Research: Survey and In-Depth Interviews with 2018 State and Local Candidates
This unique research initiative aimed to leverage the rich experiences of the unprecedented number of diverse and first-time progressive candidates who ran in 2018 with the goal of improving our community’s efforts to effectively recruit and support these “pipeline” candidates in the future. To gather findings to form the basis for strategic recommendations, we specifically focused on:
- Motivations for and barriers to running
- The challenge of demonstrating viability
- The supporting role of third-party organizations
- The value of candidate trainings
- The campaign process—including planning, staffing, and implementation of strategy
- Absorbing the outcome: getting ready to govern and/or run again
In total, we collected 777 completed online interviews (from November 8 to December 10). E-mail invitations were sent to 3,884 candidates in coordination and partnership with 12 campaign support organizations.
