One Way to Find Out If Local Candidates Share Your Values

It's often hard to tell where candidates running in nonpartisan races stand on the big political issues of the day. One way to learn is to search their own political contributions.

Note: This post has been updated to correct some information about the types of campaign contribution data accessible through the Federal Elections Commission.

Whether we like it or not, we live in polarized times and there is a great divide in our country not only between those who support liberal and conservative causes, but between those who support and respect the basic values of democracy and norms of governance, and those who don’t.

Local candidates for City Council and School Board usually try to steer clear of these wider political divides in their own campaigns, for fear of turning off that part of the electorate interested only in the success of their political tribe. And it also makes sense for local candidates to focus on ways to bring communities together rather than further inflame the tensions already engulfing us nationally and bring them into local governance.

Fair enough, but whether we like it or not, many of the polarizing issues playing out in Washington, D.C., are just as relevant in our local communities, and local leaders arguably have greater influence many times in how they impact local residents. In the wake of Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, and failed effort to overthrow it, his followers have increasingly focused on local elections, and in particular school board races, to rebuild and energize the MAGA movement. MAGA conservatives in school board races have increasingly targeted issues like how we understand and teach our nation’s racial history and address racial injustice (including misrepresenting what critical race theory is and whether it is taught in schools); how we understand and approach the interests and needs of the LGBTQ+ community; and whether we accept and follow the science on issues such as vaccines and mask wearing to prevent the spread of COVID. Their efforts to gain control of school boards is aided greatly by the fact that in local, nonpartisan races, the core political beliefs of individual candidates can be difficult to discern.

On the Martinez school board, there have been differences of opinion over the past year on the district’s support for racial equity workshops and flying of the Pride flag in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The racial climate on the Alhambra High campus, and in Martinez in general, became a subject of concern and debate in the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020.

The politics of City Council members around racial equity and implicit bias can have a much more profound effect on policing and use-of-force training than the endless arguments in Congress that have led nowhere. Local leaders who accept the science of climate change can have an immense impact on addressing this existential threat in their own communities; in fact, the Martinez City Council declared a climate emergency in 2021 and recently approved an ordinance requiring all new building construction to be fully electric and meet energy-efficiency standards that go beyond state requirements.

So even though a political party designation doesn’t appear next to the names of candidates for City Council and School Board doesn’t mean their political views and loyalties are not relevant to what happens to our communities and the lives of our children.

For those interested, I stumbled across this great tool from the Federal Elections Commission where you can easily search for campaign contributions from individuals by simply entering their name in the search box. Not surprisingly, many candidates for local office are active politically and routinely give to the campaigns and parties they support.

Many contributions show up as going either to ActBlue or WinRed, the main fundraising platforms for the Democratic and Republican national parties, respectively. In the 2020 campaign, much of the money raised for Joe Biden’s campaign came through ActBlue, and the same was true for Donald Trump with WinRed, which he enthusiastically promoted to donors. Donors can also give to specific campaigns and candidates through the ActBlue and WinRed platforms. The initial donation information will show up as a flat contribution to ActBlue or WinRed, but by clicking on individual contributions, you can sometimes learn what specific campaign the money went to. For instance, I learned that a candidate for elective office in Martinez gave hundreds of dollars to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign throughout 2020. (I think it is safe to assume that anyone who has given to WinRed in recent years is a supporter of the MAGA Republican movement, because it is tied at the hip with Trump).

Beyond looking up campaign donations, there are other tools at your disposal. Simple Google or Facebook searches may turn up evidence of their political affiliations and leanings. Some candidates running in nonpartisan races are active with local political parties or activist groups engaged in issues around abortion, gun violence, racial and criminal justice, and more. You can also look at the types of people and groups endorsing them, as well as whom they’re endorsing (though you might be surprised how little endorsers often know about the broader political views of their endorsees, and how much endorsements are often based on personal relationships rather than where they stand on core issues).

Some voters may not care about this information, believing it’s best to keep local elections as non-political as possible, and keep their elected leaders focused on filling potholes, building pickleball courts and making sure the school bathrooms and classrooms are properly stocked with soap and pencils.

That’s a legitimate view, but for others (and I am among them), it’s important to know whether the candidates we’re voting for in these local races generally share our values and core political beliefs. I don’t believe it’s realistic to expect a candidate to agree with me on every single issue, and I would actually prefer that’s not the case, because diversity of thought and views are important (and there’s always a chance I’m wrong on a thing or two). Spirited debate within and between political parties is a healthy thing; blind allegiance to a cultist political movement that seeks to distort basic facts, traffic in misinformation and conspiracy theories and undermine fundamental democratic principles is not.

Whether it’s a candidate for school board or president of the United States, I need to know whether the person I’m supporting understands and supports the basic principles on which we should all agree: namely, the sanctity of democracy and honoring electoral outcomes, and respecting basic truths and norms of political conduct (all things I personally believe were shattered during Trump’s presidency, even well before the events of Jan. 6).

So, if you’re interested, do a little research online before you mark the box on your ballot to see if the candidate you’re considering is giving to the political causes you believe in. Or maybe they’re not giving any money to anyone at all, which may be the type of political independence you prefer.

Either way, if you have concerns, follow up with them. Some donors who gave to WinRed in the leadup to the 2020 election because they believed in conservative values may have had a change of heart about Trump and his followers after the events of Jan. 6, 2021. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still adhere to the policies and statements that Trump promoted around race, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, guns, policing and more. That may or may not make a difference to you.

It’s ultimately up to you as a voter to decide how much, if anything, any of this means when it comes time to cast your vote. But for those of us who care about promoting our core values around social justice and democratic principles at the local level, doing our due diligence may be more important than ever given the events of the past few years and threats facing our society and democracy.

Coming Next Week: I’m working on an overview of the candidates running for Mayor and City Council, and hope to have that posted sometime in the next few days.

Thanks for reading. And if you enjoy this newsletter, please share, tell your friends and ask them to subscribe!

Note: I was alerted to a couple errors in last week’s post on campaign finance filings. I’m told Joanne Dunivan is Earl Dunivan’s mother, not wife; and I misspelled Lara DeLaney’s first name. I’ll try my best to avoid errors going forward, but if you see something that I got wrong, please let me know and I will correct the record!