The Pledge of Positive Campaigning

 
I, _________________________________ (print legal name), am a resident of the City or Town of _____________________ in the County of _______________________ in the State of _____________________ , who is running for _______________________ (print political office sought, such as President, U. S. Senator, U. S. House, Governor, State Senator, State House Representative, Mayor, etc.). If applicable, the District I seek to represent is ___________________________________ (print U. S. Congressional District #, State Senate District #, State House District #, etc.). I am running for the _____________ (print primary, general, or special) election to be held on ____________ (print date).

I hereby openly and voluntarily declare and pledge: (1) to all the voters in the upcoming election for the office I seek, (2) to all of my potential future constituents, and (3) to all citizens that I will to the best of my ability, honor and keep all the following commitments during this political campaign:

1. I pledge to run a positive political campaign;

2. I pledge to direct all my paid and unpaid volunteer campaign managers, consultants, ad developers, pollsters, workers, and supporters to run and to participate in a positive political campaign;

3. I pledge to not attack or condemn my opponent’s personal character or reputation, during any media appearance or campaign interview, or in any broadcast, print, digital, or Internet formats;

4. I pledge to not distort my opponent’s record or positions, or take his voting records or positions out of context;

5. If third parties, who support my candidacy for office, freely and independently, choose to do negative campaigning, I pledge to publicly ask citizens and voters to turn off the TV ads, or turn off the radio ads, or toss the campaign literature, or click away from any Internet messages that are clearly negative and that clearly violate my intention to run a positive political campaign.

I hereby openly and voluntarily declare and pledge: (1) to all the voters in the upcoming election for the office I seek, (2) to all of my potential future constituents, and (3) to all citizens, if I fail to honor and keep all the above commitments, I expect voters to elect someone else to the above office.

I plan to publicly announce that I have signed this Pledge of Positive Campaigning. Furthermore, I plan to prominently display this Pledge of Positive Campaigning on my political campaign’s website and mention it in my political campaign literature.

_______________________________________(signature and print date)
Political Candidate                                          Date

Subscribed and affirmed, or sworn to before me in the County of
________________________________ , State of _____________ ,
this ____ day of __________________ (print month and year),
by the Political Candidate.

My Commission Expires: ________________ (print date)
_______________________________________ (signature)
Notary Public

Place Notary Public Seal Above

Printable version

Copyright © 2014 by Gerard Francis Lameiro, Ph.D. Originally published in the book: Renewing America and Its Heritage of Freedom: What Freedom-Loving Americans Can Do to Help by Gerard Francis Lameiro, Ph.D. Permission is hereby granted by the author to print out and to copy this Pledge of Positive Campaigning form in its entirety, and without any additions, deletions, modifications, or changes whatsoever, and provided this entire copyright and permission notice is included in each and every copy as it appears on this form.