How much money you will want to run a campaign for local office will probably be one of two possibilities: “as much as you can raise,” or “more than that.”
The correct answer however, regardless of your race is always the same – you need enough to win.
Candidates can win without fundraising, but most don’t
There’s no getting around the fact that money helps a lot when you’re running for office. But surprises still happen. An unknown first-time candidate spent a few thousand dollars winning an Ohio State Senate race in 2018 despite more than $1 million being spent against her. In 2021, the president of the New Jersey state senate lost re-election to a truck driver who spent under $200 campaigning.
Outcomes like those make the news because they are unusual.
Don’t count on the same thing happening for you.
If you want to do more than put your name on the ballot and see what happens—if you want to really campaign — your expenses can easily run into four figures and very possibly five. Maybe more depending on your race.
Can I run my campaign on a modest budget?
If you’re on a shoestring, you can purchase modest “palm cards” to hand people at events and leave on porches for hundreds of dollars and credibly mount a grassroots local campaign with volunteers who spend hours and hours with you meeting voters. Many people would select literature as the basic, minimum campaign expense. (Note: palm cards given to voters in face-to-face interactions are much more impactful than an equivalent expenditure for law signs.)
Even if you are on a shoestring budget, don’t forget to set aside money to pay the filing fee and other costs associated with getting on the ballot.
You should also pay for professional photography even if you spend nothing else on campaign visuals. Again, these are basic expenses that should run into the hundreds of dollars, not thousands.
If you want a broader definition of basic campaign, your budget will probably climb swiftly. The biggest reasons will be yard signs, and postage. If you purchase yard signs, you’re unlikely to spend less than $1,000 and could certainly spend much more. If you want to send mail, two mailings could cost $2,000 without even getting spendy.
Why use campaign mail? An how much is it?
The precise cost of mail is difficult to estimate because it’s mostly the product of how many pieces you send, and your list. Both are custom, and the more custom the better; any campaign mail you send should be as carefully targeted as possible. The main reason why is that mailings are expensive, no matter what. Suppose you send two mailings, each to 2,500 households. Bulk mailing, which you can and should do, means that you can’t say for certain what the postage will cost until a vendor sorts your list. But with allowance for printing, and ideally design, you shouldn’t plan on sending those mailers for a lot less than 40¢ apiece. That’s at least $2,000 right there, and this is a very modest mailing plan.
All of this, so far, is truly bare-bones. It isn’t unrealistically small, necessarily. Depending on what you’re running for and where, if you think that you could scrap together three or four thousand dollars. Many opportunities to spend more on a local campaign won’t necessarily help you much. Events, food, swag, tchotchkes, more mail, bigger mail, buttons, can all feel necessary. People will tell you to buy yard signs, and lots of them. But sometimes, depending on your race, you might get more votes from a dedicated plan for walking precincts and knocking on doors than you do from all of those expenses.
The bigger the office, the more expensive the race
If you want to take on a bigger challenge—running in a bigger electorate, seeking a higher office such as mayor or state legislator, challenging a powerful incumbent—you can potentially add up the numbers above and add a zero, for starters. Suburban mayoral campaigns can, and often do, run into six-figure budgets.
But the wide variety of what constitutes a practical campaign budget is both bad and good news. It’s difficult to say what your campaign might cost. It’s also difficult to say that you can’t afford to run a campaign, for something, and have a meaningful chance of success.
And if you’re serious about making a difference, at ElectionContender.com we help turn aspiring candidates into serous contenders. Join now to see what we can do for you.