The seat book
| Screen | The Seat Book |
|---|---|
| Where | Career Mode, from "The race →" on the campaign board |
| Levels | State lower house, state senate, US House, US Senate, Governor and President |
| Filters | Held by your side, Held by the other side, Close ground, Known less than you, Filing open |
| Detail | The ground and dates, the district's people, the current member, the player's own standing, the field so far, the door in, and the seat's history |
The Seat Book is the single screen used for every race in Career Mode. It lists the seats of the player's home state, level by level, showing who holds each seat and what kind of ground it represents. Clicking on a seat opens its detail, and the same screen holds the button used to file the player as a candidate.
The ladder
Five buttons choose which level of seats to view: the state's lower chamber, the state senate, the US House, the US Senate, and a combined Governor and President row. A state with only one legislative chamber has no lower-chamber button. Each seat is shown as a row giving the holding party, the seat's label, its current member, and the kind of ground it represents, described in words from safe territory for one party through to a swing seat and safe territory for the other. Each row also shows the next election in which a candidate can enter, and marks a seat that already has a contest under way, or that is the player's own race.
Five filters narrow the list: showing only seats held by the player's own side or only the other side, only competitive ground, only seats whose current holder is less strong than the player, or only seats where filing is currently open. The Governor and President row lists the governorship and the next presidential election, each showing its current holder and its filing status.
The seat detail
Clicking a seat opens a detailed view beneath the ladder. This gives the dates of the primary and the general election, and describes the district in several ways: the voters who live there and their share of the district, the number of voting-age citizens and their racial makeup, how the district splits between Democrats, Republicans and swing voters, and an estimate of its age range. For a US Senate seat, the state's overall makeup is shown instead of a single district's.
The view also shows the current member's full profile, including the party's own name for a seat held by a real historical figure, or a note that a new district has no member until the following November. If the player belongs to a major party, the view shows their own standing in the district: what share of that party's voters know the player's name and, once enough of them do, what share of those think well of the player. If a race for the seat is already under way, the candidates who have filed are listed by party.
The door
The button used to enter a race reads "File" once filing is open, giving the deadline, or "Announce" with the month filing opens if it has not opened yet. It disappears once the player already holds the seat, already has a live candidacy, or is not currently a private citizen, and where a chamber has been left closed to candidates it says so instead. Once filing has closed for a cycle, it names the next cycle the seat will be contested in. There is no other requirement, political or otherwise, that closes the door to a candidacy.
Below the door, the seat's history lists its past elections as the game reaches them, drawing on the real historical result where one exists and marking it accordingly, with the winner, the runner-up, and the vote share where known.
The race panel
While the player is in a race, a panel above the ladder shows the current phase, whether a party primary, an open ballot, a runoff or a general election, together with the office being contested. During a primary it shows each candidate's share of support as a percentage; during a general election it shows the standings coloured by party, with an Others row for the rest of the field; during a presidential primary it shows delegate counts, the size of the convention, and the delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Any candidate's name, including the player's own, can be clicked to see their profile. The panel also carries the latest headline from the race and, for a declared candidate, a button to end the campaign.
The calendar
The bottom of the screen lists the dates coming up: the next event in the player's own race, the congressional midterms, the presidential election, and the election for the state's governorship.