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Do You Want To

RUN FOR OFFICE?

Considering A Run For Office?

First of all, THANK YOU for wanting to represent your friends, neighbors, and community members. We all rely on committed, passionate, and qualified candidates to represent us. We are grateful to you for wanting to take this important step forward.

As you're considering a run for office, you may have questions like: what office best suits my background and skills ... how do I get on the democratic ballot ... how do I raise money ... how do I find volunteers ... how many voters do I need to contact? All those are questions you'll need answers to before you begin your campaign, and we're here to help.

If you're a McKinney area Democrat and want to run for a local, county, or district race, please email our president directly to talk about next steps. We've also compiled some useful information for you to consider. Please be assured that, when you're ready to run, we'll be ready to help.

Help with fundraising

Poll greeting

Candidate events

Candidate Training Resources

National Training Course

"So You Think You Want To Run" is a national training course that will help you decide whether you want to run for office, what you want to run for, and when. There are also trainings on how to build your candidate skils.

Where To File For Office

If you are running for an office in only one county, file with your County Democratic Party Chair: Collin County, Denton County, Grayson County. If you are running for an office covering more than one county (a statewide office, U.S. Congress & many state legislative seats), file by mail or in person with the Texas Democratic Party.

TX Secretary of State

This website is updated for county, state, and district elections. You can find information on filing requirements, candidate guides, and links to federal election information.

Campaign Ethics & Finance

Following the campaign ethics and finance rules are very important for your campaign. Here are some important links to know: Campaign Treasurer Filing, Campaign Finance Rules, Forms & Instructions for Non-Judicial/Judicial/State & County Chair Candidates/Officeholders

TX Democratic Party Form

Sign up here even if you're interested in a local race. The state party can help with resources that may make your decisions easier. They can also connect you with trainings that may answer important questions.

Mobilize & VAN

The Texas Democratic Party uses Mobilize for free event management and Voter Activation Network (for a fee) for voter management & tracking. These tools are very important for keeping track of your volunteers, supporters, and voters. Please contact the party to set up your accounts.

RESOURCES

Additional Candidate Training Resources

Airtable — Crowdsource ideas for candidates.
Annie's List — Similar to Emily's List but Texas-based focusing on pro-choice & pro-women candidates
The Arena — Convenes, trains, and supports the next generation of candidates and campaign staff.

Bluebonnet Data — Matches volunteer data teams with campaigns, nonprofits, unions, legislative causes, and other progressive organizations.
- Bluebonnet Data Partner Guide
- Campaign Data 101: How to think about Data if you're not a "Data Person" (Part 1 of 4)
- Campaign Data 101: Using Data in your Campaign for Field, Messaging, & Policy (Part 2 of 4)
- Campaign Data 101: Using Data in your Campaign in Finance & Internal Operations (Part 3 of 4)
- Campaign Data 101: Successful Data Case Studies & Helpful Resources (Part 4 of 4)
Blue Horizon Texas — Is focused on helping rural areas elect Democrats.

Bold Progressives — Helps progressive campaigns with cutting-edge training, campaign-in-a-box technology, networking opportunities, and strategic support.

The Collective — The Collective PAC is working to fix the challenge of under-representation of the Black community in elected seats of power throughout our nation.

Democracy for America — Holds on-the-ground candidate trainings for progressives across the country and offers a “Night School” focused on online campaign skills. DFA also endorses candidates.

Emerge America — Inspires women to run, hones their skills to win.

Emily’s List — Works to elect Democratic pro-choice women to office.

Get Her Elected — Provides key campaign services pro bono in order to level the playing field for progressive women candidates. Includes website design and other technical skills.
Higher Heights For America — Focuses on Black women candidates by helping with networking. Does endorse through their PAC.

Ignite — Holds trainings for young women who are ready and eager to become the next generation of political leaders.
National Democratic Training Committee — Free training for all Democrats and Progressives. In-person and online.

New American Leaders Project — Offers a program called “Ready to Lead” for potential candidates from immigrant communities.

New Politics — Trains military veterans and alumni from the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other service organizations for campaigns.

National Women's Political Caucus — This organization recruits and trains. Training is for members. Fee is only $80.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee — Trains progressive candidates and solicits small-dollar donations from its nearly 1 million members for the candidates it endorses. See "Bold Progressives" above.

Run for Something — Provides a safety net for new candidates at all stages of their journey to help them run efficient, grassroots & voter-contact driven campaigns and not feel alone in the process. Library of campaign resources.

Running Start — Nonpartisan nonprofit that trains young women to run for public office.

Rural Organizing — Its mission is to rebuild a rural America that is empowered, thriving, and equitable with a grassroots network of rural organizers, activists, elected officials and candidates for office. Resources include Running Campaigns in Small Towns and Rural Communities to ensure progressive civic leaders have access to the latest public opinion research and field best practices for engaging voters in small towns and rural communities.

She Should Run — Convinces women from all political leanings, ethnicities, sexual identities, and backgrounds to see themselves as future candidates. Starter kit. Note: this is not a Democratic organization but is nonpartisan.

Swing Left — Working to support candidates to help achieve a progressive future. Has trainings for how to motivate and train volunteers/organizers/hosts and how to fundraise.
Texas Association of Counties — Resources and tips for those who want to be county officials. Note: this is not a Democratic organization but is nonpartisan.
Texas Association of School Boards — Resources and tips for those who want to run for School Board. Note: this is not a Democratic organization but is nonpartisan.

Veterans Campaign — Offers weekend workshops for veterans considering a run for office. Note: this is not a Democratic organization but is nonpartisan.

Victory Fund LGBTQ — W to achieve and sustain equality by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government while ensuring they reflect the diversity of those they serve.