Campaigning During the Holiday Season

This message came to several of our business email accounts yesterday morning:

I’m Running for Congress
My name is [REDACTED], and I’m running to be the next US Congressman for [REDACTED] Congressional District.

And the email went on for another 400 words about the candidate, why he’s running, and then ended with a “Donate Now” button.

Seriously?

Putting aside the fact that our email was harvested for this spam message and that the candidate is not even a client of ours and we are not in the same state, what was the point of that announcement?

If you are running for office in the next year, you are probably excited and full of enthusiasm. You want to get the word out to as many people as you can as soon as possible.

It’s totally understandable, but we have some advice.

Here is what you should NOT do in December: Active campaigning.

During the holiday season, most people are not interested in hearing about politics. They are focusing on family, friends, and other things that are more important to them. Your primary or election day is the furthest thing from their minds right now. At best, soliciting for money or support this time of year is annoying. At worst, it comes across as annoying or disrespectful.

Here is what you SHOULD be doing in December: Preparing to run for office.

Winning candidates lay the groundwork for success long before Election Day. As Sun Tzu said, “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

The most important things you can do early on are prepare your messaging, pull together your campaign team, and start putting together an election-season strategy.
Just hold off on active campaigning during the holidays. This applies to all major holidays throughout the year, including New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, and Super Bowl Sunday.

And the final kicker?

The candidate who spammed us didn’t even have a working campaign website.