If folk at the Democratic National Committee are busy patting themselves on the back this morning, that would be a huge mistake.
As far as I can tell, the success by Democratic candidates in yesterday’s election were more in spite of the DNC and institutional politics than because of it. The victories seem largely due to local activism, intense dislike of Donald Trump (and any party associated with him) by the left and moderates, and a resulting larger turn-out.
This last is key. The DNC would do better pushing voter turn-out efforts [1] than creating political empires of business-acceptable mainstream candidates for a few headline-worthy seats. Returning to a fifty-state strategy, encouraging the grass roots, and getting people out to vote are the roads to success — as the GOP have demonstrated for themselves.
An additional road to success is tolerance level within the party. The candidate is a bit too leftist for you? The candidate is a bit too centrist for you? The candidate has some radical economic ideas? The candidate has some business ties? The candidate once said something that gives you heartburn? Suck it up, buttercup. There should be a lot of wiggle room there in comparison to the prospect of a conservative Republican or Trump supporter or GOP establishment pol. We’ve seen too many times over the last decade — especially last year — what happens when purity standards let the Republicans run the board. And that’s an area where the DNC as an organization has been at least as guilty as any part of the Dems further to the left.
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[1] As demonstrated by Republican efforts to suppress the Democratic vote, duh.
Originally shared by +John Hummel:
The take-aways from yesterday’s elections
It was largely a suburban rebellion, where more moderate voters rejected Mr. Trump and embraced Democrats.
Yo, DNC: Don’t make more of this than it is.
People are still deeply unhappy with the status quo: Rejecting trump is not the same as embracing other flavors of oligarch.
Key Takeaways From Tuesday’s Elections – The New York Times
A suburban rebellion against President Trump propelled Democrats to victory in races for governor, state legislature and mayor, in a series of elections.
And the DSA won a seat in the Virginia lege.
Clearly not good news for the DNC, but not necessarily good news for Democrats either.
In New Jersey, someone associated with a very unpopular governor was defeated. (I heard a good line during a radio discussion of the New Jersey election – whenever there's corruption, the incumbent party loses.)
And in Virginia, the Democratic candidate won despite several controversies. As the right-wing 🙂 Washington Post noted:
(1) "…the progressive group Democracy for America issued a blistering letter denouncing Northam as a racist for his sanctuary city switch and withdrawing its support for his campaign." (Howard Dean, who founded the group, ended up denouncing the group's denunciation of Northram.)
(2) Former Governor Douglas Wilder not only refused to endorse Northram (apparently displeased at the lack of support for the Lt. Governor candidate), but also revealed that he hasn't spoken to Northram in months.
I'm not sure what this means for the 2018 mid-terms, but at least the Democrats have a better chance than they would have had if they had LOST both elections.
And as for 2020, we still have to see whether the Democrats can come up with a winning Presidential candidate. And the DNC, "whether you like it or not" (I'm quoting Gavin Newsom here), will have a say in that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/wp/2017/11/03/ralph-northams-campaign-stumbles-toward-the-finish/?utm_term=.7587b371bb60
the reason I have my democratic representative is because he initially never got support from the party, won the primary (because he was proudly advocating historical democratic party ideals unlike the other two who were more dubya is bad vote for me. one of which had party backing), and beat the 10 year incumbent who was a part of the ways and means committee also without party backing. he won because he espoused democratic ideals not because he was a democrat caught up in the 2006 wave.
the party needs a good disinfecting and house cleaning. being more republican (ie third way) is not going to win you a lot of seats.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. Dems shouldn’t get cocky off a single election. There was a lesson about that during the Reagan years. I am a bit surprised the Douglas County school board ekection didn’t get national attention. Now the voucher folks will have to start over getting the SCOTUS seal of approval to fund private schools with public dollars.