Candidate

Person contending in a contest for office. A candidate may be explicitly presented as one of the contest options or may be a write-in candidate.

Source: Election Terminology Glossary - Draft, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), https://pages.nist.gov/ElectionGlossary/; Glossary of terms database, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, https://www.eac.gov/glossary/