What I’ve learned: An open letter to Democrats in Palm Beach County

The promise of a bright new political landscape in just a few weeks is the only thing helping some of us cope during this unique and challenging holiday season. Hopefully during this time of reflection, Florida Democrats are realigning their focus on how to better engage with local communities. After four years of serving as president of the Palm

Beach County Young Democrats (YD’s), I have decided it is time to pass the torch to new leadership and to share what I have learned. The YD’s have been around since the 1980s, helping to train the next generation of local Democratic leaders. Over the last four years, we more than tripled our membership. We also won

Club and Program of the Year from the Florida Young Democrats for a novel voteby-mail registration program and most importantly, built inroads to a larger sense of community throughout Palm Beach County.

Our leadership team quickly learned that opportunities for YD’s to volunteer with nonprofits, interface with local leaders, and contribute to charities bolstered new membership more quickly than any other strategy we implemented. For instance, our club adopted a Palm Beach County roadway to keep clean, volunteered to help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and knocked on doors in Delray’s Haitian communities following President Trump’s “sh##hole” comment, to name a few. Millennials yearn for connection and purpose far more than they care about party affiliations. With members of our generation increasingly remaining independents and bucking both parties, maintaining an open-door policy is a key to ensuring a growing coalition. The party would do well to ditch the purity test mindset often imposed by the older party establishment and instead focus on listening to, connecting with and learning from our neighbors.

It is evident that the Florida Democratic Party’s reliance on macro-targeting, expensive polling, out of touch consultants, and broad messaging cost us in these last elections. Going forward, I recommend employing nuanced, community-relevant messaging led by leaders with the shared life experiences of the communities we would like to represent. This is key to counter misleading labeling of Democrat candidates, such as accusations of socialism, and to overcome broader political attacks.

The most rewarding and eye-opening experience from my time as YD President was getting to know members of our local Young Republicans (YR’s). Regardless of the constant divisive messaging we see, it has never been more important to bridge the ever-widening canyon between our parties — a task that has fallen to our generation at this point. Our ability to govern well, now and in the future, depends on bipartisanship and compromise. Breaking bread with the Young Republicans and working together through events like beach cleanups, joint local media appearances, and a planned event to address homelessness, we learned that we have more in common than we ever anticipated. These kinds of conversations and lessons are critical for good governance and Florida Democrats should commit to finding the common ground where it exists, rather than rejecting the possibility.

As Democrats, our priority should be good governance and fair representation above all else, even party loyalty. In a state where most of our elected representatives are Republican, working together is the only way. Our future success in building an effective, inclusive, and equitable government will be stipulated by our investments in community-focused outreach, fostering trust with millennials, and working across the aisle. Let’s optimistically look forward to 2021 as a new starting point, where we meet individuals where they are, and focus on solving neighborhood-level problems.