As you prepare to make a decision about running for office, the most important planning you should do actually takes place before you announce it. Make sure you go through these steps to devise a plan to win an election.
Good planning is important to running for office. In 2019, a well-funded presidential candidate failed to get on the upcoming primary ballot in a large state, because the campaign didn’t turn in enough valid signatures by the deadline. Things can go wrong for big or small campaigns.
Some of the most important planning you should do actually takes place before declaring “I’m going to run for office,” because that first big step is one of the most important decisions. Campaigning does matter, but by the time a field of candidates starts any active work, a lot of the outcome is often already determined.
Your plan to win an election
So, before putting all your resources and efforts in campaigning, make sure your plan to win an election includes these 4 steps:
#1 Understand the Office
You should understand your reasons for running for office, and be able to articulate your hopes and motivation. But you should also understand the office itself. What are the duties, the powers, the realistic time commitment? Does it provide income or benefits? Read the charter, laws, or other rules which define the office.
#2 What’s Involved in Getting There
Start with the basics even before studying how to run a campaign. Requirements and deadlines for getting on the ballot are important, and obviously overlooked more often than they should be.
Potential competition is absolutely fundamental to your planning. Whether or not you will be challenging an incumbent is almost as defining as your own decision to run at all.
If an incumbent is running for reelection, that can loom over everything else, although there are exceptions. If an incumbent has been coasting for years with little outreach, that can be one of the most promising opportunities to seek office.
By contrast, an open race often draws multiple competitors. If it doesn’t, you should try to understand why.
Once you evaluate the formal requirements for getting on a ballot, and who else may be on it, then you can begin thinking about the kind of campaign that’s ahead of you. Will it be competitive, uphill, brief, expensive? This is a good moment to talk to someone with experience in what that campaign will require of you, personally.
#3 What Do You Bring Along
Unless you are already well-known, locally, a lot of your challenge will involve letting people know that you exist, and who you are. What’s your short story? Where do you come from, what sets you apart, and what might make complete strangers trust you?
Before asking voters to hire you, however, you still need to weigh hiring yourself. If your future campaign was hiring, what might make you valuable to it? Perhaps you are charming, or an amazing organizer. Perhaps you’re calm under pressure, or a good storyteller, or a natural leader with lots of connections. No one gets elected to office alone, so who you expect to bring with you matters a lot to your decision.
#4 Consider the Alternatives
As you prepare to make a decision about running for office, stop and consider it as one option among many. You could expend a lot of time and other resources pursuing elected office, over the course of a year or more. How would you spend it otherwise? Activism, unelected positions, or supporting others’ candidacies are also ways to influence government. There are all of life’s other opportunities as well.
If you consider all of this, and you understand the kind of campaign you will be choosing to invest yourself in, and then decide to do so, you’ll genuinely be starting your campaign with some good planning behind that choice.