not home and the like.  Obviously, that’s not possible. So, we also use volunteers to reach more people.  Even then, we can’t get to everyone. Given the size of the canvassing task, 100 days goes so quickly.

While canvassing on its own is a huge task, there is so much else to do.  We have to recruit and organize volunteers.  Campaign print material has to be created. Articles like this one have to be written.  Fundraising has to be managed. Events have to planned.  Signs have to be installed. It seems the list goes on and on.

In a campaign’s last 100 days, each passing day is more hectic than the last.  And, minutes spent planning now can save hours later in the campaign. Joe (and the team he has built) adamantly believe that strong preparation is a key part of achieving success. Campaigns can be won or lost in the last 10 days, but preparation in the 90 days before that can determine how those crazy busy final days play out.

Most campaigns are hard work, but defeating an incumbent in an Ontario municipal election is an especially big job. You are more likely to know more about a sitting councillor than a new challenger. As part of their jobs, incumbents spend four years in office running for the next election. Last election, Joe came closer than anyone else has in years to defeating a sitting councillor. For a myriad of reasons, the current councillor is more vulnerable to defeat than last time. More importantly, Joe is using the lessons learned last time to achieve a winning result this time. We need every one of those 100 days though. This marathon feels like a very long sprint.

A key motivator for Joe is to build a better Mississauga for his family and all our families.  Decisions he will make as a councillor will impact our families for decades to come. That commitment comes with a challenge though — politics can be hard on the families of those who serve.  It would be easy to go full out for 100 days, but when a candidate wins, the work is only beginning. Joe is a husband and father of three. His youngest just turned one. Keeping family at the centre of his campaign and taking time for them just means those 100 days go even more quickly.

While election day might be October 24th, early voting starts on October 7th. That’s not 100 days of campaigning — it’s just 83.  Tick tock.