A political campaign is an organized effort to promote a political idea or candidate for election. A political campaign is often characterized by intense, highly focused, and sometimes contentious activities aimed at persuading the public to support a particular cause. Political campaigns can vary in scope and length, with some lasting only months and others spanning more than two years.
The majority of electoral campaigns are candidate campaigns for legislative branch positions, with candidates running for a total of 535 seats in the US Congress and thousands of city- or state-level executive branch offices. A smaller percentage of electoral campaigns are contested, in which both sides commit to running a serious campaign for a given office and where the outcome has significant implications for the officeholder’s governing style and policy choices.
While most entry-level staffers on a campaign receive little to no monetary compensation, the meaningful experience that can be gained by working on a successful campaign is often considered its own reward. In addition to gaining valuable skills and connections, many people take entry-level roles on campaigns in order to get the inside track on future employment.
While most entry-level positions on a campaign are volunteer, it is not uncommon for recent law graduates to work on campaigns during their first year or two after graduating from law school, doing legal research and other early-stage legal tasks and referring more complicated questions to senior counsel (either employed by the campaign or serving as outside counsel). It is also common for these students to parlay their experience in a legislative or executive branch political campaign into more permanent employment in the field of government.
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