I'm sorry it didn't work out for your candidate this time around.
We fared better - after 40+ years of electing only Tories we were successful in electing a Lib Dem councillor. She almost made it last year, losing by 143 votes and this year won by just over 100 votes.
In my opinion these are some of the relevant factors:
* Our candidate is a local resident and stayed active all year, leafleting and engaging with the community every month or so.
* Discontent with the Tories, even among lifelong Tory voters.
* The Tory candidate was a new name, not one of the previous councillors
* There was almost no attempt by the Tories to get out the vote - their teller was not taking any details
I suspect it's easier down South to turn middle-class Tory voters into Lib Dem voters - it seems like up North there is more of a challenge with working class voters tending to become more polarised?
Congratulations Darren. Good to know. Some of the factors you mention are similar, some are different. We blew a chance to do better on the postal vote knowing the Tories would hide behind that voting method. Our candidate made assumptions about visibility that turned out to be poorly judged and wasn’t able to pivot as well as we’d have liked. Your point about year long campaigning is critical. We have to up our game on that one.
I'm sorry it didn't work out for your candidate this time around.
We fared better - after 40+ years of electing only Tories we were successful in electing a Lib Dem councillor. She almost made it last year, losing by 143 votes and this year won by just over 100 votes.
In my opinion these are some of the relevant factors:
* Our candidate is a local resident and stayed active all year, leafleting and engaging with the community every month or so.
* Discontent with the Tories, even among lifelong Tory voters.
* The Tory candidate was a new name, not one of the previous councillors
* There was almost no attempt by the Tories to get out the vote - their teller was not taking any details
I suspect it's easier down South to turn middle-class Tory voters into Lib Dem voters - it seems like up North there is more of a challenge with working class voters tending to become more polarised?
Congratulations Darren. Good to know. Some of the factors you mention are similar, some are different. We blew a chance to do better on the postal vote knowing the Tories would hide behind that voting method. Our candidate made assumptions about visibility that turned out to be poorly judged and wasn’t able to pivot as well as we’d have liked. Your point about year long campaigning is critical. We have to up our game on that one.