What a Campaign Sign Can Tell You About a Campaign

Lately, I have spent a lot of time driving through Ontario and noticing campaign signs.

Some are clustered around shopping centers, commercial properties, vacant parcels, and heavily traveled intersections. I have no way of knowing what permission another campaign may or may not have received to place a particular sign, and I do not want to make assumptions about that.

But seeing those signs made me think about something very different happening with my own campaign.

An overwhelming number of our signs are appearing somewhere much more personal:

In front yards.

And to me, that tells a much more meaningful story.

When I see one of our signs on somebody's lawn, I usually remember the person who lives there.

I remember the conversation.

I remember what they told me about their neighborhood.

Sometimes it was traffic.

Sometimes it was public safety, development, schools, parks, infrastructure, or simply how much Ontario has changed during the years they have lived here.

And in many cases, I knew these residents long before anyone was talking about campaign signs.

That is what makes seeing those signs so meaningful to me.

My first interaction with these residents was not:

"Can I put a sign in your yard?"

It was:

"What is happening in your neighborhood?"

"What are you concerned about?"

"How can I help?"

The sign came later.

There is nothing unusual about campaigns wanting their signs in highly visible locations. That is part of campaigning.

But a sign sitting alongside a commercial parking lot cannot necessarily tell you what the families living around that shopping center think.

A sign in someone's front yard is different.

That resident made a decision to place a candidate's name directly in front of their home.

Their neighbors see it.

Their family sees it.

People walking their dogs see it.

That little piece of plastic suddenly becomes personal.

And that is why I have been intentional about placing our signs on residential property only when the people living there have actually asked for one.

I would rather have a sign that represents a relationship than one that simply occupies a highly visible corner.

One of the things I am proudest of during this campaign is that we have continued talking with residents even when there was nothing to ask them for.

No donation.

No endorsement.

No yard sign.

Sometimes there wasn't even a campaign event coming up.

We simply talked.

Those conversations happened during neighborhood walks, community meetings, nonprofit work, public-safety work, civic involvement and years of serving communities before this election ever appeared on the calendar.

That history matters to me because I never wanted residents to feel as though the only reason I knocked on their door was because I suddenly needed something from them.

Leadership should not begin when somebody becomes a voter you need to reach.

Campaign season has introduced me to many Ontario residents I had never met before, and I am grateful for every one of those conversations.

But much of the work people are seeing today did not suddenly appear because there was an election.

The community meetings.

The youth mentorship.

The nonprofit work.

The emergency preparedness efforts.

The public-safety service.

The conversations with residents.

The effort to understand how Ontario grows and how City decisions affect neighborhoods.

That work was already happening.

So when somebody eventually says, "I'd like a sign," it means something different to me.

It means that somewhere along the way, a conversation became trust.

Eventually, this election will end.

The signs will come down.

The street corners will look normal again.

And nobody will remember how many signs any candidate managed to place around Ontario.

What I hope remains are the relationships behind them.

Because when I drive through a neighborhood and see one of our signs sitting on a front lawn, I don't see advertising.

I see a conversation.

I see someone who trusted me enough to tell me what matters to their family and their neighborhood.

And I am reminded that the most important part of campaigning isn't getting your name in front of people.

It is giving people a reason to know the person behind the name.

Leadership Built on Service. A Vision Built for Ontario.