Political harbinger: Ebersole Singh’s fundraising pays off at ballot box

Seven candidates for East Lansing City Council raised a cumulative $139,407 for their campaigns — $66,328 of it going to Kerry Ebersole Singh, per the post-general election campaign finance documents published this month.

Ebersole Singh won the election with 23.08% of the vote, former City Councilmember and former State Rep. Mark Meadows finished second with 16.5% of the vote, and former City Councilmember Erik Altmann finished third of seven with 15.91% of the vote.

Meadows raised $25,020 and Altmann raised $5,960, a steep decline from Ebesole Singh’s figure.

Thirty-one current state representatives raised less money than she did in 2022.

Bill Ballenger, of the Ballenger report, said this dollar amount is “almost obscene, compared to what it used to be.

“What Kerry Ebersole has done is impressive, but it’s more a harbinger of what’s to come than it is a one-off, unique event that you’re never gonna see repeated,” Ballenger said.

These races used to cost next to nothing to win after door knocking and a few endorsements, Ballenger said, but even though the city is largely Democratic, split-offs and factions within the party keep these races competitive.

Ebersole Singh has lived in East Lansing since 1995. She has worked in state and national politics in multiple capacities such as campaigning for former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former President Barack Obama early on the primary trail in 2008, and now serves as the executive vice president and chief talent solutions and engagement officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

It was her first ever run for public office. But Ballenger said there’s a lot of places to go from a solid base of 23% of the vote.

“She may say now that she’s not interested in doing anything but being a City Councilperson, but two years from now, watch out,” Ballenger said.

One way to successfully make that jump is with a lot of money.

“If you’re thinking about running against her in the future … look out, because this woman will bury you with money,” Ballenger said. “I think she decided, ‘I’ve been behind the scenes all my life, I’m gonna make the jump to putting my soul on the line running for public office myself. I damn well better win.’”

Ballenger said the $66,000 mark does not represent a low tide that every candidate will be striving for in the future but rather a tide that continues to rise over time.

Ebersole Singh pulled donors from across the country, including $2,000 from various sources in Washington, D.C., and she said every donor on her contributions list is someone she has either a personal or professional story with.

When she created her campaign plan, she knew she wanted to put out four pieces of mailed literature and also paid for digital advertising. For safety reasons, and also to accommodate her daytime work at the MEDC, she and another person door-knocked.

“I’ve worked on a number of state (and national) issues, and I wanted to leverage and reach out to those friends and former colleagues as I took this challenge on,” she said by email.

Besides winning her first election on her first try, the Council picked her to be mayor pro tem, a choice that drew criticism, including charges of racism, because the majority picked her over Dana Watson, an incumbent who is the only African American member.

Ebersole Singh’s husband, State Sen. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, served as her campaign treasurer but wasn’t involved with fundraising, only campaign finance disclosure compliance. Before going to the Legislature, Singh also served on the City Council. He first ran for it in 1995 with Meadows.

Meadows said he’s happy Ebersole Singh was elected.

“She didn’t get elected because she’s Sam’s wife, she got elected because she did all the work necessary to do so,” Meadows said.