Robb Rehfeld wears a mask as he walks to cast his vote during a special election for California's 25th Congressional District seat Tuesday, May 12, 2020, in Santa Clarita, Calif. Voting will look much different this year across the United States.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo
Robb Rehfeld wears a mask as he walks to cast his vote during a special election for California's 25th Congressional District seat Tuesday, May 12, 2020, in Santa Clarita, Calif. Voting will look much different this year across the United States.
Social distancing and running for office are two practices that would not normally fit together. But after COVID-19 hit, political campaigns have been forced, like everyone else, to work from home.
Overnight, campaigns had move into uncharted territory. After all, how do you promote a candidate without all the photo ops, hand shaking and big-name fundraisers?
Until two months ago, no one had that answer. Now, it’s virtual town halls, Facebook live events, and lots of phone calls to potential voters. Welcome to the new normal for campaigns, as they prepare for Tuesday’s primary.
Some have participated in virtual candidate forums. The Lancaster County Democratic Party recently held one with its two candidates in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District – Paul Daigle and Sarah Hammond. The district includes portions of Lancaster and York counties.
Candidates took turns answering questions from potential voters. They even used a virtual coin toss to determine who would go first.
Daigle said it tough to make up for the lack of personal contact. His campaign purchased time for a television commercial and some billboards.
He said such steps may not have been needed had it not been for the pandemic.
“It’s a substitute, not a replacement. There’s something really valuable to being able to have in person events where you can connect and hear from folks,” Daigle said.
Other candidates have been creative.
Democrat Tom Bier is running in the 10th Congressional District, which includes portions of Cumberland, Dauphin, and York counties. He started a podcast – where he interviews people working at the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis.
He also holds a Facebook Live event every day at noon to help voters find things like free meals, small business loans and testing sites. Brier said he is trying to be a source of information for people in his community.
“Everything changed. But at the same time I also think it has created an increased focus on the race. People are now more than ever concerned about what leadership brings and it has created a deeper sense of urgency as to what we need to do to lift ourselves out of this struggle,” Brier said.
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, the more well-known candidate in the 10th, said his campaign has held several Zoom events to reach out to potential voters. He said the sessions have become sort of therapeutic.
“Prior to the pandemic, it’s ‘What’s your 17-point plan in Kazakhstan?’ or something like that. Now, everyone wants to share how they’re doing. What’s a story you had that might have been somewhat funny about this. Maybe somebody wants to share, unfortunately, a tragedy they’ve had,” DePasquale said.
Others like Laura Quick, a Democratic candidate in the 9th Congressional District, say this new method of campaigning may give more equal opportunity to lesser known candidates.
“It really levels the playing field. Everybody is at a disadvantage. Nobody has done this type of campaigning before,” Quick said.
Still candidates, like 9th District Democratic hopeful Gary Wegman, know it is important to set an example for the rest of the community.
“We need to accept responsibility for our actions, and I don’t have any problem with running out campaign the way we’ve had to do it. And I accept the nature of our times,” Wegman said.
The district includes portions of Berks, Columbia, Lebanon, Northumberland, and Schuylkill counties.
The winners of these three races will go on to face GOP incumbents in the fall. How they run their campaigns ahead of the November election will likely depend on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
*Editor’s note: Since the only three contested U-S House primaries in the region involve Democrats, those are the candidates included in this story.*
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