Salem-Keizer Proletariat

Salem-Keizer Proletariat

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Progressives build grassroots campaign in Salem-Keizer School Board race
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Progressives build grassroots campaign in Salem-Keizer School Board race

Far-right candidates - Chandragiri, Troutt & Hudson - rely mostly on dark PAC $

May 03, 2023
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Salem-Keizer Proletariat
Salem-Keizer Proletariat
Progressives build grassroots campaign in Salem-Keizer School Board race
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Campaign finance tells you almost everything you need to know about the integrity of a candidate. And, especially for extremely local elections like school boards, you want folks that actually represent the community they serve.

Salem-Keizer Proletariat is entirely reader-supported. You won’t find school board coverage like this…anywhere. That’s not an exaggeration. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

To gauge whether a school board candidate really has community backing via campaign finance records, you want to look for those candidates with what’s commonly thought of as “grassroots” support - or support that exists & manifests organically. That means “individual donations” in campaign finance land. (sounds like a terribly boring place)

Get it? Grass? Roots? Picture borrowed: https://lawnsolutionsaustralia.com.au/lawn-care/getting-back-roots-grass-structure-surface/

And through the lens of campaign finance, you can get a good sense of grassroots support when you separate those candidates with more donations from individuals from those who power their campaigns from the other end of the finance spectrum - dark money from political action committees.

When you apply that rubric to the three races for open Salem-Keizer School Board director positions, it’s clear who the community supports through grassroots support. It’s also very clear who relies on dark money.


Quick recap of who’s who in the May 16th school board elections in Salem-Keizer School District.

Salem-Keizer School District - Zone #2

Cynthia Richardson

Casity Troutt

Salem-Keizer School District - Zone #4

Kelley Strawn

Satya Chandragiri

Salem-Keizer School District - Zone #6

Larry G. Scruggs

Krissy Hudson


First, a look at the overall breakdown when you compare progressive candidates (Richardson, Strawn & Scruggs) with the far-right candidates (Chandragiri, Troutt & Hudson) as groups.

Totals raised (through May 1, 2023)

  • Far-right - $72,816

  • Progressive - $53,168

Major takeaways

  1. Just 24% of far-right campaign finance comes from grassroots support

  2. Nearly 75% of progressive support is grassroots.

  3. An overwhelming majority of the money raised by far-right candidates comes from political action committees - specifically Marion+Polk First & Oregon Right to Life

  4. Progressives are clearly running people-powered campaigns

Now, here’s a look at grassroots support by zone. The trends are very similar to the overall trend of progressive campaigns being powered by actual people, and far-right campaigns powered by dark money.

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Zone #4 - Chandragiri and Strawn

Totals raised (through May 1, 2023)

  • Chandragiri - $34,061

  • Strawn - $24,190

Major takeaways

  • This is the highest money race, with Chandragiri the top recipient and Strawn in second overall.

  • Of the three races, Chandragiri leans the heaviest on money from businesses. Which, for purposes of a school board election, is a curious place to draw that much of your support (more than $6k, in this case).

  • Strawn earns a strong ¾ of his donations from grassroots sources (individual donations)

Zone #6 - Hudson & Scruggs

Totals raised (through May 1, 2023)

  • Hudson - $15,296

  • Scruggs - $5,558

Major takeaways

  1. Of the three races, this is the lowest volume in terms of political donations - with Scruggs trailing all candidates with just around $5k.

  2. However, this race also carries the strongest disparity in candidates. Hudson is, purely by looking at campaign finance, a candidate propped up entirely by special interests and dark money. Around $14.5k of her $15k+ total is PAC money. Which is…scary, honestly. 

  3. Scruggs is nearly 80% grassroots. 

  4. Scruggs has the highest level of self-funding. But the raw dollar amount is $750.

Zone #2 - Troutt & Richardson

Totals raised (through May 1, 2023)

  • Richardson - $23,420

  • Troutt - $23,458

Major takeaways

  1. Troutt takes the most dark PAC money of all candidates, across all races ($18,287). She is also arguably the most extreme right-wing candidate in the race with her publicly documented views on diversity, book-banning, anti-LGBTQ+, and more. It’s likely not a coincidence that her campaign exists largely because of dark money that’s difficult to track to origin.

  2. Richardson’s campaign finance profile is basically the average for progressive candidates. Almost entirely grassroots.

Any patterns, trends, or anything interesting we missed?

Shit - almost forgot one other thing. What if I told you that most of this money raised on the far-right side of the race was being spent with one person? And that person has some interesting and deep connections in Oregon politics? That would be weird, right? You’d probably want to hear more about that.

Salem-Keizer Proletariat is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


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Progressives build grassroots campaign in Salem-Keizer School Board race
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