Campaign Slogans


At CandidateSigns.com, our political consultants and campaign signs designers generally suggest keeping campaign slogans off yard signs, unless the slogan helps voters remember the name of the candidate or the central message of the campaign.  Campaign slogans are more common in those races where candidates already have high name recognition, when signs are used more frequently to demonstrate momentum.

In an Alabama U.S. Senate race, for example, a candidate wanted to contrast his home-state roots with the fact his opponent recently moved to the state.  He used the campaign slogan, “ Alabama First.”  

In Nebraska, U.S. Senator Nelson has high positive name recognition from two terms as governor and two terms as Senator.  A Democrat who wins in a very red state, Nelson’ s campaign signs simply say: “ Ben Nelson. Solid as Nebraska.”

You don’ t want to try that technique if you’ re making your first bid for elective office, or if you are running for a less visible position like City Council or School Board.

By the way, Dictionary.com tells us that the word Slogan comes from slaugh-ghairm, which is Gaelic for “ battle cry.”

Sometimes it’ s fun to review campaign slogans from past campaigns.  How many of these can you identify?  Try to match these slogans with the presidential candidate.

A.              A Chicken in Every Pot 1.              Woodrow Wilson, 1916
B.              Peace and Prosperity 2.              John F. Kennedy, 1960
C.              Vote as You Shot 3.              Barry Goldwater, 1964
D.              A Time for Greatness 4.              Warren Harding, 1920
E.              It’ s Time to Change America 5.              Dwight Eisenhower, 1956
F.              In Your Heart, You Know He’ s Right 6.              Herbert Hoover, 1928
G.              He Kept Us Out of War 7.              Bill Clinton, 1992
H.              Return to Normalcy 8.              Ulysses S. Grant, 1868

(Answers: A-6, B-5, C-8, D-2, E-7, F-3, G-1, H-4)

Here’ s a sample list of campaign slogans used by some of the candidates we’ ve worked with over the years:

Neighborhoods First    (city council)
Nobody’ s Done More.  Nobody Cares More.  (governor)
Take Back America    (presidential)
She Wins, We Win.    (state legislature)
Most Qualified    (county assessor)
A Fresh Start          (scores of first-time candidates seeking to oust an incumbent)
A New Voice                          (see previous entry)
Tomorrow’ s Looking Great    (a young candidate for state legislature)
Keeping the Public in Public Power    (public utilities board member)
Experienced Leadership (mayor)
Your Efficient Clerk  (county clerk)
A New Brand of Politics  (Congress)
Put Experience on Our Side (Congress)
A New Vision for Orange County (county supervisor)
Integrity Counts  (treasurer)


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