Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Campaigns, State

STATE CAMPAIGNS RELY on a variety of factors for success, and incorporate candidates from all experience levels. Partisanship and fundraising play a pivotal role in state level politics. Economic conditions and out-of-state factors also affect the outcomes of state elections. Furthermore, there is a close tie between federal election results and state elections. Campaigns for state offices are traditionally less expensive and more reliant on party affiliation. Recent trends have shown a divergence from this tendency and a movement towards candidate-centered campaigns. Candidate-centered campaigns focus on candidates, their background, and their stances, rather than their connections or involvement in party politics.

State campaigns are also incredibly numerous, as many as 7,000 elections may occur in a given year. State elections and campaigns offer a wide range of offices including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, state representative, state senator, and, in some cases, judges Much focus has historically been placed on legislative and gubernatorial campaigns and elections. These elections range from being relatively small district-based legislative house seats, to statewide ordeals such as gubernatorial races.

Candidate Types

The type of candidates who run for state offices tends to vary as well. State legislators tend to be inexperienced candidates seeking their first public office, while gubernatorial candidates come from wide backgrounds and experience levels. State legislative candidates are typically wealthy, well educated, and members of the elite social class. Lawyers, businesspersons, and farmers are the primary working backgrounds of such candidates. These careers typically involve knowledge of the law and public policies and thus, provide potential candidates with a working knowledge of politics and, at times, a legislative policy agenda. Such a background also shows that the typical state legislator is commonly not an equitable representative of the state or district's population.

Once elected, legislators are not typically in office for the long periods associated with, for example, the U.S. Congress. In any given election year, legislator turnover may be as high as one third or more of the representative body. Many chose to move up the political ladder, while others chose not to seek re-election. One reason tends to be that nationwide, state legislators receive relative low compensation for their work; recent changes in legislative terms, and the imposition of term limits, also play a role in turnover. Those elected governors almost always have a background in legislative politics. In fact, it is widely considered that such a background proves to be extremely useful once in office. Law enforcement, lawyers, and prosecuting attorneys are also common careers for individuals seeking the office of governor. Furthermore, most governors and gubernatorial candidates have held statewide elected office, although some have gone straight from the legislature. Likewise, the office of governor is also commonly viewed as a stepping stone to the U.S. Senate or the presidency.

Partisanship

Historically, political parties have played a tremendous role in state politics and elections. By the first half of the 20th century, voting a straight one-party-ticket had become tradition. Despite some evidence that this trend has slowed, a candidate's party affiliation still plays a major role in providing cues for voters at the state level.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution