When it comes to the Spousal Sweepstakes, I hit the jackpot. My wife, Stephanie, is my best friend and my biggest fan. The feeling is enthusiastically mutual. A few months ago, when I shared with her that I was considering putting my name on the ballot for Bedford Town Supervisor, she looked lovingly into my eyes and said, “There is something wrong with you.”
She may have a point. Republicans are outnumbered in my hometown almost four to one. To call a bid for Town Supervisor quixotic is an understatement. The chances of being victorious are a little longer than the Jets’ chances of winning the Super Bowl this year. But, to quote Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber, “So you’re saying there’s a chance?”
Now, this isn’t my first rodeo or election, for that matter. Believe it or not, I’ve actually won a few. It might not surprise you that winning is much more fun than losing. I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars and knocked on thousands of doors to spread the word and earn votes.
Along the way, among other things, I’ve been called an election denier, a Trumper, a Tea Partier, a misogynist, a gun nut, against diversity and a Jets fan. I was also told that silence was complicity. Except for being a Jets fan, none of the other descriptors fit.
This time around, I’m doing things differently. Our total campaign budget has a limit of $50. So far, we’ve only spent $13 of that budget. We’re leaning heavily on social media and AI to build a set of campaign tools that I can say, without exaggeration, are like nothing I’ve seen before.
We are trying to show that you don’t need deep pockets and an army of volunteers to challenge an incumbent. Even if we fail, we know that we will leave a set of tools that can benefit future campaigns and our town, which can put these tools to use. They might even draw on my user-generated list of 101 ideas for Bedford. These tools are in place now at DonForBedford.com. You can also read my victory speech and my concession speech, which have already been written.
New York State has unwisely moved local elections to even years, which means local candidates for offices like Town Supervisor must now compete for attention with races for governor, Congress and, in some years, president. That makes it even harder for a local candidate without a large budget to get noticed. Our $50 experiment tests whether technology can change that equation.
AI certainly has its critics, but it also gives an ordinary guy like me the ability to do things that used to require campaign staff. We can build a website, research issues, communicate with voters, organize ideas, answer questions, create graphics and manage a lot of day-to-day campaign work without hiring a bunch of people to do it for us. By lowering barriers to entry, maybe others would be willing to put their names on the ballot, even in long-shot situations, without paying a $50,000 cover charge just to get in the game.
Three years ago, while licking my wounds, I wrote a reflective column explaining why I thought it was worth it to run a long-shot campaign. I was flattered that it resulted in a letter to the editor, which quoted my column, calling for contested elections.
Bruce Kelly wrote, “I will quote from Bedford Town Board candidate Don Scott who summed it up best, ‘Contested races are a crucible for debates, discussions and the exchange of ideas on how local government can improve. They provide a platform for new ideas and critiques of the status quo.... Without them, there is zero accountability for those who serve us. Don Quixote understood the purpose of being in the game, even when the dream may be impossible.’ I could not have said it better.”
Three years later, I suppose I have no choice but to take my own advice. Even though Stephanie is probably right, there may be something wrong with me.