Our democracy depends upon citizens deeply engaging in the democratic process and choosing to lead by running for office.

Today, 40% of state legislature races go uncontested and the problem is worse at the local level. There is a crisis of leadership occurring in our democracy. We need more people to lead. We need more people to run for office.

Run for Office is a free service that provides all the tools you need to launch a successful campaign whether you are a seasoned veteran or first-time campaigner. Run for Office allows you to:

  1. Find the office you want to run for.
  2. Get the information you need to appear on the ballot.
  3. Learn how to run for office.
  4. Get a free voter file.
  5. Launch your campaign.

Don’t see data for your town yet?

Run for Office aims to have data about all elected offices. We began with the United States and we aim to release data for all elected positions across the country in advance of the upcoming 2020 elections—putting candidacy information at the fingertips of 120 million people.

Who’s behind it?

The project, originally named BallotPath, was started by Jim Cupples. After many attempts to scale BallotPath with other partners, Cupples met Jim Gilliam, Founder and Executive Chairman of NationBuilder. NationBuilder’s software and free, open voter file lowers the barriers to running for office. Gilliam saw BallotPath as another important component of that mission. By providing readily-available information about where and how to run for office across the country, BallotPath opens the democratic process to more people. NationBuilder agreed to fund the project, and RunforOffice.org was born.