advice for primary elections
TRANSCRIPT
A D V I C E F O R P R I M A R Y E L E C T I O N S
DAN CENTINELLO
P R I M A R Y E L E C T I O N S M A T T E R .
Primary elections in the United States offer interested party members their
first opportunity to officially toss their hats in the ring and present
themselves as candidates for office. It further serves to narrow the
competition in preparation for the general election. In the primaries, voters
are responsible for choosing a single candidate to represent their political
party in political races. Each state has its own rules about who can vote for
which candidate in the primary; some limit voters to choose only those
representatives within their own party, while others allow all voters -
regardless of their party registration - to vote for the candidate of their
choice. Regardless of state-specific details, though, the primary elections
present the first hurdles candidates need to clear in pursuit of public office,
and thus require strategies different from those deployed in general
elections.
S T A Y P O S I T I V E .
Candidates who ut i l i ze smear
tact ics run the r isk of a l ienat ing
otherwise interested voters .
Moreover , surveys ind icate that
at tack ads may in some cases dr ive
voters toward the smeared party
out of d is taste for the at tack ing
candidate and sympathy for the
at tacked. Candidates part ic ipat ing
in pr imary e lect ions should make
an ef fort to s tay pos i t ive for as
long as poss ib le in order to
mainta in the mora l h igh ground
and voters ’ goodwi l l .
S T A R T E A R L Y
Wait ing to the last moment to dec lare
candidacy may spark headl ines , but the
media f lash a shock announcement
makes wi l l not have the same long- term
ef fect that a quieter but more thorough
PR job wi l l .
Candidates should beg in bui ld ing the
foundat ion for the i r candidacy as soon
as the t ime for campaigning draws
near . I f voters cannot recognize a
candidate ’s name or ident i fy the i r core
pos i t ions , that pol i t i ca l hopefu l i s
un l ike ly to succeed in the pr imar ies .
B U I L D A S I G N I F I C A N T W E B P R E S E N C E .The inf luence of onl ine media
cannot be understated. Whi le
t rad i t ional in -person events should
never be a l lowed to fa l l by the
ways ide , candidates should spend a
s ign i f i cant amount of the i r PR t ime
and at tent ion ensur ing a s trong
onl ine presence that accurate ly
represents the i r character and
pol i t i cs . Hav ing a s turdy ,
in format ive webs i te and act ive
soc ia l media prof i les wi l l he lp a
candidate engage wi th voters in a
way that i sn ’ t a lways poss ib le at
large events .
C A N D I D A T E S W H O A S P I R E T O O F F I C E S H O U L D C O N S I D E R T H E I R P L A N S F O R V O T E R E N G A G E M E N T
C A R E F U L L Y B E F O R E L E A P I N G I N T O T H E R A C E .
The importance pr imary e lect ions hold in our
democrat ic system is cons iderable . Such races
cha l lenge would-be candidates to prove
themselves more su i ted to of f i ce than the ir
peers and as such, demand a d i f ferent k ind of
s t rategy than would be employed in loca l races
or even the genera l e lect ion.
T H A N K Y O U .For more informat ion and addi t ional mul t imedia
content , p lease v is i t DanCent ine l lo .co .