her tools (campaign in a box) beta
Candidate Startup Checklist
(Last updated August 2023)
About You
You have been referred to or approached by one of Her Term team, or you have sought us out because you are running for office in our targeted districts. We held an exploratory discussion with you about your candidacy, and you have decided to run a winning campaign. In receiving this document, you are once again acknowledged as a Her Term candidate to receive our support, from identification to inauguration. Thank you for running to change the landscape of politics in Georgia.
Campaigning is hard and especially for you – our research shows that women leaders are still underrepresented in our political arena and have fewer networks, resources and role models. Your campaign will be challenged by many biases, shut doors and discouraging attitudes. But a strong campaign will help you emerge as the voter’s choice. And know that your candidacy and campaign is paving the way for more progressive women to be engaged and empowered in our political process.
About this Checklist
This start-up checklist is a guide to help you think about your campaign. We may review this checklist together and refer back to it from time to time in our future conversations. While this document is regularly updated, we urge you to exercise due diligence for possible errors or omissions. Feel free to provide us with comments and suggestions. We request you to not copy or distribute this material.
Table of Contents
We encourage you to attend candidate and campaign management training offered by organizations in Georgia and around the nation, as this checklist is not a training material and does not substitute for training.
About Her Term
We strive towards creating a better government by putting progressive women in leadership positions, and focus on helping women overcome the barriers that hold them back from attaining political office. To achieve this, we target, recruit and support progressive women candidates running for elected office in Georgia. We use a data-driven approach to identify flippable seats, recruit progressive women to run in those seats, and support their campaigns by providing counsel and advice as well as the facilitation of access to networks and resources. Please note that we do not fundraise for candidates, nor do we provide training or endorsement.
We are a 527-organization that was founded in 2017 by Jina Sanone (jina@herterm.org) and Representative Renitta Shannon, and is currently led by Han Pham (han@herterm.org) with collaboration of numerous partners and allies.
Questions to ask yourself before you decide to run
Make sure you’re qualified to run for office. (Qualifications and disqualifications).
Discuss your candidacy with close friends, colleagues and family.
Think and discuss the impact (time, energy, money, personal dynamics, etc) of being a public servant will have on the people close to you.
Ask people who know you well about what they think of your potential candidacy.
Discuss what kind of help they can provide you should you run.
Explore the reach of your network.
A good practice is to create an excel spreadsheet that includes everyone you know - from childhood and family friends to relatives, friendly neighbors, colleagues from all your previous and current jobs, members of any professional associations or alumni groups you belong to, and so forth. List their addresses, phone numbers and other contact details. Have additional columns with sample headers such as “will they vote for me,” “will they donate to me,” and “how much can they donate to me”. This will form the basis of your “Rolodex”.
Get your finances in order.
Ensure that your taxes (personal and business) are in order.
Be prepared to disclose your financial interest.
Think about the impact an elected officer’s salary may have on your financial wellbeing.
Review your online presence.
Do an internet search of yourself to see what information is out there about you and consider how it can be beneficial or not to your candidacy. If the former, consider incorporating it into your messaging. If the latter, create talking points to address the issues and pivot to positive messaging.
Look through your social media accounts and posts and make sure what is available to the public about you is professional and what you want to put forward as a candidate.
Start thinking about how you want to tell your story.
What is it about you in your personal and professional life that makes you a strong candidate? What is it about your life that makes you the right person for the job? Think through these questions and write down your biography.
Think about how you’d answer the question “why you, now, this seat” - why are you running for office? Why should people donate to your campaign? Why should the voters choose you?
Talk to people involved in politics.
Seek out and talk to the political players in/out of your district - these include current representatives, county officials related to the party, former candidates, activists and organizers, union members, elected officials, organizations like Her Term, etc.
Understand the demands of an elected officer’s working hours.
If you are gainfully employed at the moment in the private and nonprofit sector, discuss and document any agreements you make with your employer about your candidacy and its impact on your current work.
Know what you will be spending money on – staffing, physical appearance, high-resolution professional photos, travel, website, domain URLs, graphic design, direct mail, digital presence, door-knocking, vote-builder, training, etc.
Paperwork to file before you launch your campaign
Register your declaration of intent (DOI). If you are filing a State/Federal election, register online via the Georgia Campaign Finance System (see instructions below). For local elections, the DOI (for local filers only) must be turned into the local elections officer.
Register your Candidate Campaign Committee on the Georgia Campaign Finance System. Click on “Register” (upper right corner), then “Campaign Finance”, then select Candidate or Candidate Campaign Committee (RC).
If you have a campaign committee, you may consider forming an LLC and registering with the Secretary of state’s office.
Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Here’s a video showing you how to select “Political Organization” (hint: it is under “view additional types”.
Open a campaign bank account.
These filings are done online now, but you can review the information required on the documents by looking at the pdfs below. (note local filers have a separate DOI, linked above)
Declaration of Intention to Accept Campaign Contributions (Form DOI)
Registration Form for a Campaign Committee for a Candidate (Form RC)
Choosing Option of Separate Accounting (Form COOSA) (if applicable)
Qualifying process
Qualifying is the process you need to go through to have your name on the ballot.
Candidates will have to qualify with the appropriate election authority to declare their candidacy and confirm their eligibility to run for office. Qualifying normally takes place in March of the election year.
State Representative and Senate candidates must file Declaration of Candidacy and Affidavit Form at the State Capitol. Check the GA SOS page for the latest form. It is suggested that candidates file in person, in the event they need to make any corrections before having their forms notarized. The Democratic Party or Georgia will be sharing further information including instructions and location where notarization will take place by a presiding officer.
All candidates must pay a qualifying fee when submitting their Candidacy forms.
Fees range from $400 to $5,268 (3% of the office’s annual salary).
Fees must be paid by check or money order.
Things to consider as you start to organize your campaign
Think about how to make your campaign and candidacy a winning one. Best practices include (but are not limited to):
Establishing a baseline of what a minimum fundraising requirement per quarter would look like.
Hiring qualified staff who have experience working on winning campaigns. You can ask for referrals by those involved in campaigns, or looking at resume banks of political organizations.
Exploring your messaging and branding to show that you are a serious candidate that gives donors and voters confidence in their choice of you.
Attending training.
Perform a factual and comparative research on yourself, your district, the key stakeholders in the community, the cost of win (in terms of time, money and number of votes needed), and on the current incumbent and primary challengers if existing.
Consider your personal narrative and think about how to craft it to showcase who you are – your personal story, core values and beliefs, issues you are passionate about and your platform.
Consider how to develop your visual representation, such as professional political photos, headshots, and campaign logos.
Think about creating your digital presence by purchasing and preparing campaign URLs, social media accounts, emails, listservs, etc.
Start thinking about what you will be spending money on – staffing, photos, website, graphic design, direct mail, digital presence, door-knocking, vote-builder, training, etc.
Don’t be afraid to ask. There are a lot of stakeholders who want you to succeed, so lean onto them and ask for help.
Resources
Georgia State Ethics Commission provides information on filing, disclosure, enforcement and compliance. Georgia election codes and campaign finance laws are accessible online. To look up current candidates or elected officials, visit the new Georgia Campaign Finance System website. Anything before January 2021 can be found here.
Georgia Constitution can be found online at the Secretary of State’s website (link here) or you can obtain a copy in-person or through mail from the office of the Secretary of State.
Her Term has compiled a list of women centered and general candidate training offered by organizations in Georgia and around the nation. Please request a copy if it hasn’t been provided to you already.