Primaries

Primaries are intra-party competitions — you beat other members of your own party for the nomination slot. They're decided by a primary score (not votes), and they close at primaryEndTime. Miss the window, wait a full cycle.

This page covers declaration mechanics, scoring, NPP dynamics, and tactics. For the overall election structure see Election Mechanics.

Declaration Window

• The primary phase opens when a new election cycle spawns.
• The window closes at primaryEndTime. For a US House race that's 24 hours after spawn; for a Senate race it's 48 hours.
• You can only declare during this window. After primaryEndTime passes, the primary resolves and no new candidacies are accepted.
• Party membership is required at the moment of declaration. Joining a party between spawn and the primary window closing is fine.
• One race at a time. Active candidacy blocks a new declaration. Withdraw first, then re-enter.

If you're switching parties, a prior candidacy in a different party is auto-withdrawn when you declare under the new party — no manual cleanup needed.

The Standard Primary Score (State Races)

Scores go 0 to 100. Three buckets:

Reading the formula

• Alignment. Each Manhattan-distance point from the party's official economic/social position costs you 2 alignment points. A perfect match (0 distance) scores 40; a moderate drift (4 points of distance) scores 32; a full ideological split (20 points of distance) scores 0.
• Favorability. Linear. 50 Favorability = 17.5 pts; 80 Favorability = 28 pts.
• Influence. normalizeNPI is a diminishing curve. PI=100 scores ~25 (the effective cap for state races); PI=50 scores ~17; PI=20 scores ~9.

Highest score per party advances to the general. Other candidates in that party's primary are marked withdrawn.

The Presidential Primary Score

Presidential primaries reward national reach and party infrastructure more than state-level campaigning:

Presidential contenders live or die on NPI and party-org investment in their home state. A candidate with low NPI but high state PI can win state races but loses presidential primaries.

NPP Primary Candidates

NPPs (Non-Player Politicians) autonomously enter primaries. They're competent but not infallible:

• 50% primary-score penalty when a player is in the same party's primary. A raw 60-point NPP effectively scores 30 against you.
• NPPs pick the least-crowded eligible race in their state. If you're the only player in a primary, other NPPs may pile in; if multiple players are in the race, NPPs spread out.
• Entry chance — 92% for empty races; 55% base for races with NPPs (decayed by 0.6× per existing NPP, hard cap 6 per race).
• Dropout — Each turn, NPPs in a primary run the appeal formula against the state. If their appeal drops below 10 (out of a max ~50), they withdraw immediately. Dropout runs before new entries each turn.

How NPPs shape your primary

• Expect 1–4 NPPs per primary. A player-less seat tends to attract more NPPs.
• NPPs are beaten by alignment and favorability. The 50% penalty means a player sitting at alignment 35 + favorability 25 + influence 15 (= 75) beats a raw-80 NPP scoring an effective 40.
• You cannot Attack NPPs into withdrawal reliably. Attacks reduce Favorability marginally; the NPP dropout threshold is low. Your best counter is out-scoring them, not out-attacking.

Tactics During Primary

1. Run a Quick Poll before declaring. 2 actions + $25k. Shows your topline appeal and the 5 best/worst groups. Use it to decide whether this is your race.
2. Alignment first. If your policy positions are more than ~6 Manhattan-distance points from your party's official position, reconsider. Check the party page — the official platformEcon and platformSocial are visible there.
3. Don't attack fellow party members. Attacks cost you 2 Infamy each and reduce your own primary-score Favorability bucket. If someone else wins the primary, you want them at full strength going into the general.
4. Pump Political Influence. Campaign 6–10 actions/day in-state. PI compounds over the primary window because decay (0.75%/turn) is much slower than Campaign's +1% per action.
5. Request NPP endorsements. Each success lifts your appeal across a demographic. 5 actions + 40% base success. Only endorse from NPPs whose party matches yours or who are independent; opposition-party NPPs won't endorse you even if alignment is close.
6. Don't sleep on Favorability. 35 points of the score live here. Going into primary with Favorability 80 is worth 28 pts vs. 17 at Favorability 50 — an 11-point swing.

Withdrawal During Primary

Allowed but typically a mistake:

• Withdrawal marks your candidacy withdrawn — you cannot re-enter.
• The only legitimate reason to withdraw mid-primary is pivoting to a different office you prefer, before that election's primary window closes.
• If you're losing the primary but want to keep your option open, don't withdraw — just lose. Your PI, Favorability, and donor base persist for the next cycle.

After Primary Resolution

When primaryEndTime passes:

1. resolvePrimariesIfNeeded runs in the turn processor.
2. Each party's candidates are scored; the highest advances.
3. Losers receive a notification and are marked withdrawn.
4. The winner's candidacy status transitions to generalActive.
5. A general-phase vote tally is initialized for the election.

Common Primary Mistakes

• Declaring without a poll. You walk in blind. Always commission a Quick Poll first.
• Entering a crowded primary where you're 4th in alignment. You'll lose; save your actions for a next-cycle race where you're first or second.
• Attacking primary rivals. Infamy costs and Favorability drain. Net negative.
• Skipping Party Influence investment pre-primary. The party bonus actions you miss out on could have funded another 2–3 Campaign actions per day.
• Underestimating NPP density in unsexy races. State Senate primaries in rural states can have 5+ NPPs all scoring 50. A halfway-competent player wins, but you need the 50% penalty working — don't be surprised if a player-less seat gets fully NPP'd.

Related

• Election Mechanics — Full election structure.
• General Elections — What happens after you win the primary.
• Primary vs General Tactics — Pivoting once the general starts.
• NPP Opponents — Strategies for competing against autonomous candidates.
• Parties — Party platform positions, how to see them.
• Polling — Quick and Full poll details.