A food bank sits on a resident's front yard at 423 Montana Avenue in East Missoula. The drive was initiated by House District 92 candidate Tom Browder. There currently are two locations to donate and he hopes to add two more in the future.
In a normal year politicians running for office are often speaking to potential voters, canvassing neighborhoods and holding fundraisers. But with COVID-19, local candidates have to try to connect with voters without seeing them in person or at least in large crowds.
"You don't have the audience, you don't have the ability to meet one-on-one with a lot of people or address groups, and you cannot attend meetings," said Missoula County Commissioner candidate Alan Ault.
Without face-to-face interaction, local candidates are scrambling to find a way to connect with voters. The Pathfinder reached out to local candidates from HD 92, SD 46, and the county commissioner's race to see what they are doing in light of the pandemic. Some are doing small one on one discussions, others are banking on phone calls and one candidate is doing community service projects.
House District 92 candidate Tom Browder and volunteers opted to create food drives in East Missoula and free libraries across his district. The projects are meant to help the community, while getting his name out.
"A lot of my campaign has been direct community action," said Browder. "It really touches at the responsive core, we are doing something for the community. It is not political so much but it builds awareness."
The food drives started as a request by residents of East Missoula. According to Browder, they needed a local food bank for the area. His campaign got on the project and collected over 700 pounds of food from two residential deposit banks made out of old oil drums.
A sign in the bank tells residents to give what they can and take what they need. According to Browder, the system is based on the honor code, and having the sponsor, who has the bank on their property, to moderate the amount of food being left in the box.
The libraries, made out of recycled kitchen cabinets and oil drums, are going to be scattered between East Missoula and Seeley Lake.
The food bank and the libraries do not have Browder's namesake on them. Browder explained that while his campaign is involved in the libraries, he wanted them to look vibrant and be able to last past his candidacy. Instead, he decided to post the projects to Facebook.
"This is a way to interact with voters," Browder said. "Right now it just seems like this community action has with comments and shares at least kept us moving forward."
Browder is not new to thinking outside of the box. On the Fourth of July, he decorated a boat with campaign signs for Seeley Lake's first official boat parade.
Candidates Ault and Shannon O'Brien, who is running for Senate District 46, said they both prioritized talking on the phone to reach voters. Ault added he wanted to be able to canvass and knock on doors, but acknowledged some people might not be comfortable with that.
"I want to do some door knocking, but that is tough because people sometimes don't want you there even if you are wearing a mask," Ault said. "I can't have any fundraising because I don't want to get a crowd of people together. So [the campaign] is going to be lean and mean."
"I would say our biggest shift since the COVID introduction has been phone calls. Early on in April, I found people were very eager to have conversations," O'Brien said. "I have lengthy, sometimes a half hour to 45 minute, conversations with voters about their thoughts and concerns and ideas."
O'Brien planned to give out election literature and plant yard signs closer to the election. She did not plan on having any in-person events for the foreseeable future.
Niki Sardot, the other candidate for the Senate District 46, said she would see people by invitation. She also planned to put up campaign signs.
Commissioner candidate Juanita Vero originally thought she would be able to host small events but realized she did not want to unnecessarily expose people to the coronavirus. She is taking the old fashion way, which includes handwritten letters.
"I really just want to meet people where they are at," Vero said. "If there are fewer people that want to get together and talk I'd rather do that than putting a lot of time and energy into a funny meme or a 20 second soundbyte."
That being said, Vero planned to be at a campaign event at the Clearwater Junction Aug. 4 in conjunction with Public Service Commission candidate Monica Tranel.
Every candidate planned on putting up yard signs before the election date, but noted there is a certain time to do so when people are engaged and ready to learn more about candidates.
House District 92 candidate Mike Hopkins did not respond to a request for comment from the Pathfinder.
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