I don’t have a clever introduction, so I’ll just get into it. The Democratic Party is in relative shambles in large part because we are almost completely unorganized outside of counties and cities that lean our way. Anyone who has been involved with such a municipal or county Democratic organization outside of the months preceding a Presidential election knows what I mean. Longtime activists and leaders are starved of energy and have generally given up hope below the federal level; events are poorly attended, which is a self-defeating cycle; the organization functions more like a liberal social group than anything resembling an electorally focused machine.
For most people, the judgment comes swift and harsh. “They’re so unorganized here.” “They don’t do anything.” “I was the youngest person in the room by thirty years.” “Things were so much better in [insert Democratic county where we control the government and thus access to power]; why can’t they just be like that?”
Here’s the rub, almost universally, about Democratic organizations in areas controlled by Republicans: they are run by volunteers who have a million other things going on in their lives. These leaders end up mostly stuck with the elements of our party that is more content to complain than work. They usually have zero help from the national or state organization, even in blue states, outside of the two months before Election Day (sometimes). They have an impossible job to do alone.
The completely volunteer model doesn’t work. People in the 21st century simply have too many demands on their time to build an effective political party. The campaign organizer model isn’t much better; kids are flown in to an unfamiliar area to work on a campaign for a few months, and then they’re gone. Yes, they get a lot done in a short period of time and do a great job under the circumstances. But those circumstances hinder the party’s ability to capitalize on what their Presidential or Senatorial or whatever organizer built. They’ve lost their full-time person.
Here’s how it is: we will never be able to build our party in Republican-held areas unless we adopt a model of long-term, year-round political organizers. Outside of a few far-flung success stories, you cannot do without a full-time employee focused entirely on that goal. What would this person be in charge of? In no particular order:
- Build the Democratic Party in their assigned area.
- Work to elect Democrats to office within your assigned area, including local offices and non-partisan offices.
I doubt there are many who would argue with the merits of this basic plan. The biggest obstacle, of course, is money. Employees need salaries, office space, tools, etc. I say we can’t afford not to have year-round organizing, so perhaps a pilot program is in order. I’ll use the State of Ohio to illustrate exactly how this scheme would work.
An Example: Ohio
Ohio is conveniently divided as far as state legislative districts go: 33 Senate districts devolved into 99 House districts. The Democratic Party (whether state or national) pays to put a Democratic operative on the ground in each of those 99 House districts. Their duties, expanded from the above, include:
- Building the Democratic Party in their State House district.
- Working to create a functional organization in every municipality, and then county, that encompasses the district.
- Working with these parties (particularly at the county level) to raise money for the local organization(s).
- Cultivating a base of volunteers for campaigns at all levels, from School Board to President.
- Working with local and state legislative campaigns at their genesis to get the ball rolling.
- Organizing events centered around volunteerism, party activism and campaign activism throughout the district, year-round.
- Developing a relationship between local parties and local organizations: charities, chambers of commerce, religious organizations, service organizations, etc.
- Working to elect Democrats to office within the State House district, including local offices and non-partisan offices.
- Helping to recruit strong candidates for all races, from School Board to state legislature.
- Targeting races within the State House district with the best chance of victory, to help concentrate limited resources.
- Hitting goal numbers within the State House district for upballot campaigns.
- Helping Democratic victors transition into government (very important in Republican areas).
How much would such a program cost? Let’s say we actually pay these organizers a decent salary (we are Democrats, of course) and pay for office space and some basics in terms of supplies. Depending on the area, that probably comes out to around $60K-$80K per year per district. Add in a layer of administration to the State Party level, and the whole program likely runs at seven or eight million dollars per year. That’s a lot of money, $15 million per two year cycle. I firmly believe it would produce a hell of a lot of results over just a few cycles. If the cost is too much, we can up the organization level to the 33 Senate districts, which would lower that two year cost to probably $6 million. Won’t be the same results, but much, much cheaper.
Conclusion
In reality, Ohio would not be the state I’d pick to launch a pilot program of this concept. I’d want to try it in a state like Michigan, where we lost a lot of ground this year, but also where the Governorship and state legislative majorities are at least somewhat in reach. I think the DNC can afford it; try it out, see where we are by 2020 in that one state. If it works, expand the program to the new 2020 maps across the country.
Year-round organizing, whether using the concept I’ve laid out above or some other, is an absolute necessity if we want to win control of state governments and Congress. Whoever the new Chair of the DNC ends up being, I hope this becomes part of the agenda.