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By Brett Dinkins, Victory Enterprises

The holidays are one of the most overlooked opportunities in campaigning. Voters are home, community events are plentiful, and your opponents often go quiet — which means smart candidates can quietly build momentum while everyone else is distracted. These weeks set the tone for the first quarter of the year and can determine whether your campaign starts on offense or plays catch-up.

Here are ten practical, high-impact ways candidates can get ahead during the holiday season:

1. Show Up to Every Community Event You Can

Christmas parades, tree-lighting ceremonies, holiday craft fairs, church programs, Rotary parties, charity drives this time of year is filled with organic voter contact opportunities. You don’t have to give a speech. Just show up, shake hands, and be present. Voters remember the candidate who bothered to be part of the community when nothing was on the ballot.

2. Strengthen Your Campaign’s Core Infrastructure

Campaigns are built, not born. And during the holidays, most candidates aren’t doing the behind-the-scenes work that wins races.

Use December to:

  • Update your precinct targeting list
  • Clean up your voter file
  • Organize your volunteer database
  • Build or refine your finance committee
  • Reconfirm your “kitchen cabinet” advisors

Strong infrastructure now prevents panic later.

3. Build or Refresh Your Master Email List

Pull together:

  • Past supporters
  • Family and friends
  • Christmas card lists
  • Church directories
  • Civic club contacts
  • People who gave you their business card this year

Audit your list, remove duplicates, correct emails, and load everything into one usable system. This will pay dividends the moment you start raising money and scheduling campaign events.

4. Send Every Thank-You Card You Owe

Thank-you notes are one of the most underrated tools in politics. Whether someone donated, hosted an event, gave you advice, or simply showed support you should close the year by personally thanking them. Handwritten is best.

A grateful candidate is a supported candidate.

5. Mail a Christmas Card to Your Entire Network

Holiday cards are an easy, warm, non-political way to remind people you exist.

Send cards to:

  • Family and friends
  • Past supporters
  • Community leaders
  • Local elected officials
  • Volunteers
  • Anyone you hope will endorse, donate, or help later

Include a family photo if possible. Voters want to feel like they know who they are voting for.

6. Update and Organize Your Campaign Photos

Use time off work to:

  • Gather and organize archive photos that showcase your family, career, and community involvement
  • Have professional family photos and headshots taken
  • Label photos by theme (family, community, agriculture, police, etc.)

These will save you time and money once your full voter outreach program begins.

7. Clean Up Your Digital Presence

The holidays are a great moment to quietly analyze:

  • Your campaign website
  • Your Facebook page
  • Instagram and Twitter/X accounts
  • Your profile photos
  • Your biography and issue statements

Make sure everything looks current, clean, and intentional before the new year.

8. Solidify Your Fundraising Plan for Q1

Q1 is one of the most important fundraising windows of the entire cycle.

Use December to:

  • Outline your January–March fundraising goals
  • Schedule call time
  • Confirm host committees for your first event
  • Prepare lists for “friends & family” letters
  • Build an outreach list of potential donors.

If you wait until January to start planning, you’re already behind.

9. Make Your Volunteer Recruitment Plan Now

January and February are prime months for finding volunteers.

Use downtime now to:

  • Identify potential county/town chairs
  • Build lists of people active in churches, civic clubs, advocacy groups
  • Assign early leadership roles (yard sign chair, event chair, coalition chair)

When campaigns start calling for volunteers in spring, you’ll already have a structure.

10. Rest, Recharge, and Recenter Your Message

The holidays are also a time to step back and reflect:

  • Why are you running?
  • What will success look like?
  • What weaknesses do you need to correct?
  • What strengths should you double-down on?

A clear-minded candidate is a stronger candidate.