Who or What Determines Candidate Viability?
Is there one checklist to use to determine candidate viability? Who are the decision makers in this process? Candidate viability changes, ebbs and flows, depending on a myriad of factors from popularity to money. Joy brings her guests political strategists Rebecca Katz and Jessica Byrd to the front of the class to discuss the ever changing criteria of the abstract phenomena of candidate viability.
Our Guests:
Rebecca Katz (@RebeccaKKatz) is a progressive communications consultant and founder of New Deal Strategies created to help lift up the voices of women, people of color, the working class, and the LGBTQ community.
Jessica Byrd (@JessicaLBYRD) is the former chief of staff to Stacey Abrams campaign for governor and the founder of Three Points Strategies created to work at the intersection of electoral politics and social justice with candidates and organizations across the country seeking electoral power for transformative change.
Reading List:
Learn more about candidate viability and how you can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of candidates with this reading list.
How to Judge a Candidate - League of Women Voters
Just What Makes A Presidential Candidate Viable? - Independent Voter Network
Re-engineering politicians: How activist groups choose our candidates—long before we vote - Brookings Institute
The Psychology of Electability - New Yorker
Electability: What Is It? Who Defines It? - WGBH
What Does It Mean To Be Electable? - Dictionary.com