Her Christmas-card list was the start of political fundraising for Victoria Lightcap.
“Starting from your Christmas list to people that you work with and people that live in your neighborhoods that you feel will support you through fundraisers, and if they come they come and if they donate they donate.” [Victoria Lightcap]
Lightcap is running as the Democratic candidate for the District 12 seat in the Onondaga County Legislature. Her opponents are Republican Robert DeMore and Conservative Lee Stemmer. Dale Sweetland has held the seat for 14 years. But this year Sweetland was campaigning for county executive instead— giving Lightcap, DeMore, and Stemmer the chance to run for the legislature position.
For Lightcap, the Christmas-card list paid off in donations to her campaign. On October 5, she filed her latest fundraising report with the State Board of Elections. From that report, here’s a snapshot of Lightcap’s fundraising and spending:
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She’s raised $4,293 in contributions.
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She’s spent $2,413.
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Of that, $1,108 went to Epoch Advertising for lawn signs.
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And $649 went to Kinaneco Printing Systems for mailings.
Lightcap is a lawyer, mother, and coach – so she says she has professional, community, and family members supporting her campaign.
Bradley Hutchison, Lightcap’s neighbor, says he went to a fundraiser for Lightcap and decided he should help her out by contributing $100. Hutchison says he doesn’t normally volunteer for the candidates – but he did contribute to Lightcap’s campaign because he thinks she makes things happen.
“In the neighborhood we used to have gatherings all the time, their house was one of the gathering spots, so they really pulled people together.”[Bradley Hutchison]
Moving on to her work contacts, Lightcap asked lawyers at her past and current law firms for contributions. She has collected about $760 from six different lawyers.
William Crossett, a lawyer for Meggesto, Crossett and Valerino, says he supports her because she’s energetic.
“Victoria’s very bright, she’s got a lot of energy. And she’s committed. She takes a position, she looks at it and I think she will find the best solution for the community.” [William Crossett]
Turning to her family, Lightcap has received some support. Kelly Daly, one of her relatives, is contributing $100 to Lightcap’s campaign. She says she’s not just supporting Lightcap because they’re related.
“I went to a women’s college and you know I really like to see women in politics.” [Kelly Daly].
Lightcap says she would like to raise about $5,000 to $6,000 more dollars by going door to door, sending out more mailings, and attending meet-and-greet affairs.
“As you get closer to Election Day then mailers become a bigger focus because you really want to make sure that you’re at least able to get your message out and sending a little bio about yourself, those are the bigger ticket items.” [Lightcap]
The general election is November 6.
For Democracywise, I’m Amy Aaronson.
(Amy Aaronson is a junior broadcast journalism major)
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