Do you know the answer for Running for Office?

Why people are you Running for office? Do You Have a Good Answer?

For some, "why are you running for office "is an easy question to answer because you feel innately passionate about your political pursuit. For others, they may have a murkier answer. But knowing why you are running for office and what you want to do when you get there is critical to being a successful candidate. And having a canned answer to the question is not good enough.

Ted Kennedy's famous non-answer (link is external) to the why he was running for office in his 1980 presidential campaign is a historical lesson about not having your heart in the race.  But there are countless examples in less high profile races of candidates not being able to successfully answer the “why are you running political for office” question.

Running for office for the right reasons is critical, not only to gain support but also to win.  If you lack the passion and really don't want it, that will be evident to voters. Think long and hard before you launch your campaign, because you don't want to commit to a race you don’t want to be in or a race in which you can’t win. Or even worse, be elected to an office and realize you really don't want to do the job.  With that said, here is a break down of the right and wrong reasons to run.

Right reasons:

    To help your community. This is the USA classic reason of running for office. You see your community needs help and you believe you have the skills to fill that need.
    Advocating for causes. There is a specific cause or policy that is affecting your community and you feel that you can have a real impact on the issue by running for office.

Wrong reasons:

    The party asked me to. Just because someone asks you to run does not mean they have your best interest in mind. This could be a great start if you have other reasons for running, but running for office to please someone else is always a bad idea.
    Revenge against the incumbent. The reason that “he did something to me so I’m going to beat him” is not a good reason to begin running for office. Revenge is a horrible reason to run, no matter how bad the opponent is. Make sure there are other motivations that drive you.
    Because I can win. It’s important that you have a chance of success but don’t run just because you think you will win.
    This will be my only opportunity - I get that there is a lot of luck in politics and picking the right opportunity is important but that is different than thinking you will only have one opportunity. Be thoughtful about why you are running and make sure you pick the right opportunity to win, not just the opportunity that is in front of you.

A canned answer to the "why are you running for office question" is not good enough. If your heart is truly not in the race you will know, and so will voters. The bottom line is, don't run if you don't know why you are running.

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