Yes it does. I ran for city council in 2020, thinking this same thing. I had 6 years experience in the parks board, founded a local youth non-profit, and a VERY clean record and internet presence. I lost to a lawyer with a very public sexual harassment case that he settled. I was like 28 and did not have money. I thought I could win it on my pretty well stacked experience in public service. I was wrong.

The other complication is that I was deemed to be “liberal” and my idiot opponent was deemed to be “conservative” in a non-affiliated position. To be fair, those were accurate designations. My town is very conservative. And my biggest win on parks was enacting a parks maintenance fee so… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

My own father, also running for council, endorsed my opponent. Also, my opponent was such a jackass that he was asked to step down… by my father (who won his race)