What It Means To Leave Candidate Work Behind

Some consultants may find themselves at a career crossroads before the end of the cycle.

In this metaphor, one path leads toward continued candidate work, which can sustain a career but has its drawbacks. Another path leads toward a roster of corporate and advocacy clients, which some practitioners say offer better work-life balance albeit without the sustained adrenaline rush of good candidate campaigns.

Even consultants at large shops are often precluded from doing both types of work because of potential conflicts between a candidate and corporate client’s position on a particular issue.

Liz Mair, who runs a self-named shop, recently chose to leave candidate work behind. But during an interview with C&E, she confessed: “I’ll totally cop to the getting pangs.”

That’s not uncommon among practitioners who have made the leap, Mair explained. 

“I think that there are always a couple weeks out of every year when someone who has come out of campaign world feels this strong desire to jump back into it.”

Part of the reason consultants want to get back into candidate work is the lure of the spotlight, she said.

“For a lot of people who have made that jump, when they get into doing advocacy and working more for corporate clients or trade associations, or private donors, one of the requests that typically comes with it, is that you keep a lower profile. So one of the things I think people miss is the popularity and the interest that people have in them.”

Still, keeping a low-profile isn’t a universal requirement for corporate work. Mair has maintained her opinionated social media presence — something that actually got in the way of her candidate work. “I still do a lot of tweeting. It’s not really aimed at advancing the interests of my clients,” she said. “It’s just me being me.”

Part of the reason why Mair made the switch was personal. “I’m a mother now,” she said. “There’s a certain point where some campaign work just becomes hard to manage.

“If need to go watch swim class, I can go watch swim class. There’s no risk that I’m going to have somebody who’s running for U.S. Senate in Arkansas calling me having a freakout because somebody said something mean to his wife and she’s terribly upset about blah, blah, blah and, what can we do to punch back?”

Brian Jodice wasn’t feeling the same fatigue with client personality management when he made the switch from Beltway media consultant to heading an education advocacy group in North Carolina. “A win on election night is hard to beat,” he said.

Missing the action, this cycle he’s been scrolling through Twitter, and came close to offering “hot takes” on campaign ads. Then he pulls back. “I’m now an ‘outsider’ looking in,” he said.

Still, the move and the career switch has given him more time with his family.  

“My work/life balance is better, no doubt, but I’m not sure it’s 100 percent because of my transition from a political media firm to an advocacy organization, as a one versus the other situation,” he said.

“I leveraged that transition as a chance to hit a reset button and finally adopt stronger purpose-driven life and work strategies that I had seen, but failed to implement, from my former boss Phillip Stutts (CEO of Go BIG Media).”

While advocacy and corporate work generally pays better, it often fails to foster the deep bonds that can come from working on a competitive race. JR Starrett, who managed campaigns before settling into an advocacy role in San Francisco, recalled a particularly strong bond with one candidate.

“Nothing really compares to the quirkiness and familiarity you are exposed to on a candidate campaign,” said Starrett. “When I was just engaged to my wife, a candidate who I was working with tried to sell me on having him serve as the wedding official.”

Working on ballot initiatives or corporate advocacy efforts often means interacting with a larger team, he added. “But a ballot label or special interest group is never going to ask to preside over your wedding.”