Federalist Party strategy: Focus on local races

Many times when we post something to social media, there’s a question that pops up: “What races have you won?” Considering we officially launched this year, the answer should be pretty obvious. We understand the need for the question, though. The vast majority of political parties in America have never won an election.

This is the first reason we intend to start with local races, but it’s not the most important. We’ll get to the most important reason below, but let’s address reality. We live in a two-party system. It was a fear of many of the founders that a party system would arise, but in particular some of them specifically feared a two-party system. We’re seeing very clearly today why this was such a worry for them. They knew we would experience exactly what we’re experiencing: a self-perpetuating system that blocks attempts from the outside and protects itself as a single Democratic-Republican establishment.

That’s not to say that we have a single-party system (though sometimes it seems like we do), but it’s clear that they’ve stacked the deck against other parties to prevent them from gaining entry. When there is a binary choice, people are willing to accept less than the desirable. Republican leadership knows they don’t have to appeal to conservatives because there’s no fear of them voting for Democrats. Meanwhile, Democrats can ignore moderates in their party as they continue their push to the left with socialistic principles and massive government overreach.

Our focus on local, city, county, and state elections at this early stage in our development is strategic. It’s a waste of time, talent, and treasure to throw out sacrificial “protest” candidates to run in races we have no chance of winning. This doesn’t stop other third parties who love to throw their resources towards big national races in hopes of drawing attention even when they know they can’t win. We view it differently. We want to win.

The other, more important reason we are focused on local elections stems from the premise of small-government federalism itself. As we strive to rein in DC’s power, it’s imperative that we have people in place to take the lead at these “lower” levels when the decisions given to them by the U.S. Constitution (as well as state variations) are finally honored once more. The people have more say in local politics with representatives living near them. Their votes are more prominent when it’s one of thousands or tens of thousands instead of millions. Lastly, the choices made on behalf of the people by their local representatives will have more direct influence over their lives.

We need limited-government-minded individuals on city councils, in school boards, and in sheriff’s offices. We need Federalists in place as state legislators, mayors, and even governors. There will come a time when we’re ready to win U.S. Senate seats or even the White House, but we’re not going to bypass the low hanging fruit and waste the resources given to us by those who believe in our cause.

We’re asking two things at this point: take a good look at what we’re doing and if you like what you’re seeing, please spread the word. Never in history has there been an opportunity quite like this. Today, there are millions of Americans who are angry with their party. While this is beneficial to us, what we really want is for people to be hopeful about what we’re doing. It’s easy to appeal to people’s passions AGAINST the current system, but for sustainable growth we need people to be passionate FOR a vision of a better future. That future is the Federalist Party.