Running For Office

Politician is treated like a dirty word but really, it’s just a role in our society. One that any of us can pursue. And, frankly, it’s one we’d benefit from a much more representative group of people pursing than just those who are keen to be in positions of power.

More than 95% of all elected officials are local politicians.

In the United States, there are approximately:

500,000

elected local officials (councils, boards, officials, etc)

20,000

Elected state officials (state legislature, state boards, etc)

537

Elected federal officials (senate, house, president, vice president)

What You Can Do

You can run for office! Yes, you. You don’t have to start out big, you just have to start out caring about what happens and step up to do something. Our local communities often have a large variety of elected positions that are required to keep our communities functioning and these elections are often not made up of a true variety of choices.

Look at aspects of your community and consider what boards or councils you might participate in and run in the next election.

State Office

There are thousands of state level elected positions across state government including the executive branch, legislative branch and myriad councils, boards and governing bodies.

Local Office

Local governance offers hundreds of opportunities to serve in elected positions across various boards, councils and governing bodies. More importantly, these are positions that are often participated in, leaving voters without real choice. Consider your options for getting involved in your local elected service opportunities.

National Office

National offices often pick up all the headlines but are a more complicated goal. You can look into opportunities to get involved with national politics in a variety of ways from campaign support to running yourself.

Running For Office

Politician is treated like a dirty word but really, it’s just a role in our society. One that any of us can pursue. And, frankly, it’s one we’d benefit from a much more representative group of people pursing than just those who are keen to be in positions of power.

500,000

20,000

537

What You Can Do

Look at aspects of your community and consider what boards or councils you might participate in and run in the next election.

State Office

Local Office

National Office

Readings & Resources

Institutions & Organizations

Run For Something

Where Can I Run?

She Should Run

Veteran’s Campaign

Emily’s List

Vote Run Lead

Working Families Party

Dare to Run

Emerge America

New Leaders Council

Running Start

Women’s Public Leadership Network

Books

Local Politics Matters

The Pink Wave

Represent

The Campaign Manager