I'm asking because 3 council positions are opening up in my town next year, and I am considering putting in a run for one of the positions.

Problem is I have really no idea where to starts, or how-to begin on campaigning, but know I want to run.

Thoughts?  Input?

We do have one member in here that has run for office a few times. However I won't out him by name. It's his choice if he wants to step up and claim it.

I ran for and won student council rep for my class from 2nd through 5th grade.  Piece of cake!

I did against a Seattle socialist POS, state level office.  Republicans typically hadn't even bothered running in the district.  So I stepped up and paid the $428 filing fee so at least the voter's pamphlet would have some conservative statements printed.

Get someone to act as book keeper if you can, if state election finance reporting is required.  It's not hard but requires reading basic rules and filling out several forms.

Decide how much you are going to contribute to your campaign, do you want to do it bad enough to put up some money?  Start setting up your domain name and website now, or at least begin preparing content and style ideas.  Learn how much 1/4 sheet or folded full sheet pamphlets to hand out will cost, people expect them even if they never read them.  Vista Print seems pretty good to me.

Decide what the issues are and if you actually get media asking questions tell them flat out those are the issues as you see them, and if they throw some other issue tell them you'll review and see how it fits in your prioritization of issues facing residents.

My advice is to go to your district's PCO meetings, and talk to the people there.  They're typically held monthly, and if a rep for that district is the same party they often show up and you can talk to them yourself.  Clearly that gives you a direct line to discussing campaigning with people who have succeeded.  I would give you a direct link if I knew which party and district, but assuming you're thinking R, if you are in King County I'd recommend starting here: https://kcgop.org/candidate-resources/.

What they will most likely tell you is that the key to winning an election is knocking on doors and shaking hands.  You, personally, going door to door and introducing yourself, saying what you stand for, and asking for their vote.  Candidates who win knock on +10k doors, spread out over 6 months of doing it every day after work for a couple hours.  The King County republican leadership has been taking heat for allowing D's to run unopposed in races for a long time, and there is pressure to change leadership and push hard to have no more uncontested races.  An uncontested race allows that candidate to give their fund-raised money to other races that are contested.  Now whether anything will come of that, I don't know, and I think it may come down to whether people like myself get off their butt and do something about it.

The party will have a database of voters, with addresses and phone numbers and what their voting preferences are believed to be.  When you can't door bell you work your way through the list of potential voters for you and focus on getting name recognition early on, then once ballots are out you focus on ensuring the people likely to vote for you actually vote.  Whether someone has voted is public info, so you can harass them every couple days till it shows their ballot is submitted.

IM sent. Currently hold a public office position.

Now you're one of the Elitists. Explains everything. . .

Never ran for office, but worked in County government for a lot of years and worked directly under the County Commissioners.

We had one Commissioner elected whose main strategy was door-belling. He worked for it, and succeeded.

More good people are needed in government, it can be a thankless job, and some people will always be unhappy even if you do the right thing, but it is in my opinion a worthy calling.

If at this point if I wasn't burnt out on working for government, I would certainly consider running for at least Town Council and possibly at a County level.

Another good strategy is to start showing up at Town Council meetings, listen in, and offer your insights during public comment opportunities. You will be noticed and if you have something constructive to add, taken seriously.

Sit in on budget meetings if possible, you can learn a lot about what really goes down and why.

Write some letters to the Editor on what you think needs to change in local government, that way your name gets out there.

In my opinion, name familiarity in a positive context is a big part of getting elected the first time.

1Gunrunner is the President of Lewis County.  Blow out election.  I'd chase him down for advise.

I ran for the post office once. Made it three minutes before they closed!

Outstanding advice..

Just send him a PM with your questions. I have always found him available, and willing to chat.