Free for first-time Republican and conservative candidates
Your first 30 days as a candidate, on one page.
Running for school board, council, county office or the statehouse? Here are 30 steps in five stages. Each one says what to do, why it matters and where to do it.
Tick steps as you go. Your ticks stay in this browser and nowhere else.
The 30-day checklist
Work through the stages in order. Some steps take an afternoon and some take all month, so start the long ones early.
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Decide and register
Days 1 to 5
Before you tell anyone, make sure the race is real, you qualify, and the people closest to you are in.
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Confirm the seat is on the ballot this cycle, what it pays, and what it actually decides. Candidates who skip this end up running for a job they did not want.
Where: Your county board of elections See who holds it now on My State Reps
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Residency, age, district lines and party rules differ by office. Read the filing requirements before you go public, so nobody has to walk anything back.
Where: Your state or county candidate guide Campaign Compliance Hub links every state's election agency
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A local race takes evenings and weekends for months. Get a yes at home and a plan at work before the first yard sign goes up.
Where: The kitchen table
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Petition deadline, signature count, filing fee, primary date and Election Day go on a single sheet you can see every day. Missed deadlines end more campaigns than lost votes.
Where: Your state candidate guide Budget worksheet has a calendar section
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Signatures get thrown out for small mistakes, so collect well past the minimum and file ahead of the deadline. Ask signers to print clearly and use the address they are registered at.
Where: Petition forms come from your county board of elections
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Pick someone careful who answers texts, and keep campaign money in its own account from the first dollar. Mixing it with personal money is the mistake treasurers dread most.
Where: What the treasurer role involves, on Campaign Compliance Hub Your local bank or credit union
Get your rules right
Days 6 to 10
The paperwork is not hard, but it has to be done in order and on time. Every figure and deadline comes from the official source, so this kit points you there rather than repeating numbers that change.
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Filing the committee paperwork is what makes you a candidate on paper. Do it before you raise or spend anything, even on business cards.
Where: Who has to register and when, on Campaign Compliance Hub
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The "Paid for by" disclaimer belongs on your signs, your website, your ads and your emails. Get the exact wording from the source once and paste it everywhere.
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Name, address, date and amount for every gift, plus occupation and employer where required. A spreadsheet is enough if you keep it current the day money arrives.
Where: What to collect from donors, on Campaign Compliance Hub Budget worksheet
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Every reporting deadline goes on the same sheet as the election dates. Limits change by cycle and by office, so read them from the official source rather than from a friend.
Where: Limits and reporting basics, with sources, on Campaign Compliance Hub
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Choose a donation processor your treasurer can reconcile and that asks donors for the fields you have to report. Test it with a small gift from yourself.
Where: Your treasurer and your payment processor
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If you plan to email or text supporters, say what you will send and get a clear yes when they sign up. It takes two sentences and saves you a complaint later.
Where: Website and texting checklist on Campaign Compliance Hub
Get online
Days 11 to 17
Voters will search your name the day they hear it. A simple site, one photo and one Facebook page cover ninety percent of what they are looking for.
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Your name plus the office, like janesmithforcouncil.com, and the obvious misspelling if it is cheap. Use an email at that domain for everything campaign-related.
Where: Any registrar Grassroots Hub can handle it with the site
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Three things you would change, each in a sentence a neighbor could repeat at the grocery store. Everything you write for the next year hangs off these.
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One headshot and one of you somewhere in the district, taken in daylight by a friend with a steady phone. Use the same two everywhere so people recognize you.
Where: A friend and a sunny morning
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Who you are, your three issues, how to volunteer, how to give, and the disclaimer in the footer. It can grow later; what matters is that it exists before you announce.
Where: conservative.io builds sites for conservative candidates Grassroots Hub builds sites for any campaign
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A Facebook page at minimum, since that is where most local voters still are, with the same name and photo everywhere. Post the first week's content before you announce so the page is not empty.
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Pick a date, a place that means something in the district, and a two-minute speech built on your three issues. Invite your list, tell the local paper, and have someone film it on a phone.
Where: Template: Announcement-day checklist Template: Press release outline
Get people
Days 18 to 24
A local race is won by the candidate and a dozen committed people. This week is about finding them and giving each one a specific job.
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Do not hand your personal cell to every voter and reporter. Use a line the campaign owns, so the number and the call history stay with the campaign when a volunteer moves on.
