Why Winning Your State House Matters More Than Winning The White House

Every four years, patriots lose their minds over the presidential race. We spend millions of dollars, thousands of hours, and all our emotional energy on one election. Then the day after, we go quiet. We wait for the next presidential cycle to care again.

That’s backwards, everyone does it, and it’s a fundamental part of why we keep losing ground even when we win the big races.

But that’s the bad news. Here’s the good news — there is a simple solution.

It’s going to take a lot of work, but the model works and it’s the key to changing course to put America First policies back at the forefront of our legislative agenda.

I’d love to claim that I’m some kind of political genius who came up with this model, but the truth is I picked a lot of it up from the Democrats, who unfortunately, have mastered it a long time ago and have been using it to beat us where it matters for decades. I’ve also developed a lot of my own strategies though my front lines work with Citizens Alliance.

You don’t need to be a genius to notice patterns while knocking on more than nine million doors and helping win over 400 elections nationwide.

I wrote about all of this in my book, Run Right. And if there’s one lesson I want every patriot to walk away with, it’s this: the local races matter more than the national ones.

Not just a little more — a lot more!

The Left Doesn’t Wait For Presidential Years

Here’s something the left figured out a long time ago. They don’t build their movement every four years. They build it consistently every single day — especially in the quiet times when no one is paying attention.

While we’re arguing on social media about the next presidential primary, the left is recruiting candidates for school boards, city councils, county offices and state houses. They’re training organizers. They’re building lists. They’re showing up to boring local meetings that most of us skip.

They’re working to take control of offices at all levels of government in hometowns all across America.

Think about the structure here. School boards and city councils decide what your kids learn and how your town spends its money. County offices control law enforcement funding and local rules. State legislatures write the election laws, draw the district maps, and set your taxes. Congress sits on top of all of it, but it’s downstream of everything below it.

If we only show up for the big elections, we’re always playing defense somewhere else. On top of that, without control of the various levers in local government, Republicans in congress, senate and the presidency have far less power than most people realize.

Local Offices Touch Your Life Every Single Day

Let’s be honest about something — most people will never talk to their senator. They’ll never get a call back from their representatives in Congress. But your city council member might live three streets over. Your school board member might shop at the same grocery store you do.

That’s what makes local government different. It’s close. It’s accountable.

If a city council votes for a bad zoning change or a school board pushes a curriculum parents hate, people show up and let them hear about it. Try doing that with a senator in Washington.

Local officials can’t hide behind layers of staff and press releases. They answer to you directly, because you might be sitting three rows behind them at the next meeting. That kind of accountability is rare in politics today, and patriots need to use it to our advantage.

Local Races Are Winnable Races

Here’s the part nobody tells first-time candidates — national races take millions of dollars and years of name recognition.

Most regular people will never run for Congress, and that’s fine. But a city council seat, a school board seat, a county commission seat, or a state house? Those are within reach for a normal person with grit and a plan.

Smaller districts mean fewer voters to talk to. That means you don’t need a massive war chest to compete. You need a good message, a list of doors to knock, and the willingness to actually knock them and engage with voters.

Is the current officeholder invisible? Do they skip the tough meetings? Have they voted for things that make no sense for the district, like tax hikes or bad school policy? Are local meetings suddenly packed with angry parents and residents? Those are all signs that a seat is winnable, and most of the time nobody’s paying attention.

A Simple Path To Getting Started

You don’t need a political science degree to run for local office. Here’s the short version of what I lay out in Run Right, scaled down for a local race.

Start by looking at how your district voted in the last few elections. Did Republicans ever win here? By how much? That tells you if the race is realistic.

Figure out your why.

Why do you want this seat, and what will you actually do with it? Keep that message simple and local. Nobody wants a national talking point at a school board meeting.

Find a handful of people who’ll help you before you even file to run. You don’t need a huge team. You need a few people who care as much as you do. This gives you the support you’ll need, but it also creates social proof, which is critical.

And then knock on doors. This is the one tactic that wins small races every time. National campaigns can hide behind TV ads. Local candidates win because they show up at the door and talk to real people.

Build A Bench, Not A Savior

Patriots love to ask, “Who’s our next great presidential candidate?” That’s the wrong question. The right question is, “Are we recruiting local America First candidates?”

We need a deep bench.

Local candidates today become state candidates tomorrow and national leaders down the road. That’s how the left built its power, one quiet year at a time, all while we were busy arguing online.

Start Where You Can Actually Win, And Then Stack The Wins

The presidency sits at the top of a pyramid.

But the base of that pyramid is made up of school boards, city councils, county seats and state houses. If we don’t win there, nothing above it holds up for long.

So here’s my ask:

Stop waiting for the next big national race to get involved. Look at your own school board, your own city council, your own county commission, and your own state house. Find the seat that’s winnable. Recruit the candidate, or better yet, be the candidate.

That’s how we win 2026. And it’s how we keep winning long after that.

Cliff Maloney is the CEO of Citizens Alliance and the author of Run Right: A Complete Election Playbook to Win. You can follow him @maloney on X. 

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.