This article deals with the causes and sources of risks and crises in election campaigns. The author analyzes the internal and external risks of election campaigns, their types, the standard models of interaction between the employer, campaign manager and the team, and the particular features of political communication in the process of management decision-making in a developing crisis. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the competitive environment of the election campaign as the main source of risk and crisis situations. The article further describes the relationship of internal and external risk types in election campaigns — due to a number of objective and subjective factors of the electoral process — and the management of real election campaigns. The author presents a concept that reflects both current conditions and the possibility of preventing or limiting manifestations of crisis situations in election campaigns.