City council races are small. A district electorate can be a few neighborhoods, and even a citywide seat is a fraction of the TV market around it. Most council campaigns have modest budgets, which means the plan has to reach the right voters and almost no one else.
We've worked on Rochester City Council campaigns for Mitch Gruber and Miguel Meléndez, both elected to citywide at-large seats, and the approach below is how we plan a council race.
Know What Kind of Election You're In
City elections vary more than almost any other kind. Before planning media, a council campaign needs to know three things about its race:
- Partisan or nonpartisan. Many cities elect councils without party labels on the ballot. In those races, the candidate can't lean on a party line, and name recognition does more of the work.
- Primary, first round, or runoff. In a city with a partisan primary, the primary may be closed to party members or open to any voter. In a nonpartisan city, the first round may decide the seat outright or narrow the field to a runoff, which is a second, shorter campaign with its own, usually smaller, turnout.
- Even year or odd year. Some cities vote alongside state and federal races, and others hold their own elections in odd years with much lower turnout. Some states are moving local races to even years, including California under its Voter Participation Rights Act.
The First Round Is Often the Real Race
In cities where one party holds a large registration advantage, the primary often decides the seat, and turnout is low. That makes the audience small and well defined: voters in the district who have voted in past primaries or city elections. Ads matched to that list waste very little. In a closed primary, the list narrows further to enrolled party members.
District and At-Large Seats Need Different Plans
A district seat covers a few neighborhoods, so channels that can be matched to the voter file do almost all the work: social and digital ads, streaming ads, mail, and support for the door-knocking program. An at-large seat covers the whole city, which makes zoned cable and wider digital buys worth considering, and puts more weight on name recognition across neighborhoods that may not know the candidate.
Example: Rochester's At-Large Council Races
Rochester elects five of its City Council seats citywide, at large. In the 2021 Democratic primary, 16 candidates ran for the party's five at-large lines, and Mitch Gruber, an incumbent, finished second with just over 11 percent of the vote (CITY). With that many names on the ballot, each campaign had to make sure supporters across the whole city knew the candidate's name and picked it out of a long list, which is the at-large problem described above.
In the 2025 general election, nine candidates ran for five at-large seats, and Gruber and Miguel Meléndez both won (Spectrum News). For both campaigns, we handled the paid media, video production, and mail. See our clients for the other local races we've run.
Channels That Fit a Council Race
- Social and digital ads matched to the voter file introduce the candidate, drive volunteers and small donations, and push turnout at the end. They're usually the core of a council plan.
- Streaming TV puts a video ad on the television screen and can be limited to registered voters in the district, which broadcast can't do. Our CTV/OTT guide explains the targeting.
- Mail reaches older, high-propensity voters who decide primaries. Two or three well-timed pieces to likely voters often matter more than a long program.
- Door hangers and walk-piece design support the field program, which is still the most important part of a small race.
- A campaign website gives every ad, mailer, and door knock somewhere to send people. See our campaign website examples.
Broadcast TV and most radio cover far more people than a council district, so they rarely make sense unless the seat is citywide and the budget is unusually large.
Creative for a Local Race
Council candidates are often first-time candidates whom most voters have never seen. Video shot in the district, with the candidate talking about specific streets, schools, and services, introduces them faster than produced spots. Short vertical video works on phones and costs little to make. In districts where many voters speak Spanish or another language at home, ads in that language reach voters most campaigns don't.
Plan Around Early Voting and Mail Ballots
Most states now offer early in-person voting, mail voting, or both, so many votes are cast before Election Day. Before building the media calendar, find three dates for your race: the primary or first round, the first day of early voting, and the date mail ballots go out.
Persuasion ads need to land before early voting begins. Turnout ads should run through the early voting period, not just the final weekend, and voter-file targeting lets you stop paying to reach voters who have already cast a ballot.