Democrats look to South for gains
Party views region as ripe to tilt House control
WASHINGTON – Colin Allred waited outside a room in the U.S. Capitol as members of the Congressional Black Caucus slipped out of their weekly policy meeting to greet him and chat for a bit.
The Democrat from Texas had only a few minutes inside to make his pitch for why the caucus should support his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, who represents a red district in his state.
Allred had convinced the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to include him in its Red to Blue program, which gives “top-tier” candidates organizational and fundraising support.
“We have to continue to remind people around the country there are some (competitive) seats in the South,” Allred said after the room emptied.
Less than six months before midterm elections, national Democrats said they are ramping up their efforts in the South, working with the Congressional Black Caucus and grass-roots groups to pick up more seats, even in traditionally red districts such as Allred’s.
The DCCC and the caucus said the South is key to a Democratic takeover of the House.
Democrats have scored recent victories in the South, including Alabama where Doug Jones pulled off an upset in the Senate race last December. Stacey Abrams made history by winning Georgia’s Democratic primary election. If she wins in November, Abrams, 44, will be the nation’s first African-American female governor.
“We have a lot of important work to do down that way,” said New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Luján, chairman of the DCCC.
That work, he said, includes races beyond those included on the commit- tee’s target list. “Don’t make the mistake that we’re not keeping a close eye on these districts,” he said.
CBC members have been meeting regularly with DCCC officials and pushing to channel more resources to races in the South.
“We’re not forfeiting the South like we used to, and the party is coming down to help,” said Rep. Cedric Rich- mond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “If we’re going to grow, we’re going to grow in the South.”
Richmond said caucus members have helped recruit and support candidates in the South, including Allred.
Some Democrats have long complained the national party has skipped the South, conceding races to Republicans and taking the base there for granted.
“They’ve come down to raise money, but then ... they have not provided the boots on the ground,” Jones said.
Unlike in the past, Jones said, the DNC stepped in to help his bid to fill the seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions. “My race was indicative of what can be done,” he said.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he and other Democrats from the South are pressing the national party to expand its base in the South, which he said is “fertile ground for Democratic political growth.”
“You have to have a buy-in from people you’re trying to work with, and so I see them doing just that,” he said. “The proof at the end is how much investment goes with it.”
Democrats said they’re planning post-primary meetings to map out action plans for communities, including many in the South.
The DCCC has staff in competitive districts in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, said Kamau Marshall, the committee’s director of African American Media and deputy national press secretary. The DCCC set up a national program sending 25 “constituency organizers” to work with candidates and build relationships with communities of color, including grassroots groups and churches.
“The name of the game right now is doing these things early, being on the ground early, being active in these communities in advance, not in September, not in October,” Marshall said, adding that get-out-the-vote efforts should be the focus by then. “I think AfricanAmerican people, and just people of color in general, are fully aware that they feel like people come to them at the last minute and people take their votes for granted.”
Derryn Moten, chairman of the Department of History and Political Science at Alabama State University, said he hasn’t seen much evidence of national Democrats stepping up efforts to put more boots on the ground there.
He said it’s important for Democrats to make that happen by next month.
“The Dems need to galvanize and organize and get people who are empathetic to the Democratic message out to the polls,” he said. The South is “plum for the picking.”
But the South remains a difficult landscape for Democrats. In Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, only four out of 23 congressional seats are held by Democrats.
Still, many point to Jones’ upset in Alabama as a sign Democrats can win more seats in the region. Jones said the Democratic National Committee stepped in early providing resources and manpower.