So you want to run for office?
People are really angry after 2020. Especially with the government leaders of their local and state. We've just come off a very difficult year and Washington state is still in it.
And I know many of you are very angry. Some of the rumblings I've heard and the commentary of what's out there is now people have decided that they possibly want to run for office and fix the situation.
They're angry or frustrated, they're tired of who is in the governors chair, who is in the legislature, they're frustrated with the school board members, and generally just anybody who is currently elected they are very angry with, especially in our left state of WA, where the reasoned and sane do not hold the positions of leadership in state government. The Democrats are running our state into the ground.
I get it and I agree. I think in Washington state we need a major overhaul of who is in leader ship in our state, which has been the Democrat party for the last couple of decades.
My husband was serving for 16 years as a conservative Republican in the legislature, I was very involved with all of his campaigns, fundraising, and everything else that goes on behind the scenes when someone is running for political office. We did nine of his campaigns, and helped dozens of other people on there campaigns at various levels. So I speak from experience.
I have not run for office myself, and have no plan to, but these are the things that I know that I've seen after after nine political campaign cycles.
From my experience, those people on the left who are currently in charge have very little or no private sector experience, and have always held a government or bureaucratic job, have not signed the front side of a paycheck, or been the recipient and on the receiving end of all the laws, rules, regulations, taxes and fees that are hoisted on the private sector and small businesses here in Washington state. Those on the left have no intention of putting into place what makes a republic thrive and succeed.
So if you'd like to run for political office, here's a few things you should consider and know before you get started.
And practical things to consider before you sign up and put your name on the ballot.
It’s really important you know the why behind what you are doing, because once you get into the work, face the obstacles, and begin to understand the gauntlet that you are facing, you really need to have this settle this in your mind.
Otherwise, when it gets gets hard, when you face opposition, when finances are low, and you are deadbeat tired, you must remember why you’re doing this. To figure out the Y is the place to start. It will keep you focused and moving forward when it gets hard.
2. ask yourself if you have the adequate background and experience to hold the office you are seeking.
So many times during the years my husband was in the legislature and had moved into elected leadership as caucus chair and then Minority Leader of the House, he often wanted me to come to recruitment meetings with him, meet potential candidates, and generally have me there sometimes as he met potential candidates to get my feedback after the meeting.
He would ask about their background and experience, and why they wanted to run for the state House as a Republican.
Within about 1 hour, we could easily discern whether or not this person could win.
Some truly had the experience and savvy to win, or had the potential, with some education, coaching, and training, to win.
Others, not so much. It was so frustrating to meet someone who, for instance, wanted to run for the state house, who was not very active in their home district.
They were not on the school board, they were not involved in rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, or other civic or trade organization, they had not served anywhere else in their community. They did not have a pulse on the issues in their community.
Mostly they were social media and news junkies….like me…. And had one issue that they were passionate about, and thought running for office would be the way to fix the problem and get to a solution.
Having the pulse of your community and knowing what’s going on locally will give a huge advantage for a win.
3. ** Does your family/ husband/ wife and significant friends support you doing this?
If not, to preserve your marriage and family life, important friendships, I highly recommend not doing this. We observed through the years certain elected officials doing the job of serving the public as an elected official, and if their spouse wasn’t for it, they got divorced or served under far more stress than those who had spouses and family that supported them.
As an elected official, you live in a fish bowl for thousands of people to know and see what you are doing, and comment on it. Make sure your family is willing to be in the fish bowl of public life with you.
In office, you will be subjected to a huge amount of stress and trials by severe testing, and without a family’s support, it is very difficult to do the job well.
4. Start in your own neighborhood. It’s really important to get involved at the local level, because there’s an old saying that says all politics are local.
It’s true. Attend school board meetings, attend neighborhood and local meetings…attend city council and county council meetings know what’s going on in your area and who the people are who already hold these position. … But most importantly, get to know the people that are already there, who are already elected, whether or not you agree with them.
They might be able to help you, and save you the trouble and expense of running for office yourself.
So many times people are absolutely livid with the school board in their local district, but they’ve never attended the school board meetings, they don’t even know who’s on the school board of their local district, and they have never emailed or contacted anyone on the current school board.
It’s what these people are there for!
So before deciding to run for office out of frustration or anger, Get to know the people who are already there and see if you can work with them.
Ask for a phone call, or other meeting with them, and let your voice be heard. Ask others who agree with you and are also facing the same problems you are to do the same. Maybe you will discover someone that's already elected that can help you, or this might solidify your decision to run for their position.
