one other note (It’s way too late for the current cycle) for anyone who has the ear of a potential candidate next time around, especially for local or state level folks, is about yard signs.
You do not need a novel on a sign. You need a name and what they’re running for (and financial disclaimer, and hopefully union bug). That is it. Also, white background = bad. Bold colors = good.
There is one excellent sign, one good sign, and two adequate signs in this image. The rest are utter shit, except the presidential ones because those kind of fit in a separate category, so I’m leaving them out for now.
The excellent sign is the one your eye is drawn to immediately. It’s exactly how I have my candidates design their signs. Guess which one it is. Dold for Congress
The good ones is Susana Mendoza
The adequate ones are Schneider and Patlak.
This image makes the white ones better than they are in reality. In reality, your goal is something that stands out when you pass by at 40mph. At that speed, the white ones all look the same.
Interesting how the most important detail, visibility, can be somewhat overlooked.
Haven’t noticed any signs for Joe Salerno in my area, I’m in a D part of his district so that is unfortunate. Joe being a political neophyte I’m kinda concerned as to the limitations of Joe’s organization, be it professional or volunteers.
Curious how common it is for a Congressional candidate, perceived to have little chance, to have an organization that is not up to the task despite best intentions. That is to say, not possessing the ability and/or having the means to realize what little EV the candidate had to win.
Appreciate the post, really nice to learn these details you are presenting. As a rookie it puts me in a good place going forward as I now possess some excellent actionable practical knowledge, more confidence, and reinforces the ‘always be optimizing’ mindset.
Too common. It’s why I get frustrated at first-time candidates jumping straight into running for Congress without doing something at a local or state level first. It doesn’t even have to be running for lower office! But if you’re someone who has literally never engaged with politics in your district before, then you’re not going to do well.
Join a Dem club. Go to every other Dem club meeting you can, most of them allow time for candidates to speak, or guests to say hello, etc. Sit in on your county party central committee meetings. Go to events where elected officials and party players will be and meet them. If no one inside the party knows who you are, it makes it incredibly difficult to get the support and funding you need to run a congressional campaign.
Go to city council meetings or school board meetings or chamber of commerce meetings (or all of them) and start showing your face.
There are also hundreds of organizations (including your local party if they’re good) that hold candidate training or networking sessions.
People think running for office is making signs and postcards and knocking on doors, but what it really is is networking, and if you don’t lay good groundwork months or years before you start campaigning, you aren’t gonna get anywhere.
late to the thread, but i’ve been known to write max allowable checks to long-shot candidates who are willing to talk to me to earn it. i’m in no way an expert on campaigns, but i tell them two major things that i want to see:
the campaign isn’t to win the seat, although that would be preferable. the goal is to shift the opponent left on a vulnerable issue. if that translates into them being scared to actually repeal obamacare, or ban abortion, or nix child tax-credit, that’s a win for your campaign. there are no numbers to back it up, but perhaps long-shots could also win if they can work multiple vulnerable issues like that. it won’t feel like people will have time for you, because everyone has lives, and they give up on red districts, etc. but buying into that mindset is exactly why red districts grow even redder.
it is important to start 1-2 years out, but it’s never too late to start anything before the election. for sure do all the normal yard-signs, rallies, interviews, party networking, BUT also go make your own media. youtube, tiktok, substack, patreon, whatever. the platforms are there. get your message out. flood it with your takes, comment on national issues of the day (immunity amendment! codify so-and-so-vs-blah-blah!), engage about ways to convert subscribers into donors, donors into volunteers, volunteers into voters.
people actually starve for that shit.
your own media isn’t just to advertise yourself, it is to practice the language for public appearances. you’ll have zero views initially. then they will explode closer to election, for both positive and negative attention, and you will need hours of content for voters to go watch. 20 mins worth of ads doesn’t cut it, the voters will watch something else. if they watch two hours of your streams, that’s two hours of their attention the opponent will never get back.
Regarding #1, would be nice if this was a natural consequence of a hard fought campaign that comes up just short. As to a winner’s reticence to oppose a popular leftist position because they feel post-campaign vulnerability on the issue: I would guess that not only had a good opponent exposed the candidate’s weakness, but the issue had simultaneously evolved in the public conscience.
I’d love for candidates to do the social media work/exposure you describe. If you have a passion for improving people’s lives, I would hope it would be more common. I wonder if the professional political consultants would agree?
Thanks for posting. If my boy Joe Salerno shows himself to have the political chops in my reddish district, I’ll come a knockin’ for a check no doubt!
All of this might occur, but the real reason to always run a Dem in red districts is to build for the future. For so long, these Republicans run unopposed, and the dems and moderates in the areas get less and less engaged. If you give them someone to vote for, it shows OTHER dems/mods that they aren’t alone. You get folks excited about someone, you get volunteers and more participation. So the next cycle, you get another person running, and you build on the foundation the first person set.
It can take years to close the gap. Flipping districts doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years, even decades of sustained effort. It’s why rural America is so red now…because the Republicans started 40-50 years ago. It’s also how places like San Diego County turned blue (before Trump!). It’s more than just “changing demographics”.
That’s why I scream and yell about running for water and school boards, for town council, for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.
nothing is natural, it’s a dog fight for inches every single time. there are no unimportant elections, except those that have already occurred.
oh yeah, i totally forgot to mention this, although i think my answer hints that not conceding redder districts makes them bluer. most people think jamie harrison wasted good donation money for his run at lindsey graham, but i actually think it’s important work that may pay off in the next decade, similarly to how it played out in georgia
