Even though my own largest contributions are within this limit, I think the real problem (as nationally) is the PACs and their very large 'special interest' SPECIFIC candidate support. Tens of thousands of DIRECT MAILINGS (glossy color mega 'postcards')

Some younger people can spend days & days manually distributing 'broadsheets' and doorhangers - sometimes 'we seniors' are more able to spends thousands of bucks (<$4900) to essentially do the same for a candidate.

Time to set up my own PAC? (it's not really that hard).

Peace and Love to ALL (especially the YIMBYs)

First of all, people were very generous in donating to my City Council campaign. I will be forever grateful. They were not quite as generous as the above article states:
"Showalter received $2,500 from the local firefighters' union during the 2020 council race, along with six contributions from individuals ranging from $2,000 to $2,499."
Although I did receive $2,500 from the Mountain View Firefighters Local 1965, the next highest donations were for $1,000 from 6 very generous contributors. All together, my campaign received 163 donations. 116 of them were for $100 or less. But don't take my word for it. You can check out all the candidate's filings on campaign expenses at Web Link