{"id":10941,"date":"2017-03-07T10:17:21","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T16:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealdaily.com\/?p=10941"},"modified":"2017-03-07T10:18:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T16:18:10","slug":"running-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/politics\/running-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick guide for running for office when calling your lawmakers isn’t enough for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doing more than voting<\/h2>\n

More and more people are developing a strong interest in their government representatives.<\/p>\n

Read also: HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson confirmed by Senate in a 58-41 vote<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

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\nThe political climate today is tumultuous, to say the least, and the recent presidential election has driven home the idea that often, the loudest voices are the ones that prevail.<\/p>\n

Be active in your political community<\/h2>\n

Pay close attention to your local reps: are their actions and decisions actually representative of you and your priorities? Are there any important votes coming up that you want to show support for, or any recent bills that you\u2019re unhappy with?<\/p>\n

Consider making your voice heard by calling your rep to express your concern.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We wrote this guide<\/a> to an easy tool for jumpstarting your phone call activism \u2013 but unfortunately, there\u2019s no guarantee that your voice will change your representative\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

The tipping point<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re consistently dissatisfied with your representative, and with all the candidates in the running at election time, it might be time to run for office yourself. For one thing, being unable to find a candidate that you can fully support is a good sign that you\u2019re well informed on the relevant issues, and hold strong positions on each one.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t find a candidate that aligns with your priorities, other people are probably having the same problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That means there\u2019s a representation gap, and you could be the one to fill it in.<\/p>\n

Look before you leap<\/h2>\n

There are few thing to note before you take the plunge into political life.<\/p>\n

Be sure you\u2019re comfortable with the commitments involved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, free time will shrink dramatically. Whether you\u2019re just launching your campaign or you\u2019ve just won the election, you\u2019ll be spending the vast majority of your time taking meetings, making phone calls, attending events, and, you know, doing your job as an elected official.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also need to be ready to ask people for money basically all the time. Campaigns rely on a steady stream of donations, and without a strong campaign, you\u2019re highly unlikely to win.<\/p>\n

Build your team<\/h2>\n

If these sound like sacrifices you\u2019re willing to make for the sake of your potential constituents, your next step is to gather a network of supporters \u2013 donors and volunteers \u2013 to help you bring your campaign to fruition.<\/p>\n

Leverage any communities you belong to, and don\u2019t be afraid to network.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For example, Realtors and brokers can often obtain backing from the Board, especially if you\u2019re vision aligns with theirs. That\u2019s a major resource that shouldn\u2019t be wasted.<\/p>\n

Do your due diligence<\/h2>\n

And before you dive in too deep, explore your options and educate yourself \u2013 political science is called a science for a reason.<\/p>\n

[clickToTweet tweet=”There are plenty of data-backed resources for campaign best-practices and more to help you run!” quote=”In addition to anecdotal accounts, there are plenty of data-backed resources for campaign best-practices and more.”]<\/p>\n

This Slate article<\/a> outlines all kinds of resources for running for office, from candidate training, to helpful books, to campaign services and software. There\u2019s a growing movement supporting new political hopefuls, and taking advantage of that support can only help you in your campaign to speak up for your community.<\/p>\n

#ActDontSlack<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(POLITICS) If calling your lawmakers isn’t enough for you, it may be time you consider running for office, even if it’s local city council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337688,"featured_media":9230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[365],"tags":[1453,766,1234],"class_list":["post-10941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-get-involved","tag-politics","tag-real-estate-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/vote.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10941"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10969,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10941\/revisions\/10969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}