How to succeed in an election campaign

Dennis Patterson

So you’ve decided to run for MLA. You know why you want to run and you feel ready. Now comes the hard work: campaigning. Here are my recommendations on how to run a winning campaign.

The way to succeed is first to decide that campaigning will be fun. You must follow this rule if you want to win.

There are no shortcuts. Campaigning is very hard work. Every minute counts. Every vote counts. To win, you must make your campaign the most intense job application you’ve ever made.

You have to reach out to people. Don’t wait for people to come to you. Go to them, but in a respectful way. Go to their houses. Go to the airport. Go to Northern and the Co-op. This is about people. Realize that people are often fascinating, always interesting.

When you’re campaigning, people will ask you how your campaign is going. Never tell anyone that you are going to win. Instead, tell them you need every vote.

And if it is rainy or windy or cold, or even better snowing, (as late-fall campaign weather in Nunavut often can be), that’s the best time to show up to people’s doors asking for their votes. If they see you out in the cold campaigning, they will know you really want this job.

Never let go of your sense of humour. Being able to laugh at yourself or laugh at your situation is a survival mechanism. One candidate I knew told a person who slammed a door in his face: “I guess I’ll put you down as undecided!”

Politicians don’t always have the best reputations. It’s not fair, but many people think politicians are only in it for themselves or for the money. Remember, you will be earning more than many people you represent, although not all of them are on duty 24 hours a day and seven days a week, like a dedicated MLA.

That’s where another important rule comes in: do not push back. Many people have bad images of politicians as lazy or overpaid or being in it for themselves. Be prepared to be rebuffed. You will come across people who don’t like you and they will tell you so. You will come across people who have views you disagree with. If you are a fighter, don’t go into politics in the North.

I learned that the hard way once when I was campaigning. I met an aggressive guy who vented on me as I came out of a restaurant. I pushed back. Milliseconds later, I managed to dodge, by mere inches, a punch in the face.

Since then, my attitude was always that it’s best to be humble and respectful even if you are dealing with the occasional person who is rude and ignorant.

I have a favourite mental image which I always call to my mind when I am subject to abuse. You know how water rolls off a duck’s back? That is the image I always summon up when vitriol is sent my way.

In my last election campaign, my opponent came across some people in her door-to-door campaigning who questioned her sexual orientation. Instead of letting those opinions roll off her back, late in the week before the vote she held a press conference to proclaim, “I am not gay!”

Suddenly, she had lots of people talking about her sexual orientation, which really had nothing to do with her ability to be a good MLA. Indeed, she had every right to be upset at ignorant people who were making that an issue during the election campaign.

Unfortunately, many people saw in her overreaction that she was a person with “thin skin” who would not react well to the “slings and arrows” that go with the job of being a public figure. That ill-conceived press conference doomed her campaign.

Another rule every successful campaigner must follow is: Never run down your opponent. Remember, you are running for yourself. You are not running against your opponent.

People have asked me, once the campaign is over what do you do on election day? I always say put away your buttons and brochures, go to your supporters and offer them a ride to the polls. You can offer a ride to anyone, whether a supporter or not. Chances are they might vote for you if you give them a ride to the poll.

In one campaign, I gave this advice to a candidate. She drove more than a dozen people to the polls on election day. She won by seven votes!

The Hon. Dennis Patterson represented Nunavut in the Senate from 2008 to 2023. He was premier of the Northwest Territories from 1987 to 1991 and played a key role in the Nunavut land claim agreement.