Handbook·Elections

How to recruit a candidate

Guide·Effort A few hours over several weeks·Leverage HIGH·Verified 2026-07-10

The answer

Recruiting a candidate means identifying a winnable, likely-uncontested local seat, finding someone already embedded in the community who could plausibly hold it, and walking them through the concrete first step, filing, before a deadline passes. This works because most local races are uncontested for lack of anyone filing, not lack of voter interest: 74% of local races and 82% of county races went uncontested in 2024.1 The single biggest reason qualified people don't run is that nobody asked them to.

Before you go

  • Identify a specific open or uncontested seat and its filing deadline first. Recruiting works best paired with a concrete, time-bound opportunity, not an abstract pitch to "run for something."
  • Think about who to approach: people already doing unpaid civic labor make strong candidates. PTA leaders, HOA board members, union stewards, small business owners, longtime volunteers, people who already know how local meetings work.
  • Know that research finds women in particular are more likely to need direct encouragement before considering a run, rather than deciding on their own.2 There is no credible research supporting a specific number of times someone needs to be asked, so don't use one.
  • Have concrete next-step information ready: the filing deadline, the fee or petition requirement, and one training resource, so the ask isn't just "you should run" but "here's exactly how, and here's the deadline."

The mechanics

  1. Find a real, specific opportunity: an uncontested or open local seat with a known filing deadline (see how to find uncontested races near you).
  2. Make a short list of 3-5 people who are already civically engaged in ways that translate to the job: attends meetings, manages a budget, leads a group.
  3. Ask directly and specifically: name the office, the deadline, and why you think they'd be good at it. Vague encouragement is weaker than a specific, time-bound ask.
  4. If they're interested but uncertain, connect them to a free nonpartisan resource. Vote Run Lead, She Should Run, and Ready to Run (Rutgers CAWP) all run free or low-cost training for first-time candidates, and Vote Run Lead reports a 63% win rate for trained candidates in the 2024 cycle.3 Emerge America and Right Women Right Now/RSLC's Right Leaders Network serve Democratic and Republican women respectively.
  5. Help them confirm the filing mechanics (where, fee vs. petition, deadline) with the county or city clerk directly.
  6. Follow up before the deadline. A single ask rarely closes the loop. Checking in as the deadline approaches is often what turns interest into an actual filing.

What to say

Be specific, not abstract.

The county commission seat in our district has nobody filed yet,
filing closes March 6. You already run the neighborhood association's
budget, I think you'd be good at this, and here's the county clerk's
filing page: [link].

Name the office, the deadline, and the concrete reason you're asking that particular person.

What happens next

If they file, the next steps are the mechanical ones: certification, then either a contested race or, commonly, an uncontested win (see how to file to run for local office). If they decline, a specific, well-reasoned ask still plants something. Research on political ambition shows a direct ask is what most often converts a person from "never considered it" to "actually running," even if not the first time they're asked.

Does it work

Yes, for the opportunity: most local races are uncontested, so recruiting into a specific open seat is high-leverage. The mechanism is well documented too: a national study of similarly-credentialed men and women found a real gender gap in who needs to be asked versus who self-starts,2 though no credible study supports a specific "number of asks" figure.

Take action

Which nonpartisan or party-aligned training program is most relevant depends on who you're recruiting and their alignment. Filing deadlines and requirements for the specific seat you're recruiting into vary by state and office, and 82% of county races went uncontested in 2024 for lack of a filed opponent.4 Use the ZIP lookup to confirm the local deadline before you make the ask.

Sources

  1. BallotReady, "Uncontested Races in State Legislatures 2024," 2024. source ↩

  2. Lawless & Fox, "Why Are Women Still Not Running for Public Office?" (Citizen Political Ambition Study), 2008. source ↩ ↩2

  3. Vote Run Lead, 2024-25 cycle win-rate reporting, 2025. source ↩

  4. Ballotpedia, "Analysis of uncontested elections, 2024," 2024. source ↩