My name is Louis Elrod. I’m the Political Director at Better Georgia, and since 2008 I have managed campaigns at the local and state level, helping candidates and organizations win progressive victories in a red state. Activists like me have helped a lot of people run for office, and we know there’s a huge amount of information that first-time candidates need to learn quickly. That’s why we put together this six-episode podcast featuring interviews and advice from the best campaign professionals we could find. Stepping up to run is a major undertaking, but we hope that Better Georgia’s Candidate School can make it just a bit easier.
This is Lesson 2 – Setting Up Your Campaign. Listen in to learn how to structure your campaign, the common pitfalls of first-time candidates, and what makes the invisible primary so important.
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You’re very rarely going to have all the money, all the time, or all the people to do everything you want to do.” – Howard Franklin
Show Notes:
- What first-time candidates should consider when setting up their first campaign
- What Howard Franklin recommends all people interested in running should do before they begin
- How early you should build out your campaign
- What you need to spend time on before declaring their candidacy
- Why you need to really know your requirements before running for office
- What is the “invisible primary” and the importance of running it well
- How the way you run your invisible primary can bring you more support
- How to decide who you need to hire for your campaign and when
- Howard’s advice on how to run your finances over the long term
- Why how you handle your assets over the entire campaign will make or break your success
- Louis’ advice for first-time candidates
Before you jump out and declare your intent to run for an office, talk to some folks who have been in the space for a little bit. The vast majority of us are happy to sit down to give you our perspective on a particular candidate or race that you’re interested in.” – Howard Franklin
Listen to the other episodes of Candidate School:
- Candidate School Lesson 1: Making Your Decision
- Candidate School Lesson 3: Raising Money
- Candidate School Lesson 4: Field
- Candidate School Lesson 5: Communications
- Candidate School Lesson 6: Hiring Staff
Links Mentioned:
- Connect with Howard Franklin:
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Acknowledge it’s going to take longer than you need; if you think it’s going to take a week, give yourself two.” – Howard Franklin