Political party affiliation can often be largely irrelevant, especially on local issues (unless your cause intersects a core issue or culture war issues). Locally speaking, people are far less likely to pontificate. They are all too close to the subject matter to not engage with the actual specifics, and there are cases to be made to people of all political persuasions. At the end of the day, people are byproducts of their upbringing and are invested in their local communities… the ones who aren’t complete shills.