The local election spending math was:
Chevron's $3,000,000 of (disclosed) campaign spending
divided into Richmond CA's 17,000 votes cast last Nov 4
equals = more than $175 per voter...
How was this money beaten? Explanation is in extracts from interview responses by Mike Parker, the Richmond Progressive Alliance leader who withdrew his candidacy for Mayor in order to avoid a split between candidates not backed by Chevron:
...this wasn’t just an election campaign. This was part of a ten year battle to change the nature of Richmond and politics in Richmond.
We had in place people who had developed roots in the community. We had in place people who had reputations so that when the hit pieces came out, we actually had already been door to door with many people talking to them.
...we won because Richmond really is much better now than it was ten years ago and people recognize that, and because we built an organization in Richmond to act politically throughout the year, not just at election time, and to help make some of these programs a reality...
This wasn’t just a spurt of activity at election time; this was consistent activity every day for the past, well, pretty much the past ten years. ...we were involved in all kinds of campaigns, helped various projects get going.
The entire interview, by Malcolm Marshall, is published in the
Richmond Pulse.
Parker's withdrawal and endorsement enabled the recent mayoral win by Tom Butt.
Also winning, in a clean sweep against Chevron-backed candidates, were the RPA's three candidates for city council:
Outgoing [term-limited] Mayor Gayle McLaughlin,
Incumbent Jovanka Beckles, and
Challenger Eduardo Martinez
...and RPA-endorsed incumbent Jael Myrick