BY MICHAEL REBMANN
My name is Michael Rebmann and I am Charles Roggen’s campaign manager. This is my first time being involved with the nuts and bolts of running a campaign. The experience was very illuminating. The race was for a Village Trustee spot on the Akron, New York Village Board. There were 2 Republicans and 1 Libertarian running for 2 openings on the Board. The last time the Republicans had any opposition was in 2017. Let’s jump right to the results and take it from there.
Charles Roggen (LBT)
61 votes (14.8%)
Michael Middaugh (REP-Inc.)
170 votes (41.3%)
Daren Schultz (REP)
181 votes (43.9%)
229 total ballots were cast. Since this was a vote for 2 out of 3 for Village Trustee, approximately 46 people chose only 1 candidate. 2021 had 37 ballots cast with 2 candidates running unopposed.
While we didn’t win, we got people thinking about change. This is a beginning, not an end. From what I’ve been told by long-time residents, the Republicans did much more campaigning this year compared to the past. They went door-to-door, used lawn signs, and did a mailing to all village residents. We went door-to-door, handed out flyers, used door hangers, lawn signs, and business cards.
I learned quite a bit managing my first campaign and am looking forward to working on 2 more campaigns in Niagara County for November, a city council seat and a town board seat. My 2 biggest takeaways were:
1. Keep the communications flowing between the campaign manager and the candidate. You won’t agree on everything and that’s OK.
2. Run the campaign as aggressively as possible.
It is not too late to run a campaign for November, independent petitioning runs from April 18 until May 30. Look for races with low voter turnouts and/or unopposed candidates. Building a foundation from the bottom up is the key to our success!