Political Campaign Kickoff: the Party Letter

Regardless of what type of strategy you might be using during the general election, your local political campaign will benefit by increasing your name recognition with voters in your city who are a member of your party.

Having a strong identity with members of the local party is good for many reasons: it will build a base of potential volunteers and voters; it will make you stand out in the mind of more reliable partisan voters; and it will start people in your party talking about you and your campaign throughout the city.

I’ve used a “party letter” in past campaigns to help local candidates who haven’t run before identify themselves to local partisan voters.  At its core, the party letter is pretty simple, although it will take a small investment of capital on your part to be successful.

Remember, the party letter is something that you send out as much as a year before election day, and its goal is not to get an immediate response.  What you want is to build name recognition among the party faithful and identify possible volunteers and donors for the future.

The first thing we need when sending out a party letter is a call to action: a reason why the party members need to contact you after you’ve identified yourself.  I’ve found one great way to do this is by sending out a letter to party members asking them to contact you if they would like to sign your petition.

Local candidates, just like statewide candidates, need to get a certain amount of registered voters to sign their candidacy petition before their name can appear on the ballot.  This is done far in advance of the fall general election, and is a great excuse to send out your party letter to local partisan voters.

First, you need to get a good mail list of local party members from your city party chairperson, board of elections or other reliable source.  Once you’ve identified your voters, it’s time to craft your letter.  The gist of it should be something like this:

Dear Friends:

As a proud (Democrat/Republican), I’m excited to announce that I’ve decided to run for city council in the upcoming November election.  I’d like to introduce myself and tell you a bit about myself and my plans as a candidate.

(A few introductory paragraphs telling the voter about you and your campaign)

I would be honored if you would consider signing my candidacy petition to help me get my name on the ballot for city council.  Please call me personally or email me at the address below, and I would be happy to come to your home to let you sign my petition.

In addition to getting you an abundance of signatures for your petition, this letter will also show local partisan voters that you are serious about your candidacy, that you plan on working hard, and that you are a proud member of their party.

Additionally, you can count on the people who do contact you to be much more likely volunteers and donors for your campaign.

I’ve used this technique with success in quite a few campaigns, but it’s important not to set your expectations too high when using it.  Don’t expect much more than a 5 percent return on the letters; in other words, if you send out 500, you might get 25 responses.  These 25 voters, however, will be a great resource for you and your campaign in the future.

And even the voters who didn’t respond to your party letter will remember you as a faithful member of their party and someone who is kicking off their campaign with style.