Messam vows to continue campaign

Miramar mayor misses first national debate

Wayne Messam, the only Floridian seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said Friday he’s continuing his campaign even though he missed the cut for the first pair of candidate debates, depriving him of valuable national exposure.

“I’m still encouraged and I still have an opportunity to qualify for the July debates and full steam ahead,” he said in a telephone interview from Las Vegas, where he’s been campaigning.

Messam, the mayor of Miramar, said he’s given no thought to dropping out of the campaign he launched on March 28. “Oh no. It’s still early.”

The first debates are June 26 and 27 in Miami — effectively Messam’s back yard — with 10 candidates on each night. Besides Messam, Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska didn’t qualify.

On the first night, Messam said he’ll be Miami because he’s been invited to appear on one of NBC’s platforms for an interview about the debate. NBC and its other networks, MSNBC and Telemundo, are putting on the first debate under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee. He said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll be doing on the second debate day.

The rules for the June and July

debates require either polling at 1 percent or more in three different national surveys or polls of early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, or showing broad financial support by raising money from at least 65,000 people, with at least 200 donors per state from 20 different states.

Messam said he’s working toward getting in the July round of debates. “In fact, as folks are finding out who’s in and who’s out, it really has jumped up some interest in my campaign.”

On Wednesday, a campaign spokeswoman acknowledged the campaign had fewer than 65,000 unique contributors. Messam on Friday said precise numbers would be disclosed when his campaign has to file a quarterly finance report in July.

Sean Foreman, a political scientist at Barry University, said he doesn’t see a path for Messam to change the trajectory of his campaign. “There’s no path for anyone who’s not on the first stages. Beyond those 20, there’s nobody else in the mix.”

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist in South Carolina who isn’t affiliated with any of the candidates, said Messam got into the race late for someone who isn’t well known and was entering a crowded field of candidates who’ve been on the national stage.

Seawright said not making it into the June round of debates may start to send a message to the candidate that “this may not be his time or his turn.”

Foreman said other candidates grabbed some of the niches Messam conceivably could have occupied, such South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the small city mayor. Other candidates have concentrated on specific issues, such as Eric Swalwell and gun violence and Jay Inslee on climate change.

Messam said he’s been at a disadvantage compared to other candidates in raising his profile and raising contributions.

Some of the other lesserknown candidates who are currently in Congress were able to transfer money from their congressional campaign accounts to their presidential efforts, which Messam said allowed them to hire staff and buy digital ads to help them build donor bases and increase name recognition.

Without that kind of initial boost, Messam said a lesser-known candidate needs media coverage. He criticized the big cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, for denying him the kind of platform that other candidates have used to tell their stories and capture attention.

The cable networks have showcased many of the candidates in lengthy town hall programs in which “you’re exposed to millions of Americans at a time for a sustained amount of time,” Messam said. “You are able to gain donors or at least, at a minimum, name-brand awareness as a candidate. That helps you in terms of polling, in terms of donors.”

He cited the example of Buttigieg, whose campaign took off after his performance at a CNN town hall earlier this year won him rave reviews. Buttigieg also has had town halls on Fox and MSNBC.

He said he didn’t want to detract from Buttigieg — but, Messam said, he is mayor of a larger, more diverse city, in a more consequential general election state.

Fox News has been controversial among Democrats. One of the leading presidential candidates, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, said Democratic candidates’ appearances on Fox serve to legitimize it in the eyes of advertisers.

“I’m not going to say I’m a fan of Fox. I don’t regularly watch Fox in terms of the positions and angles they choose to promote,” Messam said. But, he said, he has been a guest on Fox shows and would do a Fox town hall to “show progressives and Democrats I can go on there and debate progressive ideas to a conservative audience.”

Cynthia Busch, chairwoman of the Broward Democratic Party, said Buttigieg got in the race early, and he got himself known to party activists through an unsuccessful 2017 candidacy for chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“In a crowded field, it’s hard to get yourself heard if you don’t have a national infrastructure to begin with,” she said.

Messam has campaigned in all four early primary and caucus states. On Thursday, he spoke to the Office and Professional Employees International Union and the 100 Black Men of America organization, both of which are meeting in Las Vegas.

“Where I am able to get my message out, I’m able to get some traction,” he said.

Seawright said that hasn’t happened enough for Messam. “If you ask the question to the average voter ‘Who he is?’ they would not know,” he said.

Even in South Florida, Messam isn’t terribly well known.

“I have to be honest with you. I think I heard his name once in the last few weeks,” said Tom Conboy, a progressive activist and chairman of the Democracy for America in Palm Beach County. “I really don’t know anything about him.”

Wayne Messam