Lorie
Barnwell’s unlikely election victory by a wide margin on Tuesday in Warren,
Michigan’s third-largest city, should not go unnoticed for one simple reason:
Her run for treasurer began at 7 percent support among the voters.
In the end,
she defeated a well-established incumbent with a popular surname, Carolyn
Moceri, by a 58-42 percent margin. A
51-point surge.
started out as a 32-year-old first-time candidate coming off of a 2014 loss for
the family when her husband, Bill, made an unsuccessful run for county
commissioner.
An
internal, automated poll conducted in April just after the candidate filing
deadline showed Barnwell at 7 percent, Moceri at 24 percent but a whopping 69
percent undecided.
Barnwell
and her husband knocked on hundreds of doors per day, relying upon a
targeted-voter strategy as they canvassed the 35-square-mile city. The
candidate raised a modest $30,000 and spend it judiciously. She received the
endorsement of Mayor Jim Fouts who, despite his quirkiness remains quite
popular with residents, and who was determined to defeat his City Hall
adversary, Moceri. And Barnwell emphasized her experience a bank branch
manager.
in traditional Warren ethnic politics by using her three names at election time
– Carolyn Kurkowski Moceri. First elected to city council 12 years ago, Moceri
had twice won election as treasurer over the past eight years. The fresh-faced Barnwells,
a young couple and their pre-schooler son, presented a striking contrast to the
incumbent.
Yet, a mid-September
poll conducted by Barnwell’s campaign manager revealed some disturbing news –
she was stuck at 20 percent.
not-so-subtle reminder that negative advertising works, the campaign took two
dramatic steps. Campaign literature slammed Moceri for a poor on-the-job attendance
record at the treasurer’s office. The mailer also reminded voters that in 2009,
while disputing a police citation issued to her son for skateboarding in a
restricted area, Moceri erupted, screaming at Warren police officers and
calling them “f—— pigs.”
Needless to
say, Barnwell had effortlessly captured the Warren Police Officers Association
endorsement heading into Election Day. But a key moment may have come on Monday
when Police Commissioner Jere Green put
out a robo-call to voters declaring that Moceri “should be ashamed of herself”
for the behavior displayed in the 2009 incident. And, of course, he urged the
electorate to vote for Barnwell on Tuesday.
to stop smiling. So, how does a rookie candidate gain 51 points in six months?
“A large
part of this campaign was good, old-fashioned door-knocking,” DiSano said. “We
had a disciplined campaign plan that mapped out every single day leading up to the
election.”
