Career starts

The start screen is the point of entry to Career Mode. It asks the player to make six choices, in this order: the pace, the world, a template, the type of start, the starting year, and the state. A Continue button then opens the character builder, described at The character sheet. The screen also carries a beta notice, stating that Career Mode is new, unbalanced, and has only been lightly played so far.

The starts

Two of the seven playable starts place the player at a desk from the very first month, four place the player in an elected seat, and one begins with no office and no name.

• Governor. The player takes charge of a state's governor's mansion, dealing with the legislature, the state budget, and any disasters that occur. California is currently the only state with its own scripted governor events.
• Outside Politics. The player begins as a private citizen of their home state, holding no office, no public name, and no donors.
• President. The player begins in the White House from the first morning, with a Cabinet still to be built and a Congress still to be worked with, and plays the separate presidency game from that point.
• State Assembly. The player begins holding one seat in the lower house of the state legislature.
• State Senate. The player begins holding one seat in the upper house of the state legislature.
• US House. The player begins representing a congressional district, on a two-year election cycle.
• US Senate. The player begins holding one of the state's two US Senate seats.
• Party Official. This option is greyed out and cannot be chosen yet; its tile states only that it is coming later.

Each seat-based start places the player in the first seat that their chosen party already holds.

The year

A career can start in any year from 1990 to 2025, subject to a few limits. A presidential start can only begin on an inauguration year, and choosing it in another year moves the selection forward to the next one. A start in a state legislature needs a state whose legislature the game can actually populate that far back; for some states this pushes the earliest available year later than 1990. North Carolina, for example, cannot be started before 2003. The year chosen also decides which era's cast of voters the career begins with: see Era shifting.

The state and templates

A single grid lists every available state, except Nebraska and New Hampshire, which are excluded entirely. Selecting California, New York or Florida adds a short description beneath the grid.

The Templates row offers a Custom start, which lets the player build the whole character by hand, alongside eight ready-made options. Three are based on real people and carry that person's name, party and profile; the other five are archetypes with a character sheet but no named person attached. Each template also carries a difficulty label, unrelated to the separate Difficulty dial:

• Gavin Newsom (Easy): Governor of California, January 2019.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (Medium): Governor of California, January 2004.
• Barack Obama (Easy): President of the United States, January 2009.
• The celebrity outsider (Easy): a cable host in New York, 2015.
• The business mogul (Medium): a corporate board seat in Florida, 2021.
• The freshman senator (Medium): the US Senate for Pennsylvania, 2007.
• The party activist (Hard): a precinct volunteer in Ohio, 2009.
• The unknown (Hardest): out of work in Texas, 1995.

Switching to a Custom start or to an archetype template afterward clears any real person's name attached to the previous choice.

Real and Arcade

The player chooses between Real, described in the game as the long game, and Arcade, described as the quick one, and this choice is saved with the career. Both play the same underlying game, but in Arcade mode gains in recognition and favourability land harder, and decay outside office happens more slowly, than in Real mode. This is described in more detail at Recognition and favourability.

Historical and Sandbox

The World row offers two choices, and the choice is saved with the career. Historical is described on the screen as "The world follows history." In a Historical career, the elections the player does not take part in follow the real results up to and including 2024, and from January 2025 the game world decides them itself. Sandbox is described as "The world can leave it." In a Sandbox career, the game world decides every election the player is not part of from the first month, so the presidency, Congress and the home state's government can take a different course from real history. See Races and primaries.

Into the builder and access

The character builder that follows is the same character screen used in the presidency game, adapted to Career Mode: it does not offer the president templates or the Electoral College mandate option, and Independent is not offered as a party. Career Mode requires a premium account, and a career started on a free account stops after twelve months.