Where: Campaign Phone is in development; join the interest list
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One sentence with what you need, when and where. People say yes to "knock doors with me Saturday at ten" and no to "help out sometime".
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List each job with a date and a county, on your site, your Facebook page and anywhere local volunteers gather. Specific jobs fill; vague ones do not.
Where: Campaign Match pairs campaigns with nearby volunteers by county
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A Saturday morning, coffee, a ten-minute briefing, two hours of doors and a group photo at the end. Everyone leaves with their next date.
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A conversation with the candidate on the porch is the most persuasive thing a local campaign has. Set a weekly number, log every door, and keep the script short.
Where: Guide: How to knock doors Template: Door-knocking script outline
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List the twenty people who would be surprised not to be asked, call each one, and ask for a specific amount. The first calls are the hardest and they fund the signs.
Where: Guide: How to ask for money
Get out the vote basics
Days 25 to 30
You cannot talk to everyone, so decide who you are talking to, learn when they can vote, and plan the last day before it arrives.
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Your county board of elections or your county party can tell you how to get the list of registered voters. The local party may already have a walk list cut for your precincts.
Where: Your county board of elections Your county Republican party
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People who voted in the last two primaries first, then likely general-election voters in your district. Pick your universe and spend your time on it.
Where: The voter file and a spreadsheet
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One email with your announcement, your photo and your campaign number, then show up where the reporter is. Local papers cover candidates who make their job easy.
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The mail-ballot request deadline, the early voting window and Election Day go on your calendar, your website and your next three posts.
Where: Your county board of elections
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Signs do not win votes, but they tell people you are real. Order once, early, with the right wording, and keep a list of who has one.
Where: Disclaimer wording on Campaign Compliance Hub A local sign shop
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Who stands at which polling place, who drives, who texts the volunteer list, and where you will be at 7:30 p.m. Then list everyone who gave, knocked or hosted; each gets a handwritten note on day 31, win or lose.
Where: Template: Volunteer sign-up sheet Your donor records
Every rule, limit and deadline depends on your state and your office. This kit points you to the official source rather than repeating figures that change; Campaign Compliance Hub collects those sources in plain language.
Templates to copy
Six fill-in sheets, written for this kit. Each one downloads as a plain Markdown file you can open in any text editor, and prints cleanly from its preview page.
- Checklist Announcement-day checklist Everything that has to be true by the morning you announce, from the disclaimer on the podium sign to who is filming.
- Sheet Volunteer sign-up sheet A clipboard sheet for events and door-knocking, with the jobs listed so people pick one on the spot.
- Script Door-knocking script outline A thirty-second porch conversation in five beats, with the branches for yes, no and not home.
- Outline Press release outline The one-page format local editors expect, with the fill-in lines for your announcement.
- Outline First-week social posts outline Seven posts for the seven days after your page goes live, so it is never empty when a voter looks.
- Worksheet Budget worksheet A first budget for a local race: the spending lines, the money-in plan and the dates that drive both.
Five short guides
The checklist says what to do. These say how, for the parts first-time candidates find hardest.
- How to pick your three issues Why three, how to find yours, and the test each one has to pass before it goes on the website.
- How to run your first volunteer day A Saturday morning plan, from the coffee order to the group photo, that sends people home wanting to come back.
- How to knock doors What to say, what to carry, when to leave, and how to keep the count that tells you whether it is working.
- How to ask for money The twenty-call list, the words for the ask, and what to do when someone says maybe.
- How to talk to local press How a one-person newsroom works, what makes a story easy to run, and the first email to send.
Where to do it
Some steps point to other sites in the same family. Use them if they fit; every step works with any vendor you like.
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Your website
Grassroots Hub
Affordable websites and practical tools for grassroots organizations and down-ballot campaigns, built in days and yours to own.
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Your website
conservative.io
Campaign websites, phone setup and voter tools for conservative candidates, from people with years of campaign experience.
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The rules
Campaign Compliance Hub
Launching soon
Plain-language guides to the rules small campaigns trip over: who registers, what goes in a disclaimer, what to collect from donors, limits and deadlines.
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Volunteers
Campaign Match
Launching soon
Connects small conservative and Republican campaigns that need help with volunteers nearby, matched by county.
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A campaign number
Campaign Phone
In development
A campaign number on the cell phones your team already carries, so the campaign keeps the number and the call history. You can join its interest list now.
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Find your representatives
My State Reps
Enter an address and see your U.S. House member, both senators and your state legislators, with every official way to reach them.
New guides and templates are on the way.
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