Can Democrats learn new tricks?
It has finally dawned on some Democrats, The Bulwark’s Lauren Egan notes, that “the real currency in politics is not message discipline but message dominance.” They are appearing on podcasts and carrying pocket-sized microphones for recording TikTok videos and Instagram reels on the fly. California Sen. Alex Padilla and New York City comptroller Brad Lander made bold headlines in confrontations stemming from DHS’s secret police tactics. Democrats are even working the cut over Donald Trump’s eye from his and Pam Bondi’s Jeffrey Epstein coverup.
But as Egan notes, aversion to change persists. Democrats’ “instinctive caution” about stepping outside their comfy boxes remains a hinderance:
“It was a classic ‘We’re above this, we can’t be for this,’” said Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist and former Sanders adviser. “We have to stop being the party of overeducated pearl-graspers and start getting a little tougher.”
I traded notes recently with a political consultant about registration trends in North Carolina, and about how Democrats win in the environment on display in the chart below (I’m still updating for 2024). One of these curves is not like the others.
Your state similar:
Fully half of NC’s registered voters are 45 and younger. And 47% of voters 45 and younger are registered UNAffiliated. Furthermore, the current NC voter registration is: UNAffiliated 38%, Democrat 31%, and Republican 30%. I suggested that Democrats need to turn out more young UNAffiliated voters. (Duh!) We can’t win without them and that’s where we have the most potential for boosting turnout.
But younger voters are irregular voters, the consultant answered, displaying that instinctive caution. We need to focus on turning out older, more reliable Democratic voters. I thought, So we are supposed to ignore 28-yr-olds until they are 45? Genius!
The attention economy works both ways. Democrats need to capture more attention, yes. But they also need to pay more attention to younger voters who feel undervalued and cut out of the political process.
A retired marketing professional told me last week that no retailer would ignore such a large swath of its potential customer base. They custom-tailor their pitches to different market segments. Showing up on podcasts is one way for Democrats to get attention. But paying attention to a large segment of disaffected voters who don’t vote is another way to increase “sales.” Who doesn’t want to do that?
Good Trouble Lives On protests honoring the legacy of Rep. John Lewis happen today from coast to coast. It’s a weekday. Local “show” times vary from late afternoon to evening:
Civil rights activist and Georgia Congressman John Lewis was known for saying he got into “good trouble” by using peaceful, non-violent action to challenge injustice. Now, in 1,600 cities and towns across the country, protesters are planning to make similar “good trouble” on July 17, the fifth anniversary of Lewis’ death.
“What we want the nation to know is that his legacy lives on, that the good trouble that he got into and that he fought for is not over,” said Barbara Arnwine, co-leader of the Transformative Justice Coalition. “We are absolutely focused on making sure that our voices throughout the country are raised.”
Protesters are expected to turn out for a variety of reasons, including their opposition to the recently passed budget bill, attacks on womens rights and diversity, and immigration enforcement, such as President Donald Trump‘s decision to call out the California National Guard to quell pro-immigrant protests in Los Angeles.
Here in North Carolina, voting rights are a focus. In Arizona too, I’d wager, where Republicans are looking to strip voting rights from Americans living abroad:
The Republican Party is challenging the voting eligibility of some U.S. citizens who have always lived abroad, in what they’re calling a broader strategy ahead of next year’s midterms to clean up voter rolls and improve voter confidence.
But Democrats see the effort as a blatant attempt to disenfranchise eligible Democrats in key swing states.
The GOP terms the voters they are targeting as “never residents” because they are U.S. citizens but haven’t lived in the United States. Most frequently, they are children of U.S. citizens who have been in the military, or lived overseas for other reasons. Three-quarters of states have laws on the books allowing such citizens to vote by absentee or mail ballot in the same state where their parents or other relatives last lived or are registered.
Yup.Just what the GOP tried in NC last fall: Surprise! You’re Disenfranchised
Here in NC, Republicans want to, well, check out this modification they want to make to election law highlighted by the signup page for today’s Raleigh protest:
🚨 STOP HB 958 🚨
“No person while serving on the State or County Boards of Elections shall make written or oral statements intended for general distribution or dissemination to the public at large encouraging or promoting voter turnout in any election.”Let that sink in.
North Carolina Republicans are trying to make it illegal for elections officials to encourage people to vote.
That means:
— No voter education from elections offices
— No public outreach to boost participation
— No PSAs reminding people to cast a ballotThis bill strikes at the heart of free and fair elections. It replaces trusted, experienced professionals with partisan operatives hand-picked to control how our elections are run.
The message is simple:
They don’t want you to vote.
You might want to get Republicans’ attention today and every day. Don’t just request their attention. Dominate it.
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