Hi everyone,
My username is Kaikeyi, and I'm a long time reader of DailyKos.
Offline, I have worked for social justice campaigns, and I currently teach Political Science courses at a community college. I teach my students how to analyze and dissect policy, and I really focus on the importance of speaking up to make things better. Lately I have been taking my own message to heart: I have seriously been considering running for public office.
I have been considering two different tracts -
1) I have begun to get more involved in my local town government and have been contemplating running for my town council.
and
2) I live in a pretty liberal federal district with a very, very conservative Republican representative - and part of me very much wants to run for my district's seat in the House of Reps. I firmly believe in the 50 state strategy, and I want a bold progressive to challenge my representative (many moderate Dems have tried in the past few years, all have failed thus far). More and more I think, why shouldn't that progressive be me?
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The problem is - I have never run for office before, never run a political campaign before, local or federal. I have little idea of how to start a campaign - how to get start up money, who to approach, how to court local Democratic support, etc.
I think I could be an excellent candidate for many reasons, but currently I am just sitting on this dream.
(I don't want this diary to be a campaign speech, which is why I am not going into much detail as to why I think I would be a good candidate. I will say that I am interested in advocating for institutional changes that ensure better futures for all of us and generations down the line. I am a great public speaker and am able to break down complex political jargon in ways people can understand - and I'm not afraid to advocate for progressive change, no matter the political costs.)
I know that running for any public office, local or federal, without any name recognition or money is a huge uphill battle - but it's a battle I'm willing to fight! The problem is, I'm currently just thinking about it and not doing anything about it.
I am hoping that people in this community who have experience in starting political campaigns from scratch might have helpful advice for me. If you have any to impart, I'm very willing to listen, either through comments or private message.
Although this diary is obviously self-serving, I hope that others on this site, in a similar position as myself, may find the comments helpful too.
If there are other recent diaries on this topic, please point me to them - I did a search and could not find anything.
Thank you for your help in advance -
P.S. If someone could help me with my tags, I'd greatly appreciate it.