Run for the local positions first, the ones closest to your community, and be involved at the local level.
Those who hold elected office closest to your neighborhood affect your life the most. Who the president is has a small effect on your life, but who is on your local school board, who is on your county council setting tax rates, and who is in your state legislature affects your neighborhood, your finances, your property rights, your water supply, your electrical supply, and your right to bear arms far more than who the president is.
Local offices hold a lot of power, and most people don’t even know they exist.
5. Get to know others who are already doing the job or position you want, whether or not you agree with them.
We are all surrounded by people who influence us. This is no different in politics. Get to know those people who hold those positions, study what they do, their positions on the different issues, and understand how they do their job. This will only strengthen you as you want run for office and want to do their job.
6. Ask the people on your Christmas card list what they think of you doing this.
For those of you who don't know what I mean by this, for over 150 years, people have been sending Christmas cards to one another, and usually this is a list of anywhere between 40, 50, or up to a couple hundred people or more, who you send a yearly Christmas card to. these are people who know you may be just from a distance, or from your past, or are your really good friends. These are the people who have spent time with you in person.
These people on your Christmas card list are the people who know your past, know you currently, and know you out of politics or elected office. And you need to ask them what they think about you doing this.
Call a few of them up and ask them what they think. If you can't get a rallying cry of support from the people on your Christmas card list, you might want to rethink running for office. Facebook and Instagram don’t count for this step.
7. Help someone else on their campaign.
I cannot stress this enough. If you help someone run for office, you will get a behind-the-scenes view for a year or so about what really it takes to do this, Without doing it yourself.
Attend all the meetings, go to the campaign events, and volunteer to help on their campaign so that they can win. This is an excellent way to learn about what goes on without putting your own neck out there. I know with Covid things are different, and it’s been an unusual year, but there's no better way to learn about doing something then helping someone else do it first.
8. realize you were going to be subjected to the biggest personal examination of your entire life.
The opposition will dig up any dirt on you regardless how insignificant, blow it out of proportion, and do everything in their power to destroy you. If you have skeletons in your closet, have ever been arrested, have financial mistakes in your past, or even an insignificant traffic ticket, they will find out about it.
There are many ways to inoculate against this, and that's when hiring the professionals come in, but if you have anything in your past that you don't want to be made public or aren't willing to deal with it when it becomes public, then I highly suggest you do not run for public office. You can still get involved to make positive changes in your community, you can still influence your community, you can still help others run for office, but realize you're going to be subjected to a huge personal examination of your private life. Be ready for it.
9. don't be in a rush. Elections are frequent. Maybe you would make an excellent candidate to run for office, but it's just the wrong timing. There's always time in the future to do this. Maybe it would be better to get more involved in the elections process, be a vote counter, an election counting observer, just get out there and get involved SOMEWHERE!
If you wanna know more about this strategy of wearing down your opposition, “The Strategy of Fatigue” listen to my previous podcast #4 , the strategy of fatigue.
10. run for the office that best suits you.
What do I mean by this? Again, potential candidates would approach my husband and want to run for office, but they were under qualified, or had amazing accomplishments and talents in their field of endeavor or in their business profession, but those talents did not fit being an elected official. These people would probably be best helping someone else run and being a key person on someone else’s campaign, but would not make a very good candidate themselves.
Another example is every once in a while we would hear from someone who wanted to run for office, but we knew there was just no way they could win the seat. These are what I call armchair critics, who, from the safety of their homes, spent too much time on social media, watching political talking Heads spout opinions, and
they get all riled up about the political landscape. Maybe in their business they deal with a lot of political officials and elected leaders. And they see the poor job that the elected person is doing,
So in their anger and frustration, they want to run for office. This usuallydoesn't result in them winning the seat. Running for office would not be the best thing for them to do, not for the people who would have to sit under their leadership if they would happen to win on a fluke….if it happens, and it’s has.
So if you'd like to run for office, here's a few things from an insider's perspective that you need to consider. It's not for the faint of heart.
Having said all this, I would highly encourage everyone to get involved with your community, and make a difference in your neighborhood. Attend school board meetings, attend the water district meeting, get involved in your City and county council meetings, contact your elected officials by email and phone call. Introduce yourself to them and let them get to know you and start the relationship with them so you can influence them. They are very sensitive to those who vote.
I but I believe in our culture today oil caustic so rude and so disconnected from how things really work that very few of us in our communities are actually making the decisions. Of the reason that people affect change is because they show up, they get involved, they care they care about the people around them and are willing to step out into their communities.