About Begin Your Campaign
A plain-English handbook for the people who make local government work: first-time candidates.
Why this exists
Thousands of local offices are on the ballot every election: county councils, school boards, city councils, sheriffs, clerks of court, soil and water boards. Some of those races draw only one candidate, and plenty of good people never run because the first steps look confusing. Where do you file? Do you need a treasurer? What does a campaign cost? What happens if you miss a report?
Begin Your Campaign answers those questions in plain English, in the order you'll meet them, and points you to the official sources that have the final word for your race.
Nonpartisan, on purpose
We don't endorse candidates, parties or positions, and we don't tell you what to believe. The guides work the same whether you're running in a partisan primary or a nonpartisan school board race.
Who publishes it
Begin Your Campaign is published by the team behind two sister businesses: CandidateLaunch, which builds campaign websites for local candidates of any party, and MySignPal, which prints yard signs. The guides here are free, and you never have to use either company to benefit from them. When we mention them, we say they're ours.
The project grew out of a real local race: our founder, Leroy Godfrey Jr., an Air Force veteran, ran for Berkeley County Council in South Carolina in 2026 and learned these steps firsthand.
How we keep it accurate
Every guide is checked against official sources, which are listed at the end of the article. Rules change, so each guide shows the date it was last updated. Read our editorial standards, and tell us if you spot something wrong.