You’re The Right Person To Run

CCM & TCS answer the question: who should run for office?

What does a Mayor look like? What does a First Selectman sound like? How much money does a person running for office have to raise? The first day of Representation Matters, which was presented by The Campaign School at Yale tried to answer the questions for those interested, many of which were surprising for participants.

The first presentation, led by Patti Russo, the executive director of the Campaign School at Yale (TCS), covered whether or not the decision to run was the right one. At first blush, this seems like an easy question to answer, but according to Russo’s years of experience, is much more complicated than a yes or no question. She set up the entire day’s presentations by letting attendees know the real time and effort that go into running for office – fundraising, finding your voice, networking, with a roundtable discussion of previous graduates.

One of the biggest shocks was the amount of funding that was required to finance things like leaflets, surveys, ads, and more in order to actively campaign according to Francesca Capodilupo, Professor at Fordham University. While Connecticut does have some funds available for people running for office, potential candidates need to research how much it’s going to cost to run and then budget for that. She said that you have to ask yourself whether or not you know people who you can call, who will help, and where your support is. For many it might be uncomfortable for them to spend hours on the phone asking people for money, but it is a necessary part of running for office.

If the idea of fundraising was presented as scary, Gilda Bonanno, a communication coach based here in Connecticut, is an expert on public speaking – which up to 75% of all people have a fear of. You have to start with the basics – why are you doing this, who do you want to serve, why should people support you – and build your message from there. There are many nuances to political language, and while filler words might not kill your campaign – just ask Barack Obama – you have to be conscious of what you are saying and how you are saying it. Projecting confidence is not easy if you don’t have it, and it might be something that you would have to build along the way.

Hearing from those who had that confidence was an important part of the day. Moderated by Russo, Babz Rawls Ivy, a former New Haven Alder was joined by YT Bell, Mayor of Clarkston, Georgia; Renee Johnson, the Senior Government Affairs Manager for Main Street Alliance, and TCS Board Member; and Jamie Scott, Representative in the Arkansas State Legislature to talk about what inspired them on their political journeys.

As graduates of the TCS five-day program, they had already gone through the ringer on answering these important questions. Rawls Ivy summed up the entire experience of participating in the program and deciding to run for office by saying that “it was the most amazing experience because when you do make the decision to run for office, you are very much unprepared.” But this did not stop her from heeding the call: “The call to run for office is so deep within you that even if you try to ignore it, it comes back at you.”

“The call is that internal voice that says you could serve your community, but we all think we are impostors, we all think why am I hearing this call, who am I to take off, why do I want do this […] but you go to the Campaign Schoo, and meet a zillion other women who heard the same call, heard the same message of yes you should go and serve your community, no you’re not dreaming, no, you should do it.”

As Patti Russo told the attendees at the beginning of the day, for many, the questions of whether or not to run is not a simple one. Many wonder whether or not they can get up and speak to the public, or if they can successfully fundraise from their supporters, or whether or not they were the right person to run at all. Hearing from the panelists and the rest of the presenters, the answer is clear – you are the right person to run for office if you think you are the right person to run for office. If you think you’re willing to put the miles in your shoes, then you might have what it takes to not only run, but win.

Russo ended the day with a brief overview of effective networking techniques, which many took to heart. As the day’s proceedings ended, the chat log blew up with attendees asking each other for contact information – hoping to discuss their plans for their future campaigns, who realized they weren’t quite ready but wanted to support others by working on campaigns, and all around supporting each other in the belief that not only could they run, but that they should run.