“Run for Something.” Should You?
There is a new energy around jumping into politics, but here are some practical steps you can take to make sure you’re really ready to run.
The 2018 midterm elections turned out a record number of voters, but, relatedly, it was also a blockbuster year for the total number of candidates. Across the country, primaries were hotly contested by large and diverse candidate pools that ultimately led to some historic outcomes, especially with regards to female and minority representation. The election of Donald Trump has clearly energized progressive politics, but the turnout of candidates and voters that was younger, more female, and less white is one of the clearest examples of that energy in action. An entire industry of candidate support organizations has begun to flourish, with groups like Run for Something, The Collective PAC, She Should Run, Arena, and the National Democratic Training Committee joining the ranks of longstanding entities like EmergeAmerica, EMILY’s List as mechanisms for recruiting and supporting new, progressive candidates.
Look no further than the ever-expanding list of Democratic presidential candidates for evidence that we can expect this trend to continue into 2020. Expect more people than ever to begin considering whether a run for political office is right for them. But how do you know if pursuing office right now is a good idea? First, of course, you need to decide if there is an election for an office that serves your community in a way that you believe you can add value. But assuming you’ve gotten that far, here are some practical items to consider, as you test the waters:
- Who’s on #TeamYou?
One of the very first things you need to do when considering a run is take a thorough inventory of your resources, starting with your most important: your network. If you’re like most people, your contacts don’t live in any one place. They are on social media accounts, phones, email accounts, in various spreadsheets, and countless other places. Take the time to pull together all those sources so you have a single place, so you can easily start to figure out the best way to plug them into your campaign. Luckily, there are cost-effective software tools now that can help turn this multi-week activity into a 5 minute exercise. - How Much is this Going to Cost?
Just about every election- from school board to the presidency- requires cash, and it’s good to have an early estimate of what it will take to run the campaign you want to run. The quickest way to do this is to look at public reports on the amount of money campaigns have raised and spent for this position in previous cycles. Interviewing potential campaign staffers/consultants is also a great way to learn from several experts in the field about what they think a winning campaign looks like, and the budget it would take to execute it. - Can You Raise It?
Now that you have some idea of what it will cost to run your campaign, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to raise it. The number one way a campaign raises money is through direct asks by the candidate. Usually that means the candidate is calling individuals, making his/her case, and then making an ask (“call time” in the lingo, though, usually it consists of a fair deal of personal texts and emails, too!). You should expect to raise at least 75–80% of your budget through call time.
With those numbers in mind, get your contacts list out (see “Who’s on #TeamYou?) and put the “ask” amount you plan on making of each person in your network. When estimating, consider: past political giving history (it’s all public record), wealth estimate, political affiliation, issue-alignment with you, etc. Here, too, technology can really help you out. Cutting-edge software is available to both automate this research, and then to use artificial intelligence to score your contacts and generate a smart ask amount.
Add up your asks, and discount about 20% to account for people who don’t end up giving as much as you’d hoped. But don’t worry if you’re coming up short on your budget. This is just your starting point — you need to demonstrate traction by raising this early money quickly, but it will unlock doors to more money down the road. With your early money in tow, you’ll grow your list, advertise, do public events/interviews, and earn endorsements — all of this will help bring new cash and fuel to your efforts.
While the prospect of fundraising can be daunting, don’t let it overwhelm and deter you. In fact, part of what is broken in our politics is that too many diverse and quality would-be candidates never even make it into the arena. But if you follow the above steps, you can break down the financial questions into something that is manageable. And if you leverage technology, you can discover that your network is probably bigger than you think, and more able than you guess to help you launch a successful campaign.
