Campaigning for an election varies greatly depending on numerous factors. You may be working in a highly contested race, or you might be in an area where victory is almost guaranteed. You could have a large number of constituents to appeal to, or a smaller, more targeted group. For Marty Wilde, the campaign process for his election to the Oregon House of Representatives in District 11 had its ups and downs. Wilde and I sat down to discuss his campaign process and his biggest takeaways. From an emphasis on fundraising to the benefits of door-knocking and obtaining both earned and paid media, we covered it all.
To hear what Wilde had to say about his experience campaigning, read the interview below.
Interview
Q: Could you give a brief overview of what your campaigns looked like, specifically your campaign for Oregon House District 11? How’d you get into running and what did the process look like for you?
A: I was asked to consider it in sort of late December of 2017 for a 2018 race. It finally came around in the first week of January that they wanted me to be the candidate. And so, it was really that first week of January of 2018, when I got a call from the party chair, democratic Party of Lane County who said, “we really want you to do this.” So that’s kind of how I got into it. Then I was put in touch with a campaign manager, so that was sort of brokered by the local party and she had experience then. So, I read a couple of books and sat down with Becca, my campaign manager, and we sort of plotted out what we needed to do and there’s some fairly basic things to do first, like you have to fill out the form and write the check to file. Then there are also some more complex things like building out a fundraising plan and building campaign themes and stuff like that. So that was kind of how things got started.
Q: You mentioned creating a fundraising plan, how important is fundraising and finances in general to a state level election like yours?
A: The most common reason people lose winnable races is not raising enough money. And so, it was made very clear to me that I needed to raise money. I needed to raise significant amounts of money right away. And so, the way you do that, at least in Oregon because we have very strong transparency laws, is you basically mine ORESTAR, which is the campaign finance database of similar candidates to see who gave to them. I mean its everyone though. You just develop a list of, they say everybody in your phone, it’s all your Facebook friends and all that stuff. And you start, usually you start with just a fundraising letter. It goes out to all those people and then you follow up with phone calls. And so that way it’s not just a cold call, they don’t know who you are. So, you’ve sent them a letter that says what you’re running for, what your campaign themes are, how much money you need to raise or what you’re raising money for, whatever. And then you call them and tend to have a conversation about the issues that the voter cares about. And then assuming you can find some agreement on them, you say, well, I know you care about that, and if you have 50 bucks you can give me, that would really help me become a viable candidate, knock more doors, whatever the ask is. That’s kind of how that works. And then, so that’s the initial fundraising, and you do several rounds. What you’ll get over time is you often start with a friends and family
Q: What was your experience with knocking on doors and how do you think that benefited your campaign?
A: It was daunting at first, but then I would just approach it much like I would a phone call, I would go in and just say, this is who I am. I’m a veteran running for the nomination for the Democratic primary and House District 11. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind. And then ideally, you get the doors you knock from the Democratic Party of Oregon’s voting network. So, you can see what people are democratic voters and what their voting frequency is. So if you’re a Democratic voter, but you never vote, I’m not going to knock on your door. But if you’re a Democratic voter and you vote every primary, I’m knocking on your door, you’re trying to target a manageable piece. It’s surprisingly physical I mean; you’re walking up and down a lot of hills and going distances. As I got older, I ended up getting an e-bike just to help me do different neighborhoods, but I’d bike in Brownsville and places like that where the doors are farther apart. And those people were really grateful because people don’t knock doors in Brownsville very often. I rarely had bad experiences at the doors. Often people will just say they’re not interested in talking, that’s fine, but one in three doors, somebody will answer. I ended up liking that piece of it. I felt like I got to chat with people, and I actually continued it after I won after the first session, which really paid off in my second election because we couldn’t knock on doors since it was COVID
Q: What role did media play in your campaigns?
A: Mass media that you’re buying, which is everything, mail, radio, tv. That played a big role actually, both of my general election campaigns were pretty hotly contested. And then in terms of earned media, that’s things like getting news coverage of your events and things like that. For earned media, because it’s free, you just cultivate the relationships with the local people. So I’d call up local journalists and just say, “hey, I’d love to chat with you” and so, they set up endorsement interviews and stuff like that, but I wanted to make sure they had my phone number, and so if something ever comes up, they could call me. And generally they did.
Q: You had a wide array of constituents in District 11 as it encompassed most of Lane County but also rural parts of Linn County. Did you, and if so, how did you cater your talking points to different areas?
A: I would definitely highlight being a military veteran and growing up on a farm in the rural areas a little more. And here (Eugene) I would say, I went to the University of Oregon and I, whatever, but you sort of tailor to your audience. You never know exactly what they want to hear. So which part of your resume to highlight can be, or which issues? Farms tend to be far apart, so you’re often not knocking on farm doors per se, but rural communities definitely feel invested in their surroundings. And so, Brownsville, for instance, they had a downtown park they liked a lot, so I talked about that. We would talk about the health of the river and stuff like that. And then you learn a lot too. I mean, a small town you knock on a door might be a city counselor and they’re going to give you an earful. I learned a lot about the wells and the stinky water in Harrisburg, and I was like, I never would’ve known that.
Q: What was your favorite part of campaigning?
A: Yeah, you learn a lot. I mean, I have three graduate degrees, so I’m a perpetual student And so, it was like, oh yeah, you’re always learning something else. And it was the same with being in office and you knock on doors and people have their thing that they want to tell you about.
As Wilde discussed, campaigning can be a challenging endeavor but also a fulfilling one. From the connections he built with people to learning about the issues important to his constituents, these experiences helped get him elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2018.
Alexis Stinnett 
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