I love election season. My fondness for it may be stronger now that I don’t actually have to be out campaigning or raising campaign funds, but as an American I find it immensely inspiring. Ordinary people – our friends and neighbors – have decided to step forward and run for office.
I’m always struck, when I speak in public, by the listeners who come up to me afterward and ask my advice on running for Congress. Our hurried conversation always feels inadequate to me, so here’s what I wish I had the time to tell them.
First, know why you’re running, and be able to articulate it. “I want to serve my country” is not enough. In my experience, the vast majority of members of Congress are there because they want to make America a better place, but most Americans – if the polls are right – believe they’re there to enrich themselves. So know what you want to accomplish and be straightforward about it.
You should also be prepared to spend an enormous amount of energy. Campaigning is exhausting work. It begins early in the morning in front of plant gates, and ends late at night in neighborhood bowling alleys and American Legion halls and wherever else people congregate and might be willing to lend an ear. Which is why enjoying people is an enormous asset for a candidate. A campaign is an unrelenting parade of people: One day you’re shaking hands and patting babies’ heads at a county fair, and the next you’re trading ideas with community leaders.
There are a lot of inconveniences in running for office. You have to raise money, do research and polling, respond to your opponent’s attacks, give the same speech over and over, meet with people who aren’t shy about offering advice or demanding favors.
In all this, you have to figure out how to enjoy yourself. Really, it shouldn’t be hard to do. You’ll be on one of the most incredible adventures any American can have. Our system of government depends on ordinary Americans coming forward to run for office, and though the inconveniences may be great, the rewards of being part of our ongoing experiment in democracy are even greater.
Lee Hamilton is Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years.