In Bossier City Council elections, one incumbent seeks balance in utilizing campaign resources while another relies on his decades in office rather than dollars, yet the remaining other tries to shatter all spending records (which are his), reflecting both political realities and candidate personalities.
Of these three incumbents, Republican Councilor Chris Smith has conducted the kind of campaign most typically seen, according to campaign finance reports filed through Mar. 9 activity. He has spent – as an at-large candidate, the total amounts usually would be somewhat higher than for running in a district – with emphasis on eye-level media and digital contacting.
Actually, relative to the size of his constituency, his campaign hasn’t spent all that much, just over $10,000 in 2025, leaving him with over $20,000. His fundraising is an eclectic mixture of city political insiders, such as City Attorney Charles Jacobs (who opposed him in a lawsuit over the Council’s refusal to follow the city charter that Smith joined to see that the Charter was followed), large contractors of the city such as Waggoner Engineering and Live Oak Environmental Services, and reformers.
However, the spending indicated doesn’t cover a number of mailouts from the campaign, originating from a Dallas postal permit. That same address also has sent out a number of pieces on behalf of at-large challenger Republican School Board Member Craton Cochran. He and Smith also share campaign consultant Matt Kay’s KDM Digital Solutions. As if needed to make it more obvious, they have endorsed each other, as well as garnering reformer GOP Councilor Brian Hammons’ imprimatur, a collective approach which is possible as the top two finishers take seats.
Cochran’s donor base, which has provided him with more money than Smith’s, is sprinkled more heavily with city political insiders, such as from a councilor with whom Smith butted heads on votes often, Republican David Montgomery who is retiring from his at-large seat. His expenditures suggest a similar strategy. He also had over $20,000 left for the last three weeks of campaigning.
But like Smith, spending on his series of mailouts doesn’t appear, which tout the pair’s conservative credentials. As those pieces don’t explicitly have a campaign admission of paying for them, it’s likely a political action committee’s doing.
It’s a good strategy in a jurisdiction where Republicans comprise three-eighths of the electorate and Democrats have less than three-tenths. Activating latent partisanship works well when the numbers are on your side.
This leaves Democrat challenger Lee Jeter in a bind. He has raised and spent much less, on signage, pushcards, and radio ads, leaning on state Democrats to help him out as well as a personal loan that comprises a significant chunk of his resources.
Both political insiders and reformers have eschewed donating to him, so he has tapped into his roots as former head of the local NAACP chapter to canvass and otherwise mobilize voters (although another Democrat running in the open District 3 seat, Donzell Hughes, also served as NAACP leader and appeared at events with Jeter, they do not have a political alliance). Yet it will be an uphill battle for him with a smaller base and has just a few thousand dollars heading into the homestretch.
That’s a strategy another black Democrat, Councilor Jeff Darby, is pursuing in District 2. As is typical in constituencies with larger black populations, more attention is paid to canvassing although he is paying for his canvassing, mostly out of his own pocket as the vast majority of his funds came from a loan from himself. (Note: while Darby supplied his latest required finance report on time, the state two days later still hadn’t posted it on the web.)
But Democrat challenger Debra Ross is matching him, also contributing a substantial portion of her own funds but having raised some from others, unlike Darby, and also isn’t paying for canvassing. While Darby may be relying on his name recognition to add another term to the eight he has served over the past 36 years, at the same time he has not run a campaign in nearly a quarter-century, and Ross seems to have a better handle on it at this point. Darby has the edge in money as the election draws closer, about $4,000 to $1,000.
The economy of these campaigns is matched by that of District 5 GOP challenger Ruth Pope Johnston. She has raised only a few thousand dollars and spent it much on signs and pushcards. Apparently not reflected on it is a communiqué lambasting Republican incumbent Vince Maggio for repeated votes against allowing voters a say in establishing term limits, including some that violated the Charter.
In great contrast, Maggio seems determined to smash his own money raising and spending records for a Council race, much less a district-level one rather than an at-large citywide. Having about $8,000 in the bank at the start of the year, since he has raised almost $54,000 – almost half of that a personal loan – collecting from a Who’s Who of parish political insiders, such as Jacobs, Montgomery from his campaign account, Republican Assessor Bobby Edmiston, Cypress Black Bayou District Commissioner Kelly Long’s law office, Bossier Parish’s attorney Patrick Jackson’s law office, former police juror and parish administrator Bill Altimus, city engineer Ben Rauschenbach, and Democrat Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell.
He's spent about $15,000 on a variety of activities, but is the only one of any candidate to spend on billboards and television, as well as he’s shown an aggressive signage operation. He has $40,000 for the stretch run.
If Pope Johnston wins, it truly would be a David v. Goliath outcome. City voters are notoriously inattentive to its politics and campaigns – witness the last city election turnout for mayor of 23.5 percent – and a determined group of reformers are aiding Pope Johnston, but the Maggio saturation strategy trying to activate latent voters may overwhelm the highly-active, highly-knowledgeable but relatively smaller base behind Pope Johnston.
The larger question is why Maggio has gone to such extremes. In 2021, he faced Republican Marsha McAllister, who at the time had some health difficulties and barely campaigned, but who ran because some in the community didn’t want to allow Maggio a free pass into office.
In response, he raised nearly $30,000, some from the same donors as this cycle but including other insiders not having given this cycle, such as future assistant city attorney Richard Ray (who also served as his campaign consultant) and then-city Chief Administrative Office and now GOP Police Juror Pam Glorioso. And when the dust settled, he had spent most of it.
While he won with 82 percent of the vote, the overkill appeared to serve as an attempt to send a message that future opponents dare not trifle with him. So, that this didn’t stick and he drew an even more energetic opposition seems to have provoked an even bigger reaction this time.
Which has been fueled by the political establishment that looks set to lose its grip on formal power in the city for the first time ever. Even if the two non-reformer incumbents running, Darby and Maggio, win reelection they may end up on the short end of a 5-2 minority, and Darby, while their ally, never has been considered a part of the cool kids club that has run the city and parish.
So, Maggio may be their only reliable entry point onto the Council and must be saved. And, the thinking may be if he can run up another huge win – which while this wouldn’t guarantee the outcome is a necessary condition for it – maybe the peasants finally will get the message for 2029. Meanwhile, those behind Pope Johnston hope to send a message of their own, even if well outgunned.
No comments:
Post a Comment