4 Challenges Candidates Face When Running A Political Campaign

Local political campaigns need to reach fewer voters and typically campaign for a shorter period than state or congressional campaigns. But navigating the complexities of political strategy and voter engagement is no less demanding at the local level.

Local candidates must deeply understand the demographics and the specific issues facing their constituents. You must employ effective electoral strategies under heavy constraints. In many ways, if you are running a small campaign, you have tough because:

You are pressed for time.
You are pressed for money.
You need political campaign staff and volunteers.
You need media and voter exposure.
You need to engage in digital campaigning to maximize reach.

Depending on your local party committee, you may or may not get support from those organizations. This makes independent voter engagement efforts even more crucial. And if you are running as an independent candidate, you are pretty much on your own.

Here are the major challenges local candidates face when running a political campaign.

Want to listen to the story?

1. Putting together a political campaign team

No candidate in a race of significant size can go it alone. One of the first challenges a candidate will face is finding a core group of volunteers. These people will become your primary campaign team who will organize events, coordinate fundraising, grow a volunteer base, handle sign distribution, and mailings.

A political campaign committee is a legal entity that must be registered with your county or state. This can often be done electronically. You will also need to set up a checking account for the campaign for accept contributions and pay expenses.

The number of people on a campaign committee will vary. It may depend on your overall budget and the specific elected office you are running for.

A typical political campaign committee may consist of:

A campaign manager is open-ended position, and one of the most important positions on a campaign committee. They handle day-to-day duties, from overseeing fundraising, volunteer, and campaign staff, to attending events and advising the candidate in all types of matters.

In smaller political campaigns, the campaign manager’s duties may double as those of a press secretary.

Finding the right manager for your campaign can be tough. In small races, like alderman or town council, campaign managers often work as volunteers. In other races, they will be paid operatives.

The campaign manager reports directly to the candidate, and will act according to the candidate’s directives. He or she is responsible for putting the campaign plan into action. This includes not only spending and expenses, but also setting and achieving fundraising goals.

Campaign managers also:

Work with other advisors and consultants
Hires and manages the campaign’s operational team
Makes tactical and strategic decisions throughout the race
Delegates tasks when required
Ensuring that laws and regulations are followed, and that all volunteers and staff are aware and follow them

Professional Tip: A political candidate should never act as their own campaign manager. Running a political campaign requires help, advice, and teamwork of others. One person cannot do it alone.

Campaign committee positions include:

Campaign Treasurer: This person will handle the campaign’s finances and bookkeeping. The treasurer acts as the bookkeeper. They are often responsible for completing the required registration forms for election participation and establishing the campaign bank account.
Volunteer Coordinator: As the name suggests, this person attracts, organizes, and heads up the volunteer efforts. This may include door-to-door canvassing, clerical work, and event staffing. They will be involved in a number of simultaneous functions. The person holding the volunteer coordinator position should be experienced in managing people.
Sign Coordinator: This person solicits yard sign locations and is responsible for placing them. They will also help replace or repair them during the campaign.

Each member has their own duties while working together toward the larger goal. Additional roles may come in the form of:

Scheduling Coordinator: This person is responsible for developing and executing campaign events. They might manage the candidate’s personal and campaign schedule and help prepare logistically for places that the candidate will attend.
Campaign Fundraiser: This person’s sole focus is to help your campaign raise money. A good campaign fundraiser will also be on top of the candidate to make sure that he or she is doing what they need to do to raise money. (Dialing for dollars, mostly.)
Activists: These are the people who will act as your volunteer foot soldiers. They may take part in activities such as door-to-door canvassing, making phone calls on behalf of the campaign, and social media promotion.
Political consultants: The larger the campaign, the more likely you will find retained consultants on staff. Consultants are often used for communications efforts (television, mail, digital). They may also help with general strategy, operating phone banks, and more.

Your campaign committee will help steer your campaign. A diverse staff with a variety of skills and expertise will strengthen your organization.

2. Developing a message and theme that will resonate with voters

When campaigning for office, a candidate must create a theme that captures and defines what they stand for.

In creating a theme, assess the candidate’s or ballot measure’s strengths and weaknesses. Who will vote for you, and why? Shape your theme around the voters’ most important issues. Frame any negatives of your positions into positives. (The platform is not ‘anti-growth’, it’s ‘smart-growth’) Once you have created your message, it will become the foundation of your campaign – from your slogan and through all your advertising until Election Day.

