2014 Political Campaigns/Politics Thread: Even number years = $$$

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > 2014 Political Campaigns/Politics Thread: Even number years = $$$

JIZZ DENOUEMENT: Oct 3, 2012; STRIKE!

I want to attain office on my City Council. I am in my mid 20's and just acquired my masters. What resources should I look at? I realize there's not going to be a "collect 5 stars and then hit up-down-b-a-b-a for office", but where do I go from here?

# ¿ Dec 29, 2014 10:49

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 22:15

JIZZ DENOUEMENT: Oct 3, 2012; STRIKE!

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Concerned Citizen posted:

First, do your research. Who currently occupies the seat you'd run for? How big is the electorate? How much money was spent in past elections for this same seat? If it's partisan, make serious consideration as to whether your partisan profile matches what the community might typically vote for. I don't want to discourage people from running for office, but realistically a fresh out of grad school kid isn't going to flip a blood red district blue. Then you need to research the laws or local practices in your municipality/state - specifically, ballot access laws. Some states require signatures. Others, you just pay a small fee. You also may or may not need to open up a bank account and form a campaign committee for disclosure purposes, depending on your state and the size of your municipality.

I have done all of these except for the bank account thing. Do I just open a bank account and say "this is my campaign stuff"? I even made a several year budget that included amortized student loan payments to figure out how many years it would take to save enough private capital to fund my city council campaign. My City is blue. Real blue. It would be running between two democrats. Unless I wanted to run as an independent/green or something? How does that work? Does the DNC care about city council stuff?

Concerned Citizen posted:

Have you spoken to anyone about your intentions? You may need to court the endorsement of a local party. Some states give preferential treatment on the primary ballot to whoever gets the local endorsement. Additionally, if you're a good fit for the office, they may discourage others from challenging you. Even if your race is non-partisan, parties often endorse candidates. While this can often only affect a handful of votes, it will be tough to win a local race without at least some institutional support to show that you're not just some random. Even if the endorsement is not valuable, they might have resources to aid you. Maybe it's just a few clipboards, but also potentially connections to donors, volunteers, and lists. Local political knowledge is always going to be good.

I have not discussed my intentions with local parties or political individuals. So far several of my employers and a few of my professors know my intentions. For several reasons, I thought it more prudent to initially consult people outside of the political sphere. It is good to hear reinforcement of how important political networking is.

Concerned Citizen posted:

On small scale races, the winner is often the candidate that works hardest. Be ready to knock on doors. If you are a very small scale campaign (i.e. it's just yourself) you can usually get a copy of the voter rolls from your local election board and use this to guide which doors you go to. Focus on people who tend to vote in municipal races - your goal is persuade voters to vote for you. It won't help to try and persuade voters to show up and vote and then vote for you. If you are working with a local party, they *may* already have specialized software from the state party that (i.e. VAN for Democrats) will make this process much easier.

Awesome, that's part of my advantage. I have no desire to go on vacations, create a family, or do conventionally distracting activities. What I want is to provide meaningful change to my community. Working hard will be the easy part.

Voter rolls can be publicly accessed? Or do I need to be a candidate first and then gain access?

Concerned Citizen posted:

Finally, don't forget. Local office is often boring as hell and people are passionate about very minor and specific issues. Try to learn as much as you can so you don't come off like an idiot when someone asks why the city charges $10 more for sewer access on the west side of town.

This will take research but should also be fun. I like numbers, accounting, and systems analysis. Would the strategy be to attend many town meetings for awhile and gauge hot points from there?

Mooseontheloose posted:

Have a reason to run too. Why are you running? What's the major issue? Can you make people care about your issue? Why is your current city councillors not handing these situations?

I have answers to all but the last question. How would I discover that as an outsider?

Edit: Oh yeah I should mention my city is top 20 in U.S. population. That probably matters.

JIZZ DENOUEMENT fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Dec 30, 2014

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 04:22

JIZZ DENOUEMENT: Oct 3, 2012; STRIKE!

Jackson Taus posted:

In addition to this, it may be worthwhile getting to know the City Council members. On my town's council, there are a couple of long-time folks who pretty popular around town - it would be borderline-suicidal to run AGAINST them, but at the same time it'd be a huge boon to be running WITH them (something made possible by a staggered top-three election system).

How would I do this? *Accidentally* bump into them at a charity fundraiser? Volunteer for their organizations and hope to meet them? Try and schedule a meeting directly?

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 04:23

JIZZ DENOUEMENT: Oct 3, 2012; STRIKE!

Insightful information, thank you Jackson Taus.

Jackson Taus posted:

Don't like open a conversation within the Party with "I want to run for City Council next year". Hold your cards close to the chest until you're "in".

What is "in"? My current s.o.p. is just be friendly and useful, and tell the truth; I want to help the party help my community however I am able. Will they eventually they suggest I run? Is that assertive enough? For instance a couple of my employers have acknowledge and appreciated when I provided ambitious interview answers.

If I wanted to become Governor, would your advice change?

# ¿ Dec 30, 2014 06:15

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