By HP Wilder | Watertown Post
I ran an experiment. A simple one.
I took a political news article about Watertown’s city council race—arguably the most important local election of the year—and posted it on two platforms: Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). The response? Facebook gave me crickets. Not a single meaningful reply, not even a thumbs-up from someone’s aunt. Meanwhile, on X—where conservative and pro-Trump voices thrive—I got nearly 1,000 views, all local to Watertown.
That’s not just an algorithmic fluke. That’s a political signal flare—and every candidate in this year’s race either didn’t see it or didn’t want to.
Let’s be clear: Watertown has a sizable Trump-leaning voter base. We’re not New York City. We’re blue-collar, military-adjacent, and tired of the same old status quo. So, when not one single candidate (besides Lisa Riggio, quietly) even acknowledged Trump voters—let alone ran on policies that spoke directly to them—it raises a simple but infuriating question: Why not?
X gave that article exposure. Not to bots. Not to random out-of-towners. Real Watertown voters. And the message was clear: there is a hungry, untapped base in this city that’s sick of rising taxes, bloated budgets, and council members who seem more concerned with preserving the “good ol’ boy” routine than fixing potholes, lowering crime, or bringing 21st-century ideas to the table.
Now, post-election, what are we stuck with?
Big spenders.
Tax raisers.
Status quo preservers.
People who think being “progressive” means inflating the city payroll while ignoring the working families footing the bill.
The missed opportunity isn’t just a campaign strategy failure. It’s a representational failure. Candidates had the chance to engage directly with Watertown’s most overlooked and energized voters—the very people who will show up rain or shine, primary or general, because they believe in something bigger than politics-as-usual.
Instead, those voters were ignored. Not courted. Not heard. Just… bypassed.
So here’s a message to any future candidate who actually wants to win—and not just blend into the beige wallpaper of city hall:
If you want to change Watertown, you have to speak to the people who want change. That means getting on X, talking to conservatives, acknowledging Trump voters without whispering it like a dirty secret, and presenting bold, unapologetic ideas about fiscal responsibility, law and order, and economic revival.
This election showed us what happens when nobody does.
Let’s not make that mistake again.
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Hans Wilder is editor of the Watertown Post and believes in fixing things—starting with city hall.
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