Ah, yes. The loss last night in Virginia is progressives’ fault. So say anonymous (likely centrist) Democrats Axios found (emphasis mine):
- A senior aide to a New Jersey Democrat told Axios’ Alayna Treene it’s “insanely clear” the party must reorient “not on center-left or progressive goals,” but on “what gets real things done for families.”
- A senior aide to another House Democratic moderate told Axios’ Hans Nichols that “it’s clear that passing a historic bipartisan infrastructure deal months ago would have energized President Biden’s numbers,” and that House progressives who stalled that vote had hurt McAuliffe.
Hmm? What’s unreal about childcare, expanded Medicare benefits, and lower drug prices? Don’t think about that too hard. It’s not supposed to make sense.
Think instead on this:
What are we going to do about that? Better messaging is not enough in places such as Wise County or Washington County. Democrats cannot compete if they don’t show up. The goal is not to win there but to shave Republican margins. But that’s not how statewide Democratic candidates run their campaigns. They focus money and resources where they can get the most bang for the buck: in large cities. Meanwhile, Democrats lost the House of Delegates where candidates are elected in local districts.
Those of you struggling in rural, red areas might want to join a national strategy Zoom conference on Saturday hosted by Iowan and former congressional candidate J.D. Scholten of RuralVote.org.
I’ve already spotlighted a local North Carolina organizer who chalked up wins in her rural county by energizing local Democrats. (Anderson Clayton tells me she’ll be speaking on Saturday.)
But here is another article highlighting rural efforts to shave those margins in Lyon County (pop. 25k) in southwest Minnesota. They were following advice in Jane Kleeb’s “Harvest the Vote: How Democrats Can Win Again in Rural America.” Kleeb is the Democratic chair in Nebraska and a Bernie Sanders ally.
They pitched their pop-ups at festivals, fairs and lawns all summer. Admittedly with mixed results. From Minnesota Reformer:
“Where’s your All Lives Matter sign?” one man sneered as he walked by. Another woman paused and asked, “Can I ask you a question? Don’t all lives matter?”
Admittedly, we were not always successful in employing Kleeb’s strategies. Sometimes we couldn’t help ourselves and clapped back, “Until Black lives matter, no lives matter.”
At other times, the hostility of the conversation derailed the attempt to stick to our playbook. One visitor, upset about the idea of forgiving student loan debt, started knocking over items on our display table. Although the elderly couple staffing the tent tried to share their story by telling the man about their daughter’s experience with crippling student debt, his in-your-face intensity and physical aggression put them on the defensive.
When he then tried to bring up his objections to Black Lives Matter, the couple simply responded, “Don’t think we’re going to agree on that one” and thanked him for stopping by. Sometimes the best strategy is just to end the conversation when it’s clear no common ground can be reached.
But we listened, and at times we did find common ground. When one man complained of “all the killings” happening, we guided the conversation towards the problem of gun violence and the need to reinstate a ban on assault weapons. Turns out he agreed with that — common ground found!
After engaging another man in a conversation about rising gas prices — which he initially blamed on Democrats and the Biden administration — he left with a parting handshake.
Yes, there were a few successes like this. But the greatest success was not these few instances of finding common ground, but the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from so many.
The positive gestures and comments outnumbered the negative ones by a wide margin. For every negative gesture, there were ten positive: Friendly honks, waves, smiles and furtive thumbs-up signs from passersby. Sometimes they came from unexpected sources, like the big, friendly wave from the man driving a giant tractor flying the U.S. flag.
For every insult, there were ten positive comments, people who cheered and yelled, “I love you guys!” or “Those are our people!” or “Go Dems!” as we walked through parades. People came up to our tent and said, “Happy to see you here,” or just a quiet “Yes” as they walked by.
But the most frequent comment: Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for being here.
There are Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters out there. But they are demoralized and sometimes in hiding. They think they are alone. Democrats have to show up and show them they are not if they expect them to turn out and challenge the conservative majority.
In addressing use of yard signs in my webinars (yes, we all hate them), I mention two ways in which they can be useful.
Women in Georgia’s 6th District found out in the spring of 2017, seeing Jon OSSOFF signs in their red neighborhoods gave them a sense of empowerment and solidarity, and helped get them out their front doors and knocking on their neighbors’.
Doug Jones’ 2017 Senate campaign in Alabama insisted anyone who wanted a sign had to provide their name, address, phone number and email. They gave strict orders that signs go in their front yards and nowhere else. Their strategy was to give Republican neighbors who hadn’t voted for a Democrat in decades … the permission to. It may have worked.
Howard Dean’s 50-state plan was premised on the belief that Democrats cannot win where they don’t show up to play.