A political campaign is an organization of people working to support or oppose a particular candidate or ballot initiative. Depending on the type of election, campaigns can be brief and focused or large and complicated operations requiring many paid staffers and volunteers. Political campaigns occur in every level of government, from local to federal.
Every two years (a “cycle”), thousands of campaigns are organized to elect candidates for state and national office. These campaigns range in duration from a few months to two years and in scope from small, grassroots operations of just two or three staffers to massive, federal operation with hundreds of paid staffers. Most campaign opportunities require affiliation with a particular political party; deciding on this affiliation early is important because switching parties can incur reputational and career costs.
In the United States, electoral offices include 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 Senators; tens of thousands of state legislative seats; hundreds of governors, auditors, attorneys general, treasurers, and secretaries of state; and many city- and county-level elected officials, including mayors and city councilmembers. Most candidate campaigns are partisan, with the major political parties organizing programs to protect incumbents and challenge seats held by opposition party candidates.
While gaining experience on a political campaign may not seem like the most obvious career path for college students and recent graduates, it is an excellent way to gain professional experience, make connections, and build skills and credibility. Those who can commit significant time will quickly be promoted to paid positions by senior campaign staff. It is also common for a losing candidate’s staff to be hired over to the winner’s senior team, so volunteering or taking a lower-level position with a rival campaign can lead to a more stable job on the winning side.
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