A plodding start for challenger pol
Mayoral hopeful Tito Jackson’s campaign is off to a limping start — hobbled by slow fundraising and buried under the Patriots’ Super Bowl run, Donald Trump’s presidency and a series of snowstorms. Jackson actually has raised money at a slower pace since launching his campaign than he did before becoming a candidate, reports show. The Roxbury city councilor reported getting just $17,300 in contributions from Jan. 16-31, the period right after his Jan. 11 announcement, according to bank reports filed at the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. In the first two weeks of January, Jackson raked in $37,285 in donations, nearly all of them before he launched the campaign. His campaign also has yet to report any donations in February, according to a daily tally of new donations kept by the OCPF. His campaign said he has raised money, including at a Super Bowl fundraiser, and those donations would be reported soon.
But Jackson’s slow start and difficulty getting attention underscore the steep hurdles he faces trying to oust an incumbent mayor. His plodding fundraising pace especially pales next to that of his opponent, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who has raked in tens of thousands in donations both before and after Jackson announced, and has more than $3 million in the bank, according to his campaign.
More than a month into his campaign, Jackson has yet to hire a campaign spokesperson and did not have a paid staff at the end of January, except for a fundraising consultant. The Roxbury Democrat reported having just under $100,000 in the bank at the end of last year.
Jackson’s campaign manager, Charles Onwuche, said that city employees and other donors have been reluctant to give money because Walsh holds all the power in City Hall.
“Writing checks to us is a publicly noticeable thing,” Onwuche said.
But he disputed that the campaign was off to a slow start, pointing to a rollout of new policy initiatives such as the push to designate Boston as a sanctuary city.
“I think we have had a great start,” he said, adding that Jackson plans to hire more staffers and start meeting with editorial boards to get the word out about his campaign.
But Jackson has yet to ignite much media interest in the campaign, or draw big crowds, partly because voters have been caught up in President Trump’s latest moves, the Patriots’ Super Bowl run and where to shovel the accumulating snow.
The series of events have had the opposite effect on Walsh — elevating his profile and giving him a big public stage. The mayor was front and center at the Super Bowl parade rally, and pulled off a rare feat in politics — avoiding getting booed by Pats fans. That honor went to Gov. Charlie Baker, who drew some boos when he briefly spoke at the rally.
Walsh has also generated national media attention opposing Trump, even appearing as a guest on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” Jackson was relegated to re-tweeting a link to a Boston Magazine story.
The latest blow came yesterday, when a hearing on violence in the city that Jackson had planned to attend and promoted on social media was canceled due to snow.