Your “stump speech” will also define you as a candidate. It’s a summary of you, your plans to improve the community as an elected official, followed up with a request for support. This can be refined further to create an even shorter ‘elevator pitch’.

What is an elevator speech? An elevator speech, elevator pitch, or elevator presentation is a brief description that describes the candidate and what they stand for in a short amount of time. The entire length of an elevator speech is typically no more than thirty seconds.

[bctt tweet=”Your stump speech will define you as a candidate. Be sure to craft yours carefully.” username=”onlinecandidate”]

Whether you are running in local election, a state election, or even for a position on your local school board, simple messaging is key. You must engage in repetitive, engaging communication to make sure your message is understood by voters.

This requires pulling together all sides of your organization with the goal of expressing and reinforcing your message. Everyone needs to be on the same page, always.

3. Raising campaign funds and donations

Of all the challenges faced when running political campaigns, raising money is the biggest one. Elections are overwhelmingly won or lost based on the amount of money spent by a candidate. Even local elections can become expensive.

For example, in 2020, outside political groups spent more than $3.7 million attempting to sway the three competitive Los Angeles Unified School District board races. And this was just in the last two weeks of the election.

All it takes is one generous donor who supports an opponent, and the cost of your small-time election has just gone up. These days, you may also need to worry about outside money from PACs and various 529 organizations.

[bctt tweet=”All it takes is for one generous donor to help an opponent, and the cost of your small-time election has just gone up.” username=”onlinecandidate”]

Consider your potential costs in advertising, event costs, ancillary costs, and the expense of maintaining a campaign office. The numbers will quickly add up.

What to look for when figuring out your initial campaign budget:

How much have others running for the same position raised in the past? Do your research on past races. Determine what the approximate cost per vote was. All things being equal, that will give you a rough benchmark for how much your election may cost.
How much can your opponent raise? What has their fundraising history been for past races? Keep an eye on financial disclosures to see how much they are raising and spending.
Determine how much you can personally contribute as ‘seed money’ from of your own pocket. Find out what other funds you can secure from your family and close friends.
Your local or national party may provide financial assistance. Speak with them early on to determine what kind of support your campaign can expect.

Before you formally make a launch announcement, have your campaign website ready to collect donations. Raising funds early in the process builds momentum to attract others to support your political agenda.

Planning your budget is important. Voters usually don’t pay attention to local races until a few weeks before Election Day. You’ll want to have funds available for a final mailing or GOTV effort.

4. Getting enough media exposure

Some local races are non-partisan, so you may not be able to rely on party identification in the voting booth. Where possible, canvassing remains an effective way to reach voters. Going door-to-door can help increase turnout and is an effective GOTV method. Combined with your other advertising efforts, it can help ensure that your name is identifiable to voters on Election Day.

[bctt tweet=”When voting time comes, name recognition will make voters less likely to skip your line on the ballot.” username=”onlinecandidate”]

Name recognition will make voters less likely to skip your line on the ballot, which often happens when the voter does not know either candidate.

Half of organizing a political campaign is communication. Getting the word out can be tough, especially if your organization has a limited budget.

Here are a few tips for improving your campaign’s media exposure:

Get to know your local election officials. They can help you navigate the political landscape and get you in touch with the right people in the media. Follow them on social media as well.
Create an online press kit to make it easy for local reporters to learn more about you.
Advertising in the local paper will increase awareness. There is always a wall between editorial and advertising in newspapers, but one way to get the attention of a newspaper and convince them you are a serious candidate is to place a few ads (offline and/or online).
Secure your key endorsements early and promote them.
Use simple and consistent messaging.
Leverage online communication. Building a website and using social media to advertise are effective, inexpensive options for local campaigns.

The problems that come up during an election are almost endless, and we’ve only covered a few of them. Take the time to learn what you are getting into when you start your campaign. Even then, preparation and planning will only get you so far. Your team will have to deal with fundraising, spending, volunteers, advertising issues, your opposition, and voter outreach.

But good support, a good message, and a lot of hard work will, hopefully, give you an Election Day win!

Shane Daley is a partner and developer of OnlineCandidate.com. With over 15 years experience in web marketing and online political campaigning, Shane is the author of the book ‘Running for Office as an Online Candidate‘.