Having attended numerous meet and greets for political candidates for both parties since high school, and listened to countless "motivational" speeches by executives about "anyone" can run for office - let me shed reality, because I sincerely hope other normal Americans like me join my campaign and can follow my lead. First and foremost, check with your family and loved ones and know that "putting yourself out there" as a candidate will adversely impact them even if you are making every effort to keep them uninvolved, like with military service the call to duty is about More Than Your own EGO. Like starting a business, the next major item of concern is to consider your family finances and healthcare coverage situation. I received 'the blessing' from my significant others, and saved every penny and red envelope since I was a working the counter at my family restaurant. However, candidacy is not the ideal for everyone - even if they would be an ideal elected official. (Which if I am being honest, my three decades of memory and study of history suggest random Americans off main-street would serve our democracy better than the bureaucrat class that we have.) Ultimately, if you have come to terms with those predicaments aforementioned then decide the "If not you who? If not now when?" scenario.
Then comes the first step: Expect at the very least that you need to become your own public relations specialist, organizational planner, recruiter, graphic designer, web master, IT support, data analyst, market analyst, fitness instructor, treasurer, and accountant. This has been my experience running a grassroots campaign thus far. I have not found a campaign manager, nor been gifted generous contributions by a party, when I have I will update the forum.
To give you an idea of why every contribution to this campaign matters. Please look at our incumbent opponents, multi-million dollar war-chest amassed over his 25years in power.
https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/com_rcvd/C00304709/
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/adam-smith/summary?cid=N00007833&cycle=2022&type=C
