Through the course of a campaign, political parties become aware of a lot of people that don’t show up at your standard meeting. They can be donors, fundraisers, canvassers, campaign staff or activists. They are key components in winning your current election, and you value their service.
They also can represent the future of your party in the very small elections that occur in 2017, whether they are spring or fall elections for races that include: city council, special district, county commissioner, mayor, sheriff and district attorney.
Building a Bench
There are some individuals who, due to their profession or professional connections, have an easier time raising money and name ID in their race for a state House and state Senate seat. Some individuals are prominent enough they can immediately run for US House or even a statewide office.
The majority of persons who consider political office, however, do not have an inbuilt fundraising network to satisfy the need of a race, and they do not have enough resources to make a race like state Senate or House competitive.
Those individuals can be politically active, though, and have a plan for their political future. This is one of the best goals of a county party. Through interactions with active campaigns in 2016, the county party can help identify future leaders who may be interested in local races that can build their inbuilt name ID and donor House for a future run. A teacher may not be prepared to immediately run for the state House, but their run for local city council can build their connections—and that is how you build a bench for the future.
When Do You Start Thinking About What’s Next?
One of the questions that comes up around every county organization is when do they start thinking about the next election? Some believe that waiting until the current election is over is a good idea, as you want to keep solid focus on the race ahead of you. For county parties, though, potential spring elections exist only a few months after a general election in November. This makes planning out potential candidate recruits early a necessity, no matter what race is right in front of you. Still, you can work to find those individuals without damaging your overall plan for the immediate election ahead.
Campaigns help you identify people who may be interested in a future run, and telling those individuals they should consider running for another office in the spring or in an odd year will not detract (for the most part) from their work or effort in a current campaign and may in fact, encourage them to work harder. Regardless, identifying the right candidate for future races is important and current campaigns can introduce you to those individuals to use in the future.
WAIT! The Local Race Is Nonpartisan, We Should Stay Out!
I hear this often. Many local races are of course nonpartisan, and from a party perspective, the county party, state party, and other party organizations will not contribute money directly or resources.
While those offices may be nonpartisan, though, the people holding those positions are almost never unregistered, non-affiliated voters. In fact, in most states, to hold those offices you must still be a registered voter. In light of that, finding the kind of candidates you want to groom for the future is still a very smart bet for your local county party, and identifying them during partisan elections can help provide them initial support to get their race off to a good start.
Final Thoughts
No matter where we are in an election cycle, we always have to be aware that it will not be the last election cycle.
Jessica Jones, our state Senate candidate is looking ahead only to her election in the fall. An institution like a county party, though, should spend the vast majority of their resources on upcoming election while not forgetting they have to recruit for what comes next.
Next Week: Becoming a Precinct Captain
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.