Four Lessons Progressives Should Learn From the Blue Wave
Gabi Porter, NLC Washington DC
Without fail, the months following any election are full of hot takes and hard questions: What worked? What didn’t? Is this campaign a new model for progressives?
Successful campaign strategies are never one-size-fits-all. To say that any one campaign strategy — like Stacy Abrams’s fight to expand the electorate in Georgia or Kyrsten Sinema’s tack to the center in Arizona — is what progressives should only do going forward is too simplistic. It sells voters short and fails to acknowledge the sometimes massive economic, cultural, and demographic differences across the country, or even within a state.
Too many operatives and consultants fall into the trap of thinking that one specific strategy can be replicated in another race without taking those differences into account. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unseated a long-term incumbent with an unapologetically progressive platform. But if you’re an Idahoan (for example) trying to run an identical campaign, you’re going to fail.
Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives around the country won because they took four simple rules to heart:
1. Stand for something
Voters are looking for candidates who can articulate real policies that will make their lives better. They’re tired of noncommittal positions and hollow sentiments; they’re looking for leaders who understand the problems they face and have ideas on how to fix them.
A perfect example of this is Lucy McBath’s win in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. In 2017, the 6th District’s special election to replace Tom Price was the most expensive House election ever. The Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, was often attacked for living outside the district and for his vague policy platform and message, and he ended up losing by 10 points. In contrast, McBath had deep roots in the district and a story that resonated: She was running because her son’s death to gun violence spurred her into action. Voters could relate to her story and understand her agenda.
Progressives have the task of making good on those promises now. If they settle for simply being obstructionists and gadflys, they face the very real possibility in 2020 of losing the seats they just managed to grab this year.
2. Be authentic and accessible
Those of us who follow politics can easily identify the candidates who got this rule right in 2018. In his run for Texas’s U.S. Senate seat, Beto O’Rourke regularly engaged with followers on social media and didn’t limit his content to stump speeches or posed, stiff handshake shots. We saw the candidate on long car rides, with his family, his staff — we got a sense of who he is and why he cares about the things that he does. He answered tough questions with reason and compassion, and he didn’t demonize people who disagreed with him.
Although O’Rouke fell short on Election Day, he came closer than many thought possible in red Texas — myself included. His campaign helped lift down-ballot Democrats across the state, and he laid crucial groundwork for Democrats running statewide in years to come.
3. Put in the work
Running for office is really hard. Unfortunately, I’ve encountered too many candidates who aren’t willing to put in the work, or who assume that their win is a “sure thing.” More than anything else, I hope 2018 taught progressives that we can’t take anything for granted — identity politics, incumbency, establishment ties, or money in the bank alone won’t be enough to secure a win.
In California’s 45th Congressional District, Democrat Katie Porter defeated her opponent, Republican Mimi Walters, by five points in a district that the Cook Political Report said favored the GOP by three points. Porter’s story as a domestic abuse survivor and a single mother of three may have made headlines, but it was her work ethic that made the difference. Porter outraised her opponent by more than $2 million in the third quarter of her campaign, and her team managed to knock on 20,000 doors in one of the final weekends before Election Day. This is what the real work of winning a tough race looks like.
For those of you thinking about running for office now or in the future, please take this to heart: You cannot win if you don’t do the work. Do your call time, knock doors, and go to every pancake breakfast. Engage with the communities that have been loyal to progressives long before Election Day. And when these communities help secure your win, don’t forget them in City Hall or on Capitol Hill.
4. Keep voters at the center of your campaign
The most important person in any campaign is the voter. Some candidates or campaign managers might take umbrage with this, but it’s true. Successful ones know this, take it to heart, and never forget it.
A lot of campaigns got this right in 2018, but two gubernatorial campaigns stood out: Andrew Gillum in Florida and Tim Walz in Minnesota. Gillum’s powerful first TV ad told the story of his grandmother imploring him to “bring it home for your little brother and sister and that little boy down the street.” This was a natural way to introduce his spirit of service and a platform that focused on healthcare, jobs, and education.
Similarly, Tim Walz kept his message simple: “One Minnesota.” He traveled across the state in a bus with his running mate, Peggy Flanagan, making stops in rural areas that weren’t traditionally friendly to Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) candidates. Now Walz is back on the bus as governor-elect participating in a listening tour with Flanagan to make sure that their new administration will meet the needs of every Minnesotan.
Ultimately, running for office is an act of service. Successful candidates remember that and make it central to their campaign.
As progressives move forward in 2019 and (sooner than we might realize) 2020, the most successful and effective candidates won’t necessarily be the next progressive superstar; they’ll be servant leaders who are honest, hardworking, and not afraid to articulate their vision.
Gabi Porter is a political consultant who has elected dozens of progressives to every level of government, both at home and abroad. She lives in Washington, DC and currently serves as the Communications Chair for NLC’s National Programs Committee.
