Even though the local community is reeling from both the Coronavirus crisis and an unprecedented Easter tornado, several groups of people are still campaigning for Mayor and members of the Monroe City Council. Since the virus and the tornado, all campaigns seem to have shifted their focus to personal service instead of political themes.
The election for Mayor and city council was originally scheduled for April 4. However, after the outbreak of COVID-19 it has been rescheduled twice. It is now set for July/August 2020.
The change in election dates and the onset of the virus and storm has prompted a change in campaign strategies for many of the candidates.
Mayor Mayo has the benefit of incumbency. He tours impacted storm areas with a power entourage that often includes the police chief, city council chairwoman, and a public relations director. He gets to show that he is in charge of the situation and is using his contacts with the governor and other people in power to get relief for the people impacted.
All of that just happens to be recorded on a Facebook Live stream, especially when the mayor passes out a plate of food or two while the camera is recording.
In the past, the mayor promoted his experience in office and highlighted the inexperience of his four opponents.
It appears that two of the mayor’s opponents have not changed their themes but have amplified them in the wake of the pandemic and the Easter Sunday tornado. (One is self quarantined during the crisis).
Mayoral candidates Friday Ellis and Marie Brown called a truce in their political campaigns joined forces to provide immediate services to displaced storm victims. They seem to be jointly saying, “Experience doesn’t mean a hill of beans if it can’t move a tree that’s fallen through my roof.”
To prove their point, the candidates worked together to remove many fallen trees, and cover many leaking roofs, one by one.
Ellis assembled a team of Buzz saw volunteers who began clearing debris in South Monroe where trees fell through the roofs of many homes and blocked many streets. Brown’s team knocked on doors and helped residents evacuate and directed Ellis’ search and recovery team to houses where residents were either trapped in their homes or blocked out of their homes by fallen trees and power lines.
They even combined efforts to provide food service for residents and fed each other’s volunteers.
In West Monroe, Mayor Staci Mitchell led West Monroe volunteers by example. She put on gloves and led clean up crews pulling branches and tree trunks from city streets.
Doug Harvey, a new Monroe City Councilman from District 1 came to South Monroe and spent several days sawing limbs and climbing on roofs to install tarps.
Council candidates Alicia Calvin, Jesse Walker, and Corday Marshall, pitched in various ways. Walker helped clear debris from streets in his district and Calvin and her volunteers worked the Booker T. community removing debris and placed tarps on roofs. She passed out gloves and supplies to volunteers and residents in cooperation with the Ellis campaign.
The grand lady of the organized response was Senator Katrina Jackson who set up a daily conference with pastors, arranged for foodservice and relief, helped distribute supplies from a 18-Wheeler, and facilitated donations to house as many as 30 storm victims in hotels, all while meeting with the Governor, Mayor, and other officials to get immediate help.
Senator Jackson, councilman Harvey and Mayor Mitchell are not seeking election, but they know one truth, voters ask one important question at election time, “What have you done for me lately?” Not five years ago, 10 or 20 years ago, but voters have a tendency to live in the now.
Between now and the July elections candidates in the Monroe elections are not competing against each other, but all seem to be fighting common enemies: Coronavirus and tornado displacement.
The new strategy for the July election for all candidates seems to be the “Politics of Service.” The competition hopes voters will view their service as a window into their hearts and souls when it comes to people issues.
Budgets, leadership, experience, race, none of that will matter at all when Mr. or Mrs. voter asks the question “Which candidate would be willing to go the last mile to help me if I were the victim of a tragedy?”
The politics of service has a great upside…those who stand in need of assistance will have plenty of helping hands.
