Gennifer Geer (Weinberg ’24) said she wanted to make the 3rd Ward City Council race “obnoxious,” flooding voters with messaging. 

This fall, the 27-year-old threw her hat in the ring to fill Ald. Melissa Wynne’s seat following the 3rd Ward councilmember’s decision against seeking reelection after serving since 1998.

Geer said she employed comprehensive digital and on-ground strategies to reach young voters, a demographic with traditionally low turnout in municipal elections.

Geer lost the race but appeared to turn some heads with her campaign strategy. As of Monday, she came within 200 votes of Shawn Iles, who will be sworn in on April 28. Per unofficial results from the Cook County Clerk’s office, Geer claimed almost 32% of the total with 793 votes, while Iles and John Kennedy received around 38% and 30%, respectively.

Throughout the campaign cycle, Iles also used a mix of retail politics — direct engagement between politicians and voters — and online actions. However, he said that Geer out-campaigned him. 

“(Geer) kind of ran circles around me, as far as sheer number of sort of engagements with people,” Iles said.

Northwestern Communication Prof. Erik Nisbet said campaigns serve two primary functions — for candidates to differentiate themselves and to outline the benefits of their candidacy. Aspiring public officials also utilize various strategies to limit uncertainty about themselves if they are relatively unknown.

In municipal elections with low spending, Nisbet said social media can reach many voters at low costs. Facebook groups endorsing specific individuals also play a role in voter choices. 

“(Social media) could play a role in these sort of functions of a campaign in a very cost-effective way for local candidates that don’t have a lot of campaign resources,” Nisbet said.

Still, Nisbet added that retail politics are the most persuasive campaign communications. 

He said while digital strategies can help build familiarity and increase the likelihood of a resident speaking with a door-knocking candidate, the on-ground efforts often do much of the work to encourage voters to turn out.

“Face-to-face communication is the richest form of communication, and often the most persuasive than any other form of communication,” Nisbet said. “That is important and doable at a local level.”

Geer said she attempted to make the 3rd Ward race widely visible by sending numerous texts, made phone calls and employed targeted social media posts. Her campaign manager, Sam Pascal, said she used her limited funds well by completing many tasks in-house. 

Alison Dixon (Pritzker ’10), a 3rd Ward voter, said she voted for Geer because she thought the candidate was a “new face for Evanston politics.” Dixon also sided with many of Geer’s policies and noticed that the Chicago Federation of Labor endorsed her.

Third Ward resident Jenny Zegler, though, said she voted for Iles because she appreciated his experience. She added she was hounded with texts and flyers as candidates campaigned and even met Iles and Geer in downtown Evanston off the Metra.

“I have Gennifer’s ads via Instagram, so I did see some of those. But to me, it was a bit of overexposure that kind of had me a little bit checked out,” Zegler said. “So, that kind of — and like some of the texts that were coming through with those images as well — just like a little bit too much.”

Geer leveraged social media functions like Instagram Reels to share policy goals and an endorsement from City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza, who praised the candidate’s transparency.

In one Instagram post, Geer is skateboarding outside the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, wearing a shirt that says “F—ing Vote.”

Geer also used Reddit to introduce herself on the Evanston forum. Pascal said the Reddit thread was a way for Geer to interact with voters who might have been concerned with her age.

“I wanted to be as visible as possible,” Geer said. “A lot of times, municipal elections happen in the background. It’s (usually) an if-you-know-you-know type of situation. And I wanted to be a lot more obnoxious about it.”

Pascal said that at the start of the campaign, they wanted to compile a list of voters who were not traditional municipal race voters but could potentially turn out for Geer. Expecting a competitive mayoral race, the Geer team expected they could benefit from expanded turnout. 

Turnout in the 3rd Ward was nearly 40%, the third highest of any ward. Geer does not entirely take credit for the uptick in voting numbers in the ward, citing upper ballot races, like the mayoral contest.

Geer targeted young voters through highly specific messages. One started with, “How do you do, fellow kids?” She said the reactions to the text were primarily positive, but some people called it “cringe.” She also noted that these types of texts were less frequent than her overall messaging.

