John House's election campaign was similar to Skip Henderson's in that they were both city wide elections and Election Day was May 20. However, this election was very different in that there were three equally qualified and similarly known candidates. In this race, the front runner was another candidate who was younger than John House and was well liked by the community and had worked for the chamber of commerce for many years. John was an underdog in this election but had the most experience in leadership roles compared to the other candidates. In order for John to win the council seat, it would be a tough fight, especially with a limited budget. 

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As account executive, I served in the same role as I did for Skip Henderson's campaign in that I assisted with strategy, developing the budget, and placing the advertising buys. Instead of working with just a campaign manager and the candidate, I had to present ideas and plans to a committee and defend them against some of the committee's doubts. 

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The strategy to win was to get John into a runoff election by making sure no other candidate received more than 50% of the vote. Once John was in a runoff, we could focus on targeting the more active voters because runoff election typically draws lower voter turnout. On election night, John made it to the runoff receiving the second most votes in the race. On the day after the election, our campaign began a two month sprint against the frontrunner. The runoff campaign was difficult as we had to raise additional funds and remind his supporters that the election was not over and we needed their support one more time, this time in July. On the night of the runoff election, John was elected to succeed Skip Henderson and fill his vacant council seat. John and his supporters were extremely happy and I was proud that I had helped a great civil servant get elected to city council. 

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