1. A person who seeks to run for a political office: The conservative candidate promised to eliminate high taxes while the liberal candidate said he would strive to eliminate unemployment.
2. Etymology: from Latin candidus, "white" and candidatus, "clothed in white" from the white togas, which were long, shining, white cloaks that were worn by Romans who were seeking political offices.

Although the word candidate refers to the purity of "white" there are too many who are or who become corrupted

When a man ran for public office in ancient Rome, he obtained a toga which was a long, shining, white cloak.

With this "shining white" outfit, the candidate stood out in a crowd and the people might have considered him to be associated with purity and goodness because of the symbolism of the garment.