Thirty-two year old “No Money” Mike Connolly is not running your average political campaign. While working on healthcare reform during law school, he realized how badly money was influencing legislative outcomes. “Over the years I started to believe that the influence of money on the political system was dominating over ideals and principles.”
When he decided to run for Massachusetts State Representative, Mike pledged not to accept any donations towards his campaign. But even without raising a dime, he's giving his opponent a run for his money.
He credits NationBuilder with allowing him to do it. “We owe it to NationBuilder that the campaign is being taken seriously,” said Connolly. “I’m running against an incumbent who has been in office for 25 years and people are saying they’ve never seen him sweat so bad.”
NationBuilder is helping Connolly run an impressive grassroots campaign. He's signed on more than 70 volunteers and his “fundraising campaign” has been getting a lot of attention from voters and the media.
“Our NationBuilder pledge page asks people to donate zero dollars to our campaign,” said Connolly. “It’s a very powerful tool because it’s an easy ask. They don’t have to contribute anything but at the same time they’re signing on to support what we’re doing.”
In August, author and MIT professor Noam Chomsky presented Connolly with a giant check printed with “0.00” to show his support for the campaign. Mike is excited about the functionality that NationBuilder provides for the cost and is hopeful that having access to such affordable tools will encourage other people to run for office.
“For us to be able to hit the street with world class walk lists that are even better than what’s being used by more sophisticated candidates is something else. I’m sure four or eight years ago that would cost you a lot more than 30 dollars per month. One of the hopes that I have for my campaign is that other people will decide to run for office, and maybe even want to do it without raising money. That’s something to be hopeful for.”
