advice for primary elections

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 .