From School Board to Governor: The Fundamentals of Running for Office
Session Type(s): Training
Training Tag(s): Grassroots Activism & Campaigns
Starts: Thursday, Aug. 10 9:00 AM (Eastern)
Ends: Thursday, Aug. 10 10:15 AM (Eastern)
If you’re fired up, motivated, and ready to step up and run for office but aren’t sure where or how to start, this training is for you. Based on our experience getting races of all sizes off the ground, we’ll answer questions such as: What should you consider when making the decision to run? What are the first steps you should take? What roles do you need on your team and how do you fill them? What resources are available to help you? Whether you are considering running for alderman, school board, park district, mayor, or governor, this training will help you get started!
This training is for anyone interested in running for office or helping someone run for office.
Trainers
Rachel Campbell
Rachel Campbell is a Senior Project Manager with 270 Strategies who helps lead the firm’s electoral practice. Rachel has extensive campaign experience at the state and federal levels — having worked as a field organizer, tracker, campaign manager, and media producer, she now focuses on providing strategic management, messaging and digital support to clients nationwide.
Prior to joining the 270 team, she worked at a Chicago-based political media firm where she provided digital, communications, and media production expertise to a wide range of clients. Rachel also previously worked in communications for the Illinois State Senate Democrats, where she introduced digital and social media programs into the outreach efforts of a diverse group of legislators across Illinois.
Rachel is passionate about digital engagement, social justice, and gender equity. She’s a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and loves Beyonce, brunch, and fantasy football. Rachel lives in Chicago with her husband, Steve, her daughter, Lily, and their sassy cat, Faye.
Kate Catherall
Kate Catherall is the Founder and Principal of Slow Clap. Passionate about building capacity for progressive causes, Kate Catherall brings over 15 years of leadership experience in public engagement, advocacy, and electoral politics.
Most recently, Kate served as Chief Engagement Officer at Avalanche Insights, where her team led survey research and guided narrative development for national organizations on a range of key issues including clean energy, reproductive freedom, gun violence, gender equity, and affordable housing.
Kate is the Co-founder and formerly Senior Partner of Arena, an organization that convenes, trains, and supports the next generation of progressive candidates and political professionals. She now serves the organization as Board Chair, and continues to train at Arena Academies. Since 2017, Arena has helped to elect 61 candidates to Congress, state, and local offices, and has trained more than 2300 campaign professionals through Arena Academy. Arena is focused on supporting a more diverse leadership pipeline: 59% of Arena Academy graduates are women, and 53% are people of color.
Prior to founding Arena, Kate was a Senior Vice President at 270 Strategies, where she consulted on public engagement strategy, behavioral research, and organizational design for candidates, advocacy organizations, and philanthropies. At 270, Kate worked on a wide range of issues, from civic engagement to food security to public health to elevating the teaching profession to international conflict resolution.
Kate has trained leaders in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, with participants hailing from more than 40 countries. She got her start as an organizer on Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and has since worked with dozens of campaigns and candidates up and down the ballot including rising stars like Lauren Underwood, Cory Booker, Lina Hidalgo, and Andy Kim.
Kate resides in Oakland, California with her partner Conrad and her retriever mix, Louie. She spends as much time outside as possible, and loves film, music, writing, travel, forest bathing, and pizza.