Moving Forward: Ideas for the DNC

The devastating losses of the recent election have motivated me — like many others — to spend time with close friends, colleagues and family, sharing both a profound sense of pain and vulnerability but also refilling our reservoirs of determination to fight back for the future of our country and for the health and dignity of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.

In conversations with family, friends, colleagues, fellow activists, and DNC members, a number of people have suggested I run for Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Having devoted my career to a wide range of progressive causes, from economic inequality to environmental justice to campaign finance reform to corporate accountability to my current position advocating for women’s rights, I know that the pathway to our vision of justice and equality is going to have setbacks. And even though this feels less like a setback and more like a freefall down a dark hole, experience has taught us that there’s only one way forward — to organize, organize, and organize the large majority of Americans who share our values.

We know how to do this. This year in Nevada and North Carolina, social movements and Party members came together, and won. In Nevada, where my organization, NARAL Pro-Choice America, collaborated with the presidential, Senate, House, and state legislative campaigns, we won the whole ticket, top to bottom, even taking back both chambers in the state legislature. In North Carolina, a prophetic, multi-year fight by community and Party leaders defeated the Governor infamous for suppressing voting rights, attacking women’s rights, and demeaning trans people.

These two examples are proof that when we are smart about leveraging our collective power on an ongoing basis — not only when it’s election time — we can get our candidates in office and, as importantly, do so with a movement that can help our elected officials advance a progressive agenda after election day. This is one of the greatest promises of the last year — not from the ballot box, but from a generation of progressive activism that has already helped to shape the direction of the Party: from the Fight for $15 to the energy around Bernie’s run to fight income inequality and campaign finance corruption to the struggle for LGBTQ rights to a resurgence of pro-choice activism to the Movement for Black Lives. We have witnessed a building of a new political muscle and a boldness of vision in what we demand from our country, which will be absolutely critical moving forward.

I believe the DNC has an important role to play in regrouping after 2016, one that fully embraces the Wellstone triad approach to change: public policy that reflects peoples’ needs, grassroots organizing that honors peoples’ lived experience, and an electoral strategy that brings both to bear to ensure victory. The DNC should not just be a force every two years at election time, but it should also be a daily presence in peoples’ lives, relevant in policy discussions and responsive to the ideas and concerns of people where they live. And everyone needs to know that Democrats fight for people, not for big corporate interests.

To accomplish this, here are ten first ideas to shape the way we build our Party for the sustained fights ahead:

1. UNITY THROUGH RESISTANCE: Fighting Trump’s agenda has to be top priority for the Party in order to serve the health and wellbeing of the majority of citizens and for us to be the standard-bearer of American values. We must immediately oppose any attempt to circumscribe our Constitutional rights to free speech and assembly, marginalize and attack our fellow Americans, and debase the office of the President for private gain. Fighting against the Iraq War showed that we have to provide many different avenues of engagement for people to resist, so our approaches are multi-faceted and our numbers are undeniable.

2. GO LOCAL: President Obama was correct: Change doesn’t come from Washington, change comes to Washington. The primary role of the DNC should be to create ways for Party members and advocates across the country — from the first-timer to the lifer — to learn from each other and strategize together. We need to bring people off the sidelines. The DNC’s office in Washington can leverage organizing energy from around the country on policy fights of the day. And it should prioritize boosting the role of State Parties so the national reflects what is happening in the states, not the other way around.

3. STAY TRUE TO OUR IDENTITY: We recognize that the world is complicated, and we know it’s worth fighting for dignity and a fair shake for everybody. We know that race, gender, geography, education, and age all affect our economic prospects, and we can engage in authentic conversation that acknowledges that reality and is inclusive of tailored, community-based solutions. Fighting Wall Street greed and protecting women’s fundamental rights aren’t at odds, they’re intertwined. Recognizing these intersections will be critical to build momentum from the outset for the hard policy fights and for electoral accountability come mid-terms. Diversity is our strength and must be our aspiration and our future.

4. FOCUS ON THE RIGGED SYSTEM: Democratic gains are being undermined by a series of structural — and intentional — obstacles that thwart the will of the people. We have to tackle these head-on by creating coordinated campaigns to fight the GOP effort to keep people from participating.

· Fight voter suppression: When more people vote, Democrats win. A full court press that is tailored to state legislatures around the country can challenge cynical laws like Voter ID and restrictions on registration and early voting that hurt Democrats from state house races all the way up to the Presidency.

· Reform the Electoral College: We need to revisit the basic mission of the institution and consider efforts like the National Popular Vote compact which would compel electors to vote with the majority of the people.

· Stop gerrymandering: The current system stacks the deck against Democrats. We’re winning national majorities while losing seats in Congress. Our next shot at redistricting is in 2021, which means 2018 and 2020 will be crucial to make gains in state houses and put fairness back in the system. We need to prioritize state legislative wins and redistricting efforts in state houses that put the voters’ interest front and center and seek to keep politics out of the process.

