Election Plan for the Governor of Texas Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

A well-structured election plan might be compared to the process of building a house. While it is possible to construct it without a plan, numerous mistakes will be made, as well as resources and efforts wasted; the same rule applies to a political campaign. Thus, it is essential to determine the overall political situation, strategy, and assets in order to lead the selected candidate to victory on Election Day. Even though the current political landscape is critical, what happens inside the campaign is, in many cases, the most important factor, which makes a difference between winning and losing. This assignment aims to address a campaign message, strategy, and resources for a chosen candidate running for the election for the Governor of Texas.

Candidate

The fictional candidate, John Jackson, is an incumbent officeholder from the Democratic Party. The politician graduated from Stanford and majored in Political Science; he is married and has two children. The media portrays him as a humble, intelligent, and polite family man. During his cadence, the candidate has launched a project, “Rebuild Texas,” which improved infrastructure across the state, including road updates, the expanse of Internet service in rural areas, and re-building private and public educational institutions. Remarkably, the project has created more than 450.000 jobs. Moreover, he reduced the cost of healthcare and supported the creation of the universal healthcare system in Texas. Jackson has also launched a project focused on quality education in colleges and universities across Texas. The state’s economic rates have improved during the candidate’s prior cadence. Furthermore, before the governing position, the candidate has served as the Lieutenant Governor of Texas and a Mayor of El Paso. What is more, the incumbent officeholder was not involved in any scandals. Therefore, Mr. Jackson could be characterized as an experienced politician with a clean reputation.

Campaign Message

Taking into account that John Jackson has a remarkable political experience during his cadence, the campaign must concentrate on his positive reforms, including rising economy, improved infrastructure, healthcare, and increase of jobs. According to Newell, Prindle, and Riddlesberg (2016), “If the economy is good and the candidate is an incumbent (in office), then the strategy will focus on what you have done to improve the economy” (p. 25). Thus, his election message must contain his determination to continue reforms beneficial for state residents. In addition, Mr. Jackson needs to address his willingness to further expand his political changes, for example, on reducing taxes (as it is a current problem). Henceforth, the candidate’s message must include his political achievements and motivation to carry on reforming the state in favor of Texas residents.

Campaign Strategy

It might be possible to consider using the “The Experienced Leader” strategy for Mr. Jackson’s campaign due to his possession of great political experience. As stated by Newell et al. (2016), “the Experienced Leader might appeal to Democrats and Independents, wealthy and middle-class voters” (p. 53). Therefore, the candidate’s strategy should be concentrated on this audience. They are taking into account that during his cadence Mr. Jones not only initiated democracy-oriented projects but also improved the economy and increased jobs; Independents, Democrats, as well as Republicans might vote for him. The main focus should be on college graduates, wealthy and middle-class citizens, not only because the candidate launched a universities-related initiative but also because he is a well-educated man as well. Remarkably, people tend to trust the ones who behave, talk, and possess the same interests as them (Burton, Miller, & Shea, 2015).

Regarding regions, large Democratic cities are the most likely to vote for the candidate (Austin, El Paso, Rio Grande, Houston, Dallas). A small portion of rural state residents might support the candidate; as an outcome, his infrastructural project might have won those people’s trust. The majority of Mr. Jackson’s supporters are women, taking into account that the candidate might be attracted to his personality and appearance (good-looking, intelligent, kind). Additionally, women tend to vote more often, which is another reason for targeting the female population during the election process. The average age of the candidate’s voter is 30-35, as he supports education and enhances the economy. Therefore, the three addressed issues must be about matters for which the audience cares: immigration, education, and healthcare. Respectively, the targeted groups should be women, young professionals with higher education, and big-city residents, as they are concerned with the problems mentioned above.

Campaign Resources

The campaign resources (especially money and time) must specifically be focused on the targeted audience, possible voters. Consequently, the candidate must deliver speeches and publicly appear at places, which his supporters might visit. In Mr. Jackson’s case, it might be universities, educational, and charity events. His audience would cheer for the candidate as he is respected in such places due to his efforts in the spheres of healthcare and education. As the politician has been working on improving healthcare, visits to some medical institutions could also be considered. Due to the young age of his supporters, the candidate needs to be active on popular social media among young generations (Denton, Trent, & Friedenberg, 2019). In terms of financial capacity, Mr. Jackson obtains enough funds for quality advertisement on all the platforms, including social networking sites.

Conclusion

All in all, this assignment provided a concise election campaign plan for John Jackson, a white incumbent officeholder representing the Democratic Party in Texas. It is important to remember that any plan will be as effective during its successful execution. Hence, the above-mentioned strategies, messages, and resources must adapt to constantly changing circumstances; however, they should be measured during prior research.

References

Burton, M., Miller, W. J., & Shea, D. M. (2015). Campaign craft: the strategies, tactics, and art of political campaign management (5^th ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Denton Jr, R. E., Trent, J. S., & Friedenberg, R. V. (2019). Political campaign communication: Principles and practices (9^th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Newell, C., & Prindle, D.F., & Riddlesberg, J.W., Jr. (2016). Texas Politics (13^th edition). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.