Pascal said a sign of campaign success can be when some sensitive voters become annoyed with a candidate. He said Geer and her team knocked on about 5,000 doors, while the race had just over 2,500 votes counted as of Sunday.

Geer also said she tried to reach voters daily, whether it was meeting people on snowy days or calling residents on their birthdays.

“At a certain point, you’ve got to throw anything at the wall to try and get young people to vote in municipal elections,” Pascal said. 

Yu Ouyang, the interim department chair of history, philosophy, political science and economics at Purdue Northwest, said for young candidates like Geer, social media can help build name recognition for when they door-knock, making people more receptive. 

Regarding frequent messaging, Ouyang said the benefits outweigh the costs unless a candidate fires them off indiscriminately. He said that random contact can end up mobilizing voters against a candidate if they are being hounded.

“Voters get to put a face to the name and get a chance, even a brief chance, to talk to the candidate that makes a connection between who they vote for, and voters tend to treat their vote very highly,” Ouyang said.

Iles overcame fears and reaped the benefits

Utilizing the same campaign consultant that Wynne worked with for the previous two campaigns, Iles noted some digital presence, particularly through Facebook and text messages. Yet, after observing Geer’s efforts, he said he would have been more involved online. 

Iles said a more significant online strategy could have helped him reach apartment voters. He said reaching those residents was difficult as he could not just walk up to their doors and knock as easily as houses. 

“I think that (Geer’s) going to do great things,” Iles said. “I think it was just a little too early. She didn’t have enough roots beyond the Democratic Party of Evanston.”

On the ground, when Iles began campaigning, he was not a door-knocking expert. He said he considers himself somewhat introverted and is a bit “wonky.” He added he enjoys conversations about policy and loves to hear people’s ideas but found putting himself out there intimidating. 

So, as he geared up for a public-facing campaign, he said he joined Toastmasters International to become a more comfortable public speaker. He also door-knocked in Wisconsin for former Vice President Kamala Harris to support her 2024 presidential candidacy and prepare for his own campaign.

Iles said that through these actions, he evolved in conversation and became less anxious when approaching people. He noted that few knew him in Wisconsin, so he felt more comfortable taking the leap.

The incoming councilmember also said he held around 20 coffee chats with prospective voters to discuss his ambitions further. 

“My strength is that I’m kind of an open book, and I’m authentic,” Iles said. “I don’t have any ambitions for other political roles — this isn’t a stepping stone for me. I don’t have an axe to grind. My motivation is just community service, so I come across as authentic.”

Kennedy broadened his digital horizons

Kennedy, who finished third in the race, said he could not have run his social media pages alone. Instead, he sought help from a board member of the Youth Job Center, Jose Leon. The two of them would get together and strategize content, including videos of him at Brothers K Coffeehouse, which he felt were well-received.

“My strategy was to try to bring substance to the messages, and not just flaking or pretty pictures,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also introduced himself on Reddit — before Geer. He fielded questions from potential voters, engaging in back-and-forth dialogue. He said he posted on the platform despite being somewhat inexperienced on social media because he noticed the Evanston subreddit had 18,000 members.

On the ground, Kennedy focused on putting flyers under windshields and placing door hangers. Still, he said his primary takeaway from the campaign was that he did not begin early enough with those efforts. 

He said he biked around and sought out people to talk with, sometimes noticing other candidates doing the same. 

“I was at a meet and greet the other night (and) I rode my bike because it was only about four blocks away,” Kennedy said before the election. “And Gennifer showed up on a skateboard, so she one-upped me.”

Email: kamrannia2027@u.northwestern.edu 

X: @kamran_nia

Related Stories:

— ‘I was proud of the campaign I ran’: Shawn Iles to take office as 3rd Ward councilmember

— Shawn Iles overtakes Gennifer Geer and John Kennedy in 3rd Ward race

— Q&A: 3rd Ward Ald. Melissa Wynne reflects on 28-year City Council career