The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lack of depth hurting Democrats
With Senate control up for grabs, party needs new faces.
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, aware of the dead weight that Donald Trump has placed on their vulnerable Republican colleagues, can taste a reclaimed majority.
But just as Senate Republicans blew their chances in 2010 and 2012 before finally taking control in 2014, Democrats find themselves hobbled by less-than-stellar candidates in races that could make the difference in winning a majority.
In Pennsylvania, Katie McGinty, a relatively unknown former federal official who has never held elective office, lags Hillary Clinton’s large lead in polls. In Florida, a nasty primary between two flawed candidates could harm the Democrats’ chance to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
Several high-profile Democrats turned down the chance to challenge North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr before they settled on a civil liberties lawyer, Deborah Ross, not necessarily a good fit for suburban voters there. Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democrat and former state attorney general now running for an open seat in Nevada, has also failed to catch fire.
To challenge 82-yearold Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Democrats settled on 72-year-old Patty Judge. Sen. Rob Portman’s Democratic challenger in Ohio, former Gov. Ted Strickland, is 75, an easy target for Portman’s taunting nickname, “Retread Ted.”
The Democrats’ problem stems from a depletion of their ranks in state legislatures and governors’ mansions over recent years and a lack of institutional support for grass-roots-level politicians who represent the party’s changing base.
“Democrats cannibalize each other when they lose those seats and don’t have new talent to fill them,” said Daniel A. Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Florida. “Here and in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and North Carolina are states that should have Democratic state-controlled legislatures, and the fact that they don’t not only marginalizes Democrats, but also makes it increasingly hard to build a farm team.”
Republicans, of course, find themselves in a well-publicized existential conflict between Trump’s populist insurgents and more traditional conservatives. But Democrats are mired in their own struggle, as they try to identify future stars who can appeal to a base increasingly insistent on an unapologetically progressive agenda.
Florida’s Senate Democratic primary Tuesday pits a bombastic, populist liberal, Rep. Alan Grayson, against the establishment’s pick, Rep. Patrick Murphy, in the kind of showdown that analysts expect to see in the party’s future.
“Democrats are going to have their own Tea Party moment in 2018,” said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor and Senate analyst for The Cook Political Report. “I don’t think they are going to put up with the party dictating who their candidates are.”
The issue was highlighted this year when Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont found considerable success by running against the sort of incremental liberalism of President Barack Obama and Clinton.
Clinton followed that pattern with her selection of Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate. He was widely viewed as a competent and well-respected lawmaker, but to the right of many progressives.
While some up-and-coming Democrats like Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had speaking spots at the party’s convention last month, none had the prominence of Obama in 2004, when he gave the keynote speech that lifted him to national prominence..
“The bench is not apparent right now,” said David Axelrod, chief strategist for Obama’s presidential campaigns. “There are some impressive young leaders, but who among them is the next presidential nominee I can’t answer. A lot of them are not there yet.”
“Democrats have done a poor job, and I take my share of responsibility here, in not being as focused as Republicans have on building at the grass roots,” Axelrod said. “Look what the GOP and their related agents have done with legislative and City Council and school board races. They are building capacity, and Democrats have paid the cost.”
Democratic ranks also have been decimated in state governments across the nation, where new leaders tend to plant roots for future higher office.
After the 2008 elections, Democrats controlled 62 of the 99 state legislatures; today, Republicans control 68 chambers, according to Governing magazine. Over the same time period, the number of Democrats in governor’s mansions fell to 18 from 28. In both cases, Republican control is at or near historic highs.
Clinton, some Democrats argue, is trying to make bench-building more of a priority by coordinating closely with down-ballot races, carrying their campaign literature when canvassing, sharing office space and helping them raise money. These efforts are particularly forceful in Colorado and Nevada, states where Republicans hold narrow legislative majorities.
“The organizing our volunteers and staff are doing in all 50 states will not only help elect Democrats in November but also build the party’s bench and infrastructure for the future,” said Lily Adams, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign.