The DNC is a slightly different beast than the White House, of course, primarily because its function isn't really to write policy, and really it shouldn't be. I have long espoused for the DNC to be run by someone who has had a hand in political campaigns prior to their service here, and who does not currently hold public office. Personally, I liked the idea of a Donna Brazile as DNC Chair, though obviously I was disappointed in her tenure (though, admittedly, coming in when she did no one was going to do particularly well). If I were POTUS I'd probably appoint someone like Stephanie Schriock to serve as DNC Chair, as she's had ample opportunity to raise money and learn about grassroots progressive politics in her role at Emily's List. However, were it to be me in charge, here are five changes I'd make in the role, to the organization and specifically to the primary process to help elect more Democrats and make the committee more representative for those who are members of the party.
A big focus of my behind-the-scenes time at the DNC would be to fix the broken presidential primary system that continues to be a black-mark on our electoral system, as is evidenced by...every recent presidential primary. I would want to push for having a rotating slate of states that would serve as the "first-in-the-nation" (sorry if you're in Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, but your zip codes do not instill unnatural wisdom upon you and it's time to share the wealth) having ten consecutive Tuesdays with five states (and the occasional territory) voting each from across the country, and I would push all states to conduct primaries, rather than caucuses. One of the major goals I would have at the DNC would be to open up the elections process as much as possible, to ensure as many voices are heard as possible by supporters of the party (though only supporters of the party-you need to be a registered Democrat and committed to the party to pick the nominee) and its candidates, and one of the ways I would do that would be to ensure that primaries, where considerably more people are able to cast their ballots, become the rule rather than party caucuses, which tend to support only a small core of voters, and don't allow voters who might work nights or otherwise can't participate to be a part of selecting their next president. Democrats believe in equality and helping working families; if someone has small children or works a night job to make ends meet, I think it's repugnant to say that they can't participate in choosing their leaders. I would work to ensure all states have a primary with early voting for all presidential races.
There really is no right way to entirely fix the delegate system. Personally I'd be fine with just having a national popular vote for the primaries provided we use IRV, but I don't see that as being a pragmatic solution to our presidential primary system. However, I don't think it's right that, say, Bernie Sanders wins in Wyoming but ends up in a tie for the delegate count in the state, and while the Electoral College is arguably a terrible system for a general election, it does have some logic when it comes to a race where the candidates continually change (something that doesn't plague the actual electoral college).
So my proposal is this-each campaign that qualifies for the ballot in a specific state submits a ranked list of delegates that equal the total number allotted for the state. Efforts will be made to ensure that this list is representative of the full state (perhaps mandating that in states with multiple congressional districts, at least one delegate must be from each congressional district?) and that the list will be posted prior to the election to the public, and then the delegates will be rewarded a spot to the convention depending on their candidate's performance in the state, with the statewide popular vote winner automatically getting two of the delegates. For example, if a state had 52 delegates, and Candidate A got 54% of the vote and Candidate B got 46%, Candidate A would get 29 delegates and Candidate B would get 23, with those delegates being chosen from the ranked list. These delegates would be bound to vote for that candidate they are representing on the first ballot unless they have been "released" by that candidate ending their campaign, and then on a second ballot would be allowed to vote as they see fit. This way, delegates are chosen publicly, are genuinely sent as representatives of the campaign, and campaigns are rewarded fairly. Also, if this process is adapted, I'm fine getting rid of superdelegates as they don't feel necessary and would take away from the spirit of democratic idealism.
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| Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) |
Moving away from the presidential race, I also would work to re-instate Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy. Dean's plan was much discussed (and in some case's dismissed) during his tenure at the DNC, but I think it has a lot of validity. In 2006 & 2008, we saw the 50-State Strategy result in President Obama winning Indiana and Virginia for the first time since 1964 (and Virginia later transforming into a purple state, perhaps even a purplish blue state if Ralph Northam wins today), and we won House seats in conservative bedrocks like Utah, Kansas, and Louisiana. This gave us the biggest majorities we've seen in both the Senate and House since the start of the Millennium, and we need to emulate this.
After all, look at the Republican gubernatorial maps right now for inspiration. Currently the GOP has the statehouses in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Vermont, all bright-blue states in the same way that Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas are deep-red. If we don't start targeting all fifty states, we essentially cede great swaths of the country to the Republicans without even trying. This is why I would avoid any sort of litmus test as chair (we need to have a Democratic Party that is big tent, so pro-life Democrats are welcome as long as they aren't essentially Zell Miller), and would work to rebuild from the ground up, partnering particularly with state chairs from all fifty states to win state legislative elections, mayoral races, and county board elections in major cities to ensure that we start growing our bench.
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| Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) |
Voter ID has become a blunt instrument that the Republicans have used to combat against the Democrats. While it's disputed whether or not Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin because of voter ID law, it clearly didn't help, and this is something we need to work to combat. A major focus of the 50-state strategy would be to win as many Governor/Secretary of State elections to ensure that we can start to overturn these Voter ID laws that disenfranchise voters, and open up early voting to get more people involved in the electoral process.
That being said, we also have to work within the confines of the law for the time being, and can't use that as an excuse (same with gerrymandering)-we need to win even if it's harder than it should be. It's the only way we'll make change. So part of the GOTV efforts needs to be about providing materials, steps, and ways for people who might support the Democratic cause but don't have the required ID or registration to gain access to it. This has to be a part of our work in places like Wisconsin. I'm sick-and-tired of excuses for why the Democrats can't succeed such as Voter ID or gerrymandering. We need to overturn these undemocratic obstacles, but we also need to win regardless-ensuring Democratic voters are better able to vote needs to be a central tenet of the Democratic Party, and we need to work to ensure that everyone who is on our team is ready come Election Day, and can't be turned away.
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| President Bill Clinton (D-AR) |
Like I said, the DNC can only do so much with political messaging before an actual candidate comes along in 2020. Investments in down-ballot success are crucial, particularly in 2018, but by 2020 whomever is the Democratic nominee for president will be the greatest factor in the DNC's success. That being said, we need to have a DNC that tries to drill down a populist economic message, as it clearly worked with Trump last year...and imagine how much more effective it would be if we actually had one that was implementable and our party was behind, rather than just finding excuses to give tax cuts to the wealthy?
This can be done through a disciplined (not our strong suit, but we'll work on it) message of infrastructure, student loan relief, small business incentives, and a middle class tax break. These are all messages that will work with both our base, and with voters that may have supported Bill Clinton or even Barack Obama, but abandoned Hillary Clinton in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, perhaps even opening up new doors in areas like Mississippi and Georgia. The Democrats have a platform that would actually help people with these issues, and we should be running on it as it's a message that worked for Trump, except we have a policy platform that could actually make relief a reality.
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