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When door-knocking is impossible and forums are canceled, mailers are how candidates communicate. Little surprise that the May 2020 primary election has produced more brochures and postcards than any in recent memory. As WW does each campaign season, we picked the mailers that stood out, for reasons good and bad.
Least Accurate Endorsement
Mayor Ted Wheeler's reelection campaign has stumbled at times, never more so than when he claimed in a glossy mailer that Commissioner Chloe Eudaly had endorsed him—then admitted she didn't.
Most Accurate Endorsement
Mayoral challenger Sarah Iannarone produced a mailer focused on women voters—but one of five testimonials came from Kat Stevens, the partner of her campaign manager, Gregory McKelvey (the only man shown on the mailer). It's unusual to tout the support of someone whose partner works for your campaign—but it won't require a correction notice.
Most Effective Political Judo
HereTogether, the campaign behind Metro's $250 million-a-year homeless services measure, produced the darkest mailer we received, both literally and figuratively. It's a red-on-black preemptive strike against the no campaign's efforts to convince voters the measure would do all manner of bad things. (It won't.) "Don't believe the lies," the mailer says.
Most Unintentionally Revealing Endorsement
Jack Kerfoot, a retired consultant running for City Council Position 2, has run a lonely campaign, putting about $170,000 of his own money into his race—virtually all he has raised. The best he could do with that money: a two-sided testimonial from perennial candidate Bruce Broussard, who has run in just about every cycle since 1996 (he's running for mayor this year, but sent no mailers).
Most Personal Touch
Amid all the crisp photographs and slick graphic designs, Tera Hurst, another candidate for Position 2, captured our imagination with a handwritten note on her postcard-sized missive. "I've known Tera for 10+ years and trust her to run the city," the message reads. It's signed by a campaign supporter, and felt almost like a door-knock.
Best Capturing of the Zeitgeist
Among the dozens of attempts to convey the unique circumstances of this election, City Council Position 2 candidate Dan Ryan was the only one to wear a mask on his mailer. Ryan appears on the front and back wearing a one-use paper face mask—and handing out what appears to be a bag of onions.
