Regular, ordinary, everyday people from outside politics can run for office, and win.
They often make some of the best candidates.
For example, if you’re a mom and don’t know a lot about politics, but do know you’re fed up and someone needs to do something. You’ll face challenges, which you probably expect. But once you decide to get involved, there are opportunities and resources that might surprise you.
For one thing, politics is less of a closed shop than you may imagine. There certainly are people jealously guarding what they have, but there are also people and groups actively interested in finding potential candidates just like you.
There are multiple reasons for this. Active involvement in politics is a niche interest. New people come in, but many people rotate out. Even those who stay involved can only run for one office at a time, and lots of people are actively interested but aren’t cut out for being the candidate or officeholder.
These folks constantly want to identify, encourage, and help potential candidates.
Finding these people and resources in your community will probably require a first step on your part. You could post on social media that you’re thinking about running for office, and see what the reaction is, but you probably need to do a little more than that.
If I run for office, is there any help for me out there?
Party organizations are one place to begin; candidate recruitment is one of a political party’s core purposes, although the degree of organization can vary depending on where you are. You can attend a local club’s meeting or contact a county party. Some of those organizations will have formal training programs. But some may not be much help. Keep looking. There may be local organizations dedicated to encouraging women or minority candidates. If anyone holding local office is doing it right, in your opinion, approach that person and ask for advice. This will likely lead to introductions – and you’ll start to grow your network.
The people or groups ready to help you will still be limited in what they can offer beyond guidance. For one thing, the need for candidates always recurs—that’s why they will be so receptive to your interest—but they may not have something in mind for you immediately. In politics most people and even parties have scant resources to go around, and you will need to muster some of your own.
For local office, adequate resources can be a relatively accessible threshold. Going door to door with basic printed literature can go a long way and is the most basic thing you can do to give yourself a fighting chance in any local contest. Alternately, if you have resources (read: money) you can send campaign literature through the mail.
If you don’t have an abundance of resources but you have an enthusiastic network of friends and family, you still have the makings of a credible local campaign.
I’m ready to give it a shot, but which office should I run for?
As for opportunities to run, learn for yourself what’s out there. If you turn to the local board of elections, you can look up published results or even past ballots for your specific address, and you may discover elected offices which get little notice. Spend a few minutes with your town’s City Clerk. They can be very helpful and will have the basic requirements for the office you plan to win.
If you’re wary of a direct one-on-one race, at-large races may be worth your consideration. City council or board of education members are often elected at-large, with seats going to the top two, three, five or even more finishers. This dynamic is less confrontational, even if a full roster of incumbents is running.
Finally, do not overlook appointments. A council appointment can be very unpredictable, but even if your application doesn’t stand a chance, you’ll meet people and learn things in the process.
Are you interested? Want to learn more? At ElectionContender.com we turn aspiring candidates into serious contenders. We have resources to help you get started.