Election season is coming to a close and campaign staffers are about to collect their last paychecks.
Now the biennial mad dash is on for former campaign workers to find a new gig. New data from Revelio Labs sheds some light on the churn that happens when elections end and governing begins.
The report from the workplace intelligence firm, first shared with Hotline, found that campaign jobs are very short term and are often held by college students. The study said that the median staffer stays on a campaign for about seven months on average and “14% on winning campaigns got a Hill job within a year, versus 3% on losing ones.” The study found that “Republican campaigns hire more current students, while Democratic campaigns hire more recent grads.” About 30% of GOP campaign staffers are college students compared to 21% for Democrats.
“[Campaign jobs] may be more of a credential than it is a career,” researcher Caelan Wilkie-Rogers told Hotline.
The two parties are pulling from two different worlds. The top schools for Democratic staff are George Washington University, the University of Michigan, American University, the University of Wisconsin, and UT Austin. For Republican staff, it’s Arizona State University, University of South Carolina, the University of Georgia, Liberty University, and Ohio State University. At the top end, Democratic staff are more likely (22%) to go to an Ivy League or other elite private university than Republicans (9%).
With a potentially large field of candidates on both sides of the aisle ahead of 2028, politicos are scrambling to secure coveted jobs on a presidential campaign. The best indicator of success might be experience in a winning Senate campaign the prior cycle.
“If you worked on a Senate campaign, you’re twice as likely to work on a presidential campaign compared to working on a House campaign,” Wilkie-Rogers said.
With plenty of Democrats winning Senate races this year, the 2028 field should not be lacking for staffers’ resumes.
— Kirk A. Bado
