Candidate

A candidate is the prospective recipient of an award or honor or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example,

• to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
• to receive membership in a group

The act of being a candidate in a race is called a candidacy

"Candidate" comes from the Latin word "candida" (white). In Ancient Rome, people running for political office would often wear togas chalked and bleached to be bright white at speeches, debates, conventions, and other public functions.