Welcome to the third in our 6-part series on the 5Ws & an H of running for office. We’ve jumbled up the typical “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” into the chronology of how those questions should play out in politics: Why, Where, What, Who, When, and How. Welcome to our What…
The previous post about “Where” dovetails perfectly into this more specific discussion of “What”:
What elected offices are available to you (geographically detailed in the previous “Where” post)?
What does the job do?
What are the qualifications to run?
What is the pay?
What offices are available?
When you’re considering elected office, think about the issues that pump your blood, that you get excited about. They don’t have to be flashy.
Maybe you’re an accountant and the intersection of federal, state, and local finances is fascinating. Think about city council, school board, county commission.
Maybe you’re a special needs parent and want to help make the navigation of state services easier and more transparent.
Maybe your parents are elderly and need help accessing regular meals and transportation to and from medical appointments (but they just hate to bother you, you have your own family to take care of, etc.). Consider serving on a county or state board, or running for the county commission.
You own your own business at the same time as serving on your kids elementary, middle, and high school PTA boards and district advisory panels. That preparation is perfect for the state legislature.
What does the job do?
Each of these roles have similarities and significant differences.
City, County, and School Board: These roles are great for people with young families, because the meetings are close to home.
There are regularly scheduled meetings for the entire board, whether that’s weekly, biweekly, or monthly depends on the organization.
In addition, members serve on committees which research, discuss, and hear presentations on various issues to present to the full board.
There are also special events like ribbon cuttings, award ceremonies, graduations, law enforcement commissionings, etc.
State legislature: These jobs are more time consuming, especially depending on your proximity to the state Capitol, and how geographically large your district is.
Some legislative sessions are 60-days long and only happen every other year. Others are full-time, every year. Most are somewhere in between.
A “part-time legislature” is a myth. If you aren’t in the capital the entire year, you’re doing constituent work at home. You also can be called into a special session when you’re “supposed” to be off – this usually happens when you have a trip-of-a-lifetime planned, or your daughter’s wedding (heavy sarcasm, but true).
In addition to discussion and voting with your House or Senate colleagues, you also serve on numerous committees, typically in your areas of expertise or interest.
That is, unless you’ve made an enemy in leadership, and then they stick you on a committee with controversial work or no work at all, setting you up respectively for a barrage of voter email, or utter boredom.
Congress & US Senate: Fugeddaboutit. You’re gone all the time, and when you’re home, you’re scheduled back-to-back with fundraising events. There are a few weeklong breaks throughout the spring, there’s a “recess” in August, and again sometimes at the end of the year, but you can be called back at a moments’ notice.
TBH, they just don’t spend that much time legislating. There are very few votes, and very little time is actually spent hearing the issues in committee.
This is why staff is so important – and is such a great gig when you’re young. There are SO many issues for them to know, that they rely on their staff’s expertise. Staffs work across offices to perfect and negotiate bills, keeping their bosses updated as needed. If you’re “staffing the boss” on a particular issue, you write his/her speech and any briefing papers to ensure they have what they need to sound knowledgeable on the issue.
What are the qualifications to run?
For virtually every role (with some rare and confounding exceptions), you have to be a registered voter in, and reside in the district you seek to represent. Some states have residency requirements with a minimum time to have lived there, or other job-related requirements. For example:
As you might recall from high school civics, citizens must be:
25 to run for the US House of Representatives (and a citizen for seven years),
30 to run for the US Senate (and a citizen for nine years), and
35 to run for President (natural born citizen and US resident for 14 years).
It would make sense that Attorneys General be attorneys admitted to the bar in their state (have the ability to represent clients in legal proceedings), or are at least non-practicing lawyers with a J.D. However, not all states require this!
The rules get stickier depending on the state and level of office, so be sure to learn these requirements before you embarrass yourself and potentially ruin a future run by appearing uninformed.
What is the pay?
The spectrum here is wider than you would expect.
Salary: Cities, schools, and counties vary wildly. Within a ½ mile radius of where I am writing this, a county commissioner makes $53K/year, another county pays $26K/year, the countywide community college board and my local school boards are 100% volunteer, the State Representative and Senator make $20K (if you include their room/board expense), there’s a city council that’s 100% volunteer, and another that’s $23K/year. Every unit and level is different, so check it out first.
Reimbursements: Most levels of government provide or reimburse for internet access and cell phone usage to perform the duties of the role.
Travel: Like any business, if you participate in travel to a conference or other learning event as part of your role, that is typically reimbursed (but not for your spouse, case dependent).
Other stuff: Most units of government will lend you a computer or ipad to use during your term, but I recommend not taking those for ethics purposes. Example: a constituent thanks you for your help with the pothole in front of their house and says she’d like to donate to your campaign. You answer that email on your public device and now you’re in ethics trouble. Always do that work on your personal computer, where you can do official and campaign work without getting in trouble!
When I served on our community college board, we joked that the best benefit of the job was reserved parking on the overcrowded campus!
Some states allow childcare to be paid from campaign funds - this is a great development!
Again, do your homework. And if you come into this work looking for a paycheck, close this tab now!