Will a higher mayoral salary encourage more candidates to run?

The following is from a Facebook post by Maggie McKee on June 5 (after the city council’s finance committee voted on June 3 to approve the mayor’s 79% raise).

At the city council meeting the other night, a couple of councilors mentioned that people don't tend to run for office in Quincy (and one suggested that lower-than-the-private-sector salaries could keep more women and people of color from trying).

But I think what prevents more people from running is the political machine that builds up around incumbents, making it very hard to compete as a challenger (particularly a new challenger).

For example, Quincy's incumbent mayor, Tom Koch, raised and spent more than all 85 of the other mayoral candidates on Massachusetts ballots last year, taking in about $620,000 and spending about $962,000. (https://ocpf.us/Reports/MayoralReports?year=2023)

The average amount spent by all mayoral candidates on Massachusetts ballots in 2023 was $62,000. Mayor Koch spent nearly $1 million.

That war chest (war bank vault?) seems more likely to discourage would-be contenders from throwing their hats in the ring than the mayor's purportedly "low" salary of ~$158,000 ($150k base salary plus car allowance).

If we truly want to help more people run for office, campaign finance reform might be a good place to start.