AP® United States Government and Politics · Unit 5 · Topic 5.3
What Political Parties Actually Do
A political party's job is to win control of government by recruiting candidates, writing a platform, organizing officeholders once elected, and running campaigns under a shared label.
A party exists to win elections and then govern, so it does five things on purpose rather than waiting for politics to happen to it. It recruits and trains candidates, scouting people who can win rather than hoping someone files to run. It writes a platform, a statement of positions hammered out at a convention. It raises money and organizes campaigns, giving candidates staff, data, and strategy. It mobilizes voters, turning sympathizers into people who actually show up. And once candidates win, it organizes government: electing a Speaker of the House, assigning committee chairs and seats by party, and structuring debate so members can act together instead of as 435 individuals.
The platform is not just a press release. Convention delegates write it, and it carries into the next Congress because party leaders use committee assignments, bill scheduling, and whip counts to push members toward those stated priorities. A platform promising a tax cut or a healthcare expansion becomes real when the majority party controls which bills reach the floor and leans on members to vote with the caucus.
This is what separates a party from an interest group, even though both try to shape policy. A party fields its own candidates under its own label and tries to literally run the government by winning offices. An interest group, like a trade association or environmental group, never puts its own name on a ballot; it pressures whoever is already in office. That distinction connects directly to the next topic, how winner-take-all elections and the Electoral College lock the United States into a two-party system rather than the multi-party systems common elsewhere.
Key terms
- Platform
- A statement of a party's positions and goals, drafted and adopted by delegates at its national convention.
- Recruitment
- A party's practice of identifying and persuading strong candidates to run for office under its label.
- Party organization of the legislature
- The process by which the majority and minority parties elect leaders and assign committee seats to structure lawmaking.
- Whip count
- A party leader's tally of how members plan to vote, used to pressure members toward the party position.
- Interest group
- An organization that tries to influence policy without running its own candidates for office.
Watch it explained
- How it worksWalk me through a party's five jobs, from recruiting to writing a platform to running a campaign.
- How it worksHow does a party organize a legislature once its members are elected?
- How it worksHow does a platform written at a convention become a voting agenda in Congress?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a political party the same kind of organization as an interest group?
Check yourself
End of topic.