By Steve Rivera / May 20, 2025
Political mailers clog mailboxes and recycle bins every campaign cycle.
Why?
Because they work. Sort of.
They are crude, broad-based attempts by campaigns to influence voters. In a news and political environment with declining coverage and increased partisanship, mailers are often the only connection a voter will have to a campaign.
As the general public becomes algorithmically fractionalized, it becomes easier to “micro-target” voters. Rare campaign funds are put toward niche social media strategies rather than broad outreach.
Broad efforts such as field campaigns (yard signs, volunteers, doorhangers, transportation, food, water, etc.) and phone banks (calling voters) are still used. But after COVID, their importance can be questioned as fewer people answer the door let alone talk to strangers on the phone.
Texting can work, but its appeal is limited. And in this era of virtual private networks, social media buys are like throwing darts blindfolded; You’ll hit the dartboard only if you’re lucky.
Mailers are the best way to reach every voter, especially now that all ballots are mailed. This has created an expectation that political campaigns will also be done by mail, and this is why so much money and effort is put into mail campaigns.
Because the costs of mailers are so high, this system favors the powers that be and acts as a deterrent for anyone who wants to challenge the status quo. The cost to design and print a mail piece is reasonable. But to actually mail it? Therein lies the challenge
.
USPS demands payment up front. A first-class stamp costs $0.73 for a standard piece, oversize pieces cost up to $1.19, and a postcard stamp is $0.56. These costs add up fast, especially when there are 373,641 registered voters as there are in the current Board of Supervisors District 1 special election between Democrat Paloma Aguirre and Republican John McCann.
The cost of mailing one postcard to every voter is 373,641 x $0.56 – a substantial sum of $209,238.96.
If you’re a challenger, and your campaign isn’t endorsed by people who can afford to spend five or six figures to mail on your behalf, it’s unlikely anyone will hear anything positive about you through the mail.
Unless they’re swimming in cash, campaigns don’t mail to every voter. But they do target the voters most likely to vote based on past performance and send them mailers. Repetitively.
For example, let’s look at the 7-candidate Special Election primary race for the District 1. As a good voting resident of the district, I received 53 mail pieces (three of which were the same piece mailed twice). The stack of them in one inch tall.
Here’s the breakdown with the name of the committee paying for the mail, the group or individual behind the committee, and who the committee supported:
Working Families to Support Paloma Aguirre for Board of Supervisors 2025 (SEIU 221) (Aguirre) – 12 pcs. (6 letter cards, 6 postcards)
San Diego Working Families Supporting Vivan Moreno for Supervisor 2025 (LIUNA Local 89) (Moreno) – 9 pcs. (3 oversized, 6 foldovers, 3 letter cards)
Community Voices (Ryan Clumper) (Moreno) – 6 pcs. (all letter cards)
San Diego & Imperial Counites Labor Council (Member Comms) (Aguirre) – 5 pcs. (2 oversized & 3 letter cards)
San Diego Unity Supports Chavez Supervisor 2025 (Chavez) – 5 pcs. (4 foldovers, 1 letter card)
Paloma Aguirre for Supervisor 2025 (Aguirre Campaign) (Aguirre) – 4 pcs. (2 letter cards, 2 postcards)
Protect Neighborhood Services Now (MEA) (Moreno) – 3 pcs (all letter cards)
National Association of REALTORS Fund (McCann) – 3 pcs. (2 foldovers, 1 postcard)
Vivan Moreno for Supervisor 2025 (Moreno Campaign) (Moreno) – 1 piece (8pg letter sized booklet
San Diego County Democratic Party (Aguirre) – 1 piece (letter card)
The amount of mail for each candidate:
21 – Aguirre
18 – Moreno
5 – Chavez
3 – McCann
Of the 48 pieces of mail, only 5 came from the campaigns themselves. All the rest came from other political action committees.
Only those candidates who ended in the top 4 mailed. The other three didn’t mail. None of those got more than 1.59% of the votes.
Did the mail make a difference? Probably among Democrats. Mailers reminded voters that there was an election, and they made the case to vote for or against a candidate.
So does mail matter?
It’s clearly better to mail than not. But, like everything else in a campaign, mailers need to be done in concert with other activities to get out the vote.
Steve Rivera is a veteran Democratic campaign consultant who lives in Golden Hill.
Sadly you now have to recognize, if they can afford to mail to me, they likely have a political clout from their agenda due to money. They likely are the front runner with money. They likely are trying to smother the opponent with messaging. They likely have too many connections with the politico establishment. And our politico structure aids and assists these failed people for that agenda.
A veteran campaign consultant who thinks it costs 73 cents to mail a piece? Ha!