It’s about the money and the backers. If you don’t have your own money and don’t fall in line with the machine and get those big backers you are dead in the water. It’s a rough rough road to run a campaign even on a local level.

I’m in NJ and went through the process this summer. Feel free to DM me and I can give you some tips. Also you can just change the gender now before the name change is final. Double the work but worth it since his EO hasn’t taken effect yet.