· Eliminate Super Delegates: There’s no doubt the Party should have a place of honor for our leaders, but the idea of super delegates who might overturn the will of the voters is antithetical to the democratic principles we stand for. Super delegates were a 1984 innovation that didn’t pan out, and contribute to a negative narrative about what our Party stands for. Let’s find new innovations and move on from failed ones.

5. BUILD THE BENCH: Running for office is often a thankless task. The more local we go on the ballot, the fewer resources and compensation for jobs well done. Yet those down-ballot candidates are not only serving critical roles in enacting policy that affect the everyday lives of people, they are often the up-and-comers who go on to seek higher office in the coming cycles. The DNC needs to better support our future candidates and leaders with strategic trainings, capacity building, and connections to voters.

6. JUMPSTART DNC 2.0: Technology can’t solve all problems, but it can help us scale engagement to the local and individual level. The DNC should play a central role in creating tools that effectively bring like-minded individuals together to build a shared vision for their neighborhoods and states. Technology can be used to communicate better, organize better, advocate better, persuade better, volunteer better, and GOTV better — all the way down to the neighborhood and household level.

7. INVEST IN FUNDAMENTALS: I knocked hundreds of doors this cycle, and the targeting and real-time information feedback loop was lacking. Offices in swing states often could not make good use of the dozens of volunteers we brought to them. First-time volunteers were disheartened by voters who told them they had just been visited by other doorknockers hours before. Cutting turf is not glamorous, but it is the lifeblood of effective electoral work, and investing in the basics of field organizing is critical for the future of the Party. It’s easy to blame the Clinton campaign for all of this, and certainly Brooklyn bears some responsibility. But the problems transcend one cycle and represent a lack of centralized investment in the basics over a long period of time. This has to be paramount. Without the foundation, there is no house.

8. PRIMARIES SHOULD REFLECT AMERICA: We can and should find ways for the primaries to reflect the broader diversity of our party. The issues that drive campaigns in those two “first” states are important but unrepresentative of the Democratic base, and of the broader American mainstream. There are several compelling alternative avenues to make sure a broader array of issues frame our primary debate and they should all be considered. A robust debate on those choices would be healthy for the Party.

9. GET FUNDED FROM THE GROUND UP: A genuinely people-powered fundraising base can help not just to fund national efforts, but also to provide state parties a source of local donors. My experience at MoveOn showed me how to build email programs at the national and state levels to instill both personal and financial investment in organizations. People open up and donate to those who inspire and motivate them. Thus, the stronger we fight against Trump, and the more we champion our best champions, the easier it will be for our grassroots to fund us.

10. LEAD WITH VALUES AND EMPATHY: As Democrats, we love to talk policy. Too often though, we end up ceding the language of values to Republicans. People want leaders who listen and reinforce our commonly held values — values of inclusion, economic security, and opportunity for advancement. These are the values of the Democratic Party and they need to suffuse everything we do. When we stand for something, we win. While some say that focus on issues like transgender rights hurt Democrats, remember that we won the governor’s race in North Carolina, in what turned out to be a difficult political environment. This is not a time to shy away from the values that bind our coalition. Rather, it’s time to clarify and celebrate them.

Finally, while I want to see these ideas guide the DNC in performing its critical core functions, it’s important to recognize that this is a highly unusual moment. We just had an election that was heavily influenced by systematic efforts from a hostile foreign power to benefit our Republican opponents. If news reports are correct, in addition to corrupting our national conversation with bogus news and comments, foreign agents hacked not only the DNC and Democratic campaigns, but the NSA itself. This is an ongoing threat that goes beyond cybersecurity to core concerns of national security, democratic integrity and political strategy. While handling something like this is not normally the responsibility of the DNC, if the NSA under a Democratic administration did not prevent this, the Party must push for whatever it takes to counter this ongoing threat in the future.

We have no time to waste. Through their appointments, statements, and associations, the Trump Administration has already proven our worst fears about their racist, corrupt, chaotic, and damaging agenda to be true, even before they arrive at the White House. They will seek to divide people against each other attacking our sisters and brothers across America. We know there will be dire times, when checking out of the political process will feel tempting and reasonable.

But we should not forget one basic fact: Democrats won the popular vote by a wider margin than any campaign in history whose candidate did not become president. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton received more votes for president than anyone who has ever run for the office, other than Barack Obama, and the math says Donald Trump is the biggest loser ever to walk into the White House. We have to remain grounded in the knowledge that we represent the majority of this country, and we cannot abandon the core values this Party holds.

I believe there is no shortcut to the hard work of organizing. But I also know when we organize as Democrats, we will fight the injustices together and build for the future of a Party from the ground up. The current list of committed and visionary people seeking to serve as Chair of the DNC should instill a sense of optimism about our future. I certainly hope that this moment provides an opportunity for a robust debate, and I look forward to being a part of the conversation.

Update: Several people in reading this have noticed that I did not include anything about the caucus system in the fourth section. It was an oversight and I very much agree that caucuses create unnecessary barriers to participation. We want as many democrats as possible to have a say in deciding our nominee. Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming.