Creating a Crisis Response Plan for Your Political Campaign - National Democratic Training Committee

Creating a Crisis Response Plan for Your Political Campaign

By Morgan Harris
45 min
Messaging & Communications

What You’ll Learn

  • How to define types of campaign crises
  • How to introduce best practices for addressing campaign crises
  • How to explain how to identify and respond to campaign crises
  • How to determine how to monitor your response

Why This is Important

For a campaign to create and release a successful crisis response, there must be a plan to handle breaking news, tackle attacks on the candidate, and seize unforeseen opportunities to steady the campaign and find solid footing. In this course, you’ll learn how to identify a crisis and successfully execute a crisis response plan.

Key Resources

  • NDTC Campaign Crisis Response Resource
  • Campaign Crisis Response Plan Example

Related Trainings

  • Communications: What’s My Job? — This course is a basic introduction to the world of campaign communications, orienting anyone into the field as a whole before exploring some of the specific roles of communications staffers
  • Political Campaign Messaging Basics — In this course, you’ll learn how to use your vote goal to target specific voters and root your message in your candidate’s story
  • Campaign Communications and the Media — This course defines the relationship between a campaign and the media, and outlines your role as a communications staffer who cultivates and maintains media relationships to keep your campaign in the spotlight

Morgan Harris

Trainer

Morgan Harris is founder and managing partner of Acacia Consulting Group. He has served as a communications consultant for campaigns of all sizes, including gubernatorial, congressional, state legislature, mayoral, and city council races. An expert in message strategy and delivery, he has more than 20 years of experience in public relations and marketing, handling clients including Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, IFC Films, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, IFC Films, and Cirque du Soleil. Morgan lives in Chicago with his cats and his Netflix account.