How do I get funding as a progressive political candidate in the US?
July 21, 2016 4:03 PM Subscribe
Let's say, hypothetically, that I wanted to run as a progressive in a political race that is normally uncontested in favor of the Republican (R) candidate. How do I go about getting funding for this? From locals, as well as national bodies?
Hypothetical scenario: in my state (U.S.), many, many local elections are won uncontested by Republicans. Local Democrats do exist but they will not, as a rule, even run for some offices that seem minor (like, say, County Water and Agriculture Commissioner or whatever).
I believe that these offices can be pretty important. Clearly, whoever is in charge of water and agriculture for the county can somehow affect environmental policy.
So, hypothetically, if I were to challenge some of these previously uncontested political seats, where would the money come from? I assumed that the Democratic Party (at all levels of govt.) subsidized, at least to a small degree, people who run as Democrats. I checked my local and state Democratic Party websites and they are extremely vague about this. There are lots of buttons to "donate" but none, that I can see, to "receive".
How does one go about getting progressive groups (Move On? Occupy Democrats? The Democratic Party itself?) to support a candidacy like that? I am a bit flummoxed as I consider myself to be fairly politically astute and educated, but I simply have no idea how the inner workings of this funding apparatus is supposed to work.
In truth, *any* amount of funding would be better than nothing, especially since, in my state, the filing fee for even county-wide elective office is almost a thousand dollars -- just to put your name on the ballot. This is not something I can afford out of my own pocket, nor can anybody else that I know afford it.
Secondary question: how do Republicans make this happen? They have candidates -- often a few -- for every office imaginable in my state and county.
Hypothetical scenario: in my state (U.S.), many, many local elections are won uncontested by Republicans. Local Democrats do exist but they will not, as a rule, even run for some offices that seem minor (like, say, County Water and Agriculture Commissioner or whatever).
I believe that these offices can be pretty important. Clearly, whoever is in charge of water and agriculture for the county can somehow affect environmental policy.
So, hypothetically, if I were to challenge some of these previously uncontested political seats, where would the money come from? I assumed that the Democratic Party (at all levels of govt.) subsidized, at least to a small degree, people who run as Democrats. I checked my local and state Democratic Party websites and they are extremely vague about this. There are lots of buttons to "donate" but none, that I can see, to "receive".
How does one go about getting progressive groups (Move On? Occupy Democrats? The Democratic Party itself?) to support a candidacy like that? I am a bit flummoxed as I consider myself to be fairly politically astute and educated, but I simply have no idea how the inner workings of this funding apparatus is supposed to work.
In truth, *any* amount of funding would be better than nothing, especially since, in my state, the filing fee for even county-wide elective office is almost a thousand dollars -- just to put your name on the ballot. This is not something I can afford out of my own pocket, nor can anybody else that I know afford it.
Secondary question: how do Republicans make this happen? They have candidates -- often a few -- for every office imaginable in my state and county.
I am slightly involved in city level politics in my town here. I know a couple of people who have been on, or have run for, city council. You get funding by making a plan for the election and asking your friends to pony up for the things that need money. City council level elections don't have to be horrendously expensive to run, a few thousand bucks for yard signs and mailers, a couple of hundred bucks here or there for gatherings (or do them as house parties and pot lucks, if your agenda works that way), and the real value is a network of friends who are willing to knock on doors and canvas.
I'd guess that the Republicans who are running for office have a network of friends, given the Republican demographic probably small business people, who think it's totally reasonable to pony up fifty or a hundred bucks for a local election, or, heck, there's a city council member I don't always agree with but I know he loves the town and puts a lot of energy into his role even if our visions for the town are a little different that does a regular mix and mingle at a local bar, and since I don't drink I'll buy a ginger ale from the bartender and throw ten or a twenty in the campaign fund. Since it only happens every few years, I'll toss $50 at someone I think is really going to do good (although the savvy candidates do the fundraising in the off years too).
Stand up and offer to run for something, get people to gather at a local watering hole for some short speech and a mix and mingle, and that thousand bucks is 50 people willing to toss $20 toward your campaign. If you can't excite 50 people enough to come to a bar and have you give 'em a pep rally in exchange for the cost of two or three drinks, you're probably in the wrong business.
posted by straw at 4:18 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'd guess that the Republicans who are running for office have a network of friends, given the Republican demographic probably small business people, who think it's totally reasonable to pony up fifty or a hundred bucks for a local election, or, heck, there's a city council member I don't always agree with but I know he loves the town and puts a lot of energy into his role even if our visions for the town are a little different that does a regular mix and mingle at a local bar, and since I don't drink I'll buy a ginger ale from the bartender and throw ten or a twenty in the campaign fund. Since it only happens every few years, I'll toss $50 at someone I think is really going to do good (although the savvy candidates do the fundraising in the off years too).
