2020 hopefuls relying on surrogates
Stump helpers have deployed across early voting states to campaign for those sitting for impeachment trial.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Steve Sovern had low expectations for a recent event he hosted to support Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. Iowans are legendary for expecting to meet White House hopefuls in person — multiple times — and the candidate wasn’t going to be there, represented instead by California Rep. Katie Porter.
“Surrogates are usually not much of a draw,” Sovern said.
But 45 people crammed into Sovern’s Cedar Rapids condo, and Porter, an Iowa native, made such a strong case for Warren that several undecided voters left the event saying they planned to caucus for the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.
Porter is one of dozens of surrogates who have deployed across the early voting states in recent weeks to expand the footprint of White House hopefuls before the Iowa caucuses usher in the Democratic contest in less than two weeks. They’ll become even more important this week as four senators running for president will be stuck in Washington to serve as jurors for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York, will appear in Iowa this weekend on behalf of Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Queer Eye“host Jonathan Van Ness will also be in Iowa stumping for Warren in addition to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III, who will be in New Hampshire.
And roughly 25 supporters of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for instance, held a news conference on Tuesday in Concord to promote her candidacy.
Facing the unprecedented situation of being sidelined from campaigning in the critical final stretch before voting, these proxies can help fill in the gap.
“Surrogates generally stump for the candidate when they can’t be in two places at once, or go out on their own to drum up grassroots energy,” said Jennifer Rosenbaum, who was deputy national surrogate director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
But the stand-ins fill other needs as well.
For some candidates, surrogates help keep their hands clean of controversy by acting as an attack dog. Former Housing Secretary Julian Castro quickly endorsed Warren after he withdrew from the race. He called out her rivals by name during a recent campaign swing through Iowa, saying neither Sanders nor Joe Biden are as widely acceptable to Democrats. Warren herself rarely mentions her opponents on the stump unless she’s prompted by a voter or reporter.
As Biden fended off attacks this month from Sanders about his 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq War, John Kerry was on hand in Iowa. Kerry served two purposes: vouching for Biden’s foreign policy knowledge, as Kerry is a former secretary of state, and appealing to Iowans as someone who won the 2004 Democratic caucuses.
Surrogates also offer reassurance to voters that the candidate understands and will pay attention to local issues. While every candidate has picked up a handful of endorsements from local Iowa elected officials and state lawmakers, Biden has some of the biggest Iowa names on his team: former Gov. Tom Vilsack and his wife, Christie; Attorney General Tom Miller; and Rep. Abby Finkenauer. All have appeared on the trail with him recently.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, picked up the endorsement of retiring Rep. Dave Loebsack, who will introduce him across Iowa this week.
“An Iowa endorsement gives you some credibility there,” said Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who came in third in the 2004 Iowa caucuses.
Surrogates can also bring a dash of star power to the campaign trail to keep voters engaged. Sanders has some of the biggest names in music and movies on his team, and recently actor Danny Glover campaigned for him in South Carolina while the senator was in Iowa.
Andrew Yang, meanwhile, brought actor, comedian and rapper Donald Glover onto his team as a creative consultant, after the two hosted a pop-up shop in Los Angeles featuring merchandise Glover designed as a fundraiser for the campaign. Comedian and actor Dave Chappelle is also backing Yang and plans to hold two shows this month to benefit his campaign.
Judy Sheindlin, the reality television star known as Judge Judy, recently hit the trail with Michael Bloomberg.
Celebrities don’t have to appear in person to boost their candidate. A video that soccer champion Megan Rapinoe tweeted of her phone call with Warren received 1.8 million views. A conversation Sanders had with rapper Cardi B in a Detroit nail salon racked up 2.3 million views on Twitter.