["\n\nObjective\nTo test whether political activists who are arrested at a protest will subsequently be more or less able to successfully run for office.\n\n\nMethods\nWe use a conjoint survey experiment conducted on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. Participants are asked to choose between hypothetical candidates, with a protest arrest randomly added to the description of one candidate. We also vary the group that organized the protest, the demographics of the candidate, how much time has passed since the protest, and the seriousness of the arrest charge.\n\n\nResults\nWe find left‐leaning voters can see a protest arrest as an asset, if it occurred at a left‐wing protest. Right‐leaning voters are less tolerant of protest arrests though, especially if the candidate is black or if the protest was recent.\n\n\nConclusion\nWe conclude that activists with electoral ambitions should weigh the risks of arrest carefully, especially if they are black or will need to appeal to right‐leaning electorates.\n\n", "Social Science Quarterly, Volume 101, Issue 6, Page 2203-2219, October 2020. "]