Stand up and offer to run for something, get people to gather at a local watering hole for some short speech and a mix and mingle, and that thousand bucks is 50 people willing to toss $20 toward your campaign. If you can't excite 50 people enough to come to a bar and have you give 'em a pep rally in exchange for the cost of two or three drinks, you're probably in the wrong business.
posted by straw at 4:18 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
First things first: you need Camp Wellstone. It's a weekend long training in how to run for office as a progressive. It won't give you everything you need but it will help you understand how to run a good campaign.
Now, to answer your question:
1. To raise money, you make lots and lots of calls, to people you know, and to donor lists you get from the party. I'm talking at least 10 hours of calls a week. Minimum. Yeah, it sucks. But it's what you do.
2. As to how to get organizations to give you money, once you have a campaign going, you ask them. But they'll only do it if you look promising, in that you are running a solid campaign and have already raised a good amount of money.
In the meantime, I would suggest volunteering on campaigns to see how they work. Your question makes me think you don't have a lot of experience in politics, which is fine, but your very first experience should not be running for office. That's a little like deciding you're going to get into sports for the first time by coaching a minor league team.
Source: lots of experience working on campaigns and for organizations that support progressive candidates.
posted by lunasol at 4:23 PM on July 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
Now, to answer your question:
1. To raise money, you make lots and lots of calls, to people you know, and to donor lists you get from the party. I'm talking at least 10 hours of calls a week. Minimum. Yeah, it sucks. But it's what you do.
2. As to how to get organizations to give you money, once you have a campaign going, you ask them. But they'll only do it if you look promising, in that you are running a solid campaign and have already raised a good amount of money.
In the meantime, I would suggest volunteering on campaigns to see how they work. Your question makes me think you don't have a lot of experience in politics, which is fine, but your very first experience should not be running for office. That's a little like deciding you're going to get into sports for the first time by coaching a minor league team.
Source: lots of experience working on campaigns and for organizations that support progressive candidates.
posted by lunasol at 4:23 PM on July 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
Best answer: Yes, generally the candidate either fronts the money themselves or raises it themselves. Institutional donors come into the picture later on.
The most important thing is to build some relationships with the local Democrats, so that you can access their non-monetary support. My local party does not hand out any money, but they get you introductions and access to reliable left-wing donors once you've shown yourself to be a serious and trustworthy candidate. You don't have to be Joe Supercandidate, but they're reluctant to annoy donors by introducing fly-by-night dilletantes who disappear, so they'll want at least a small sense of who you are. (In my experience they'll help the quixotic running for unwinnable seats, just not the flibbertigibbets who are doing it on a lark.)
Local name recognition on some particular issue or volunteer board or something helps too. Local candidates are better received when they're already active in the community and people are like, "Oh, sure, she's always at zoning board meetings talking about wastewater runoff" than when someone appears out of nowhere and their first public engagement is as a candidate. When I first ran I had a blog where I talked about local issues, pretty casually, but people knew vaguely who I was and that I had a longer-term interest in local governance. It doesn't have to be a huge formal engagement, but if local press and politicians are aware of your peripheral existence and interest, it'll help.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:00 PM on July 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
The most important thing is to build some relationships with the local Democrats, so that you can access their non-monetary support. My local party does not hand out any money, but they get you introductions and access to reliable left-wing donors once you've shown yourself to be a serious and trustworthy candidate. You don't have to be Joe Supercandidate, but they're reluctant to annoy donors by introducing fly-by-night dilletantes who disappear, so they'll want at least a small sense of who you are. (In my experience they'll help the quixotic running for unwinnable seats, just not the flibbertigibbets who are doing it on a lark.)
Local name recognition on some particular issue or volunteer board or something helps too. Local candidates are better received when they're already active in the community and people are like, "Oh, sure, she's always at zoning board meetings talking about wastewater runoff" than when someone appears out of nowhere and their first public engagement is as a candidate. When I first ran I had a blog where I talked about local issues, pretty casually, but people knew vaguely who I was and that I had a longer-term interest in local governance. It doesn't have to be a huge formal engagement, but if local press and politicians are aware of your peripheral existence and interest, it'll help.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:00 PM on July 21, 2016 [5 favorites]
Let me suggest you watch the documentary Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? to give you a sense of the kind of incredible hard work it takes to run a campaign.
Also, more specifically with regard to fundraising, you can check out this 60 Minutes segment from earlier this year. It's somewhat overheated in that it makes normal campaign finance practices seem somehow sinister, but it will give you something of a sense of what it takes to raise money for a modern campaign.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:55 PM on July 21, 2016
Also, more specifically with regard to fundraising, you can check out this 60 Minutes segment from earlier this year. It's somewhat overheated in that it makes normal campaign finance practices seem somehow sinister, but it will give you something of a sense of what it takes to raise money for a modern campaign.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:55 PM on July 21, 2016
There's an excellent weekly series on Daily Kos entitled Nuts & Bolts - Inside A Democratic Campaign. New installments are published on Saturdays. Description: 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.
