Run for Something

A Real-Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself

Amanda Litman

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781501180446
• eBook ISBN:
  9781501180453
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Advocacy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The must-have guide for young progressives looking to run for local office, complete with contributions from elected officials and political operatives. You've been depressed since the night of November 8, 2016. You wore black to work the next morning. You berated yourself for your complacency during the Obama years. You ranted on Twitter. You deleted Twitter. You sent emails to your friends saying, "How can we get more involved?" You listened to Pod Save America. You knit­ted a pussyhat. You showed up to the Women's March on Washington. You protested Donald Trump's executive orders. You called your congressman. You called other people's congressmen. You set up monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. You reactivated Twitter (begrudgingly).Here's what you do next: Run for something.To be specific: Run for local office and become the change you want to see in the world. Forget about Con­gress. Forget about the Senate. Focus on the offices that get the real sh*t done: state legislatures, city councils, school boards, and mayors.It doesn't matter if you're not a white man over sixty with an Ivy League law degree. (In fact, it's better if you're not!)It doesn't matter if you don't understand the first thing about running for office, or never even imagined you would. That's what this book is for.Amanda Litman, experienced in hard-fought state and national election campaigns, is here to give you guid­ance as well as wisdom and insight from elected officials and political operatives she interviewed for this book.There are half a million elected officials in the United States. Why can't you be one of them?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book
• What’s the Worst that Could Happen? by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
• 1. Why You Have to Run for Office
• 2. Why Winning Isn’t Everything (Or, an Excuse to Talk About the Utter Bullshit that Is the Uncontested Election)
• 3. Civics 101: How Government (Generally) Works at the Federal and State Levels (Or, Why You Should Run for Local Office)
• 4. Why You Can Actually Run for State Legislature
• 5. How to Run for Office
• 6. Mobilization (Or, How You Reach Voters)
• 7. Message (Or, What You Talk to Voters About)
• 8. Money (Or, How to Raise What You Need)
• 9. Writing your Campaign Plan
• 10. So You’re not Running for Office (Yet)
• 11. Why I Made Campaigns a Career (and Why You Should Too)
• 12. How to Actually get a Job on a Political Campaign
• 13. Phone Calls and Tweeting and Marching, Oh My (Or, Activism 101)
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes
• Copyright