Here's the latest piece, and all the previous diaries are here.
I think you'd find this extremely helpful.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:19 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Here's the latest piece, and all the previous diaries are here.
I think you'd find this extremely helpful.
posted by SisterHavana at 11:19 PM on July 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Stand up and offer to run for something, get people to gather at a local watering hole for some short speech and a mix and mingle, and that thousand bucks is 50 people willing to toss $20 toward your campaign.
Most of the people that I know are queer people of color, and most would have considerable difficulty coming up with $20 for something that isn't a life-necessity.
Your question makes me think you don't have a lot of experience in politics, which is fine, but your very first experience should not be running for office. That's a little like deciding you're going to get into sports for the first time by coaching a minor league team.
Actually, the whole *point* of progressive politics is to get marginalized people in political office rather than telling them to "pay their dues" or whatever. Your analogy would make more sense if "coaching a minor league team" was all that there was to politics: a kind of game where the consequences were minor or non-existent and the only rewards were financial.
In reality, politics is a matter of life and death for hyper-marginalized queer POC. We don't have time to "pay dues".
Local name recognition on some particular issue or volunteer board or something helps too. Local candidates are better received when they're already active in the community and people are like, "Oh, sure, she's always at zoning board meetings talking about wastewater runoff" than when someone appears out of nowhere and their first public engagement is as a candidate. When I first ran I had a blog where I talked about local issues, pretty casually, but people knew vaguely who I was and that I had a longer-term interest in local governance. It doesn't have to be a huge formal engagement, but if local press and politicians are aware of your peripheral existence and interest, it'll help.
This actually does sound pretty useful! Thank you!
posted by Tyrant King Porn Dragon at 2:59 PM on July 22, 2016
Most of the people that I know are queer people of color, and most would have considerable difficulty coming up with $20 for something that isn't a life-necessity.
Your question makes me think you don't have a lot of experience in politics, which is fine, but your very first experience should not be running for office. That's a little like deciding you're going to get into sports for the first time by coaching a minor league team.
Actually, the whole *point* of progressive politics is to get marginalized people in political office rather than telling them to "pay their dues" or whatever. Your analogy would make more sense if "coaching a minor league team" was all that there was to politics: a kind of game where the consequences were minor or non-existent and the only rewards were financial.
In reality, politics is a matter of life and death for hyper-marginalized queer POC. We don't have time to "pay dues".
Local name recognition on some particular issue or volunteer board or something helps too. Local candidates are better received when they're already active in the community and people are like, "Oh, sure, she's always at zoning board meetings talking about wastewater runoff" than when someone appears out of nowhere and their first public engagement is as a candidate. When I first ran I had a blog where I talked about local issues, pretty casually, but people knew vaguely who I was and that I had a longer-term interest in local governance. It doesn't have to be a huge formal engagement, but if local press and politicians are aware of your peripheral existence and interest, it'll help.
This actually does sound pretty useful! Thank you!
posted by Tyrant King Porn Dragon at 2:59 PM on July 22, 2016
The point of my analogy is not to tell you to pay your dues, but that you will be more effective as a candidate if you know how campaigns work. The fact that the stakes are high makes this even more so! Running for office is one way to learn those skills, but there are ways to do it that will exact less of a personal toll and allow you to build the expertise to be a really strong candidate. Find another POC and/or queer candidate you like and volunteer for them - view it as an apprenticeship. Or if that candidate doesn't exist, get involved in a neighborhood group working for change.
For instance, most municipal elections are in odd-numbered years. So this year you could volunteer for a congressional or legislative candidate. Next year, you run for city council.
Anyway, I want to reiterate my recommendation of Camp Wellstone. They are really committed to getting more progressive people of color running for office and winning and their training is the gold standard for people starting without a lot of money.
posted by lunasol at 2:20 PM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
For instance, most municipal elections are in odd-numbered years. So this year you could volunteer for a congressional or legislative candidate. Next year, you run for city council.
Anyway, I want to reiterate my recommendation of Camp Wellstone. They are really committed to getting more progressive people of color running for office and winning and their training is the gold standard for people starting without a lot of money.
posted by lunasol at 2:20 PM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Coincidentally, a friend of mine posted this to Facebook today. It's not about funding specifically, but could be a great opportunity to learn the ropes and network: http://ippsr.msu.edu/political-leadership/michigan-political-leadership-program-mplp/apply
posted by rainbowbrite at 10:44 AM on July 29, 2016
posted by rainbowbrite at 10:44 AM on July 29, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you lived in a heavily Democratic area, you would see relatively many Democrats filing and relatively few Republicans filing. It sounds like you live in a heavily Republican area. That is how "Republicans make this happen."
posted by Mr. Justice at 4:16 PM on July 21, 2016