The Democratic Party playbook must change if liberals are to win the future

Despite fumble after fumble by the GOP in recent weeks — including President Donald Trump’s chief budget officer making the public case to allow small children, the elderly, and infirm to go hungry and a healthcare plan that would leave 24 million people uninsured — a resurgence for those of us who believe in progressive values is not guaranteed.

Mocking GOP failure has not worked so far, and won’t again. The truth is, Democrats and progressives need to learn the right lessons from 2016 on representation and strategy — and that just hasn’t happened yet. We need better leaders, and a better strategy to engage and empower the progressive base.

{mosads}Take Congress to start. Let’s not mince words — the Democratic Congressional leadership going into 2017 — especially in the Senate — is old, white, largely male, and stale. In contrast, the progressive base is made up of women of color, black and brown people, young people, and working class people.

And yet , democrats have managed to put only one older black man, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), in leadership to represent that entire coalition. It isn’t enough.

We desperately need diverse, progressive leaders who know what it means to be poor in America, to be Black in America, or to be a Latinx in America — and for those leaders to translate that into a vision for an America that works for all of us, not just the wealthy.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IIl.) was handcuffed at an ICE office in Chicago last week for trying to protect a constituent and friend whose family may be torn apart by Trump’s deportation policies. His work for Latinx communities facing an onslaught of racial profiling and deportations is inspiring because he lives and breathes the fight for justice as well. So why isn’t he being lifted up to formal leadership?

With huge wins for diverse candidates in recent elections giving us the most diverse Senate Democratic Caucus in history, the time has come for Democrats to break with tradition and bring newer voices into leadership.

This is a time for bold, innovative action. Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), or Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) would all make excellent picks. We cannot hope to re-engage our base without breaking the norms of seniority given that when most Democrats in the Senate’s leadership were elected, diversity in government was nonexistent.

Outside of Congressional leadership, Democrats failed again at their first opportunity for a national response to Trump — foregoing a huge bench of up-and-comers for yet another conservative older white man in Gov. Steve Beshear. 

The Democrats did manage to elect an Afro Latinx and Black Muslim American to lead the Party, but couldn’t manage to put either Tom Perez or Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MINN) in front of a camera after Trump’s speech.

Meanwhile — rank and file members of Congress, like Rep. Gutierrez, are leading without ever being selected. Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian American woman elected to Congress from Seattle, has quickly become an inspiring voice on the frontlines fighting for women and working families. 

Booker, one of two Black men in the U.S. Senate, has long led the fight against mass incarceration. But they need a bigger platform if they are going to help progressive values win.

Progressives obviously need more than just diverse leaders — to truly make a comeback nationally, the Left must also work with those leaders to rebuild progressive infrastructure from the ground up in all 50 states. For too long progressive funders, consultants, and operatives have been stuck on national TV ads, expensive digital consultants, and the new darling of political tech — peer-to-peer texting. 

These are all incredible tools, but they will only work if they are accompanied by deep relationship building and year-round organizing, block by block.

After years of brutal losses at the national level, the time has come to prioritize organizing at the hyper-local level on races long ignored by the establishment, but that communities are most excited about — from school board members to elected prosecutors.

There are many groups already engaged in this work — like BYP100, Oakland Rising, or National People’s Action. Most are under-funded, if they are funded at all. But they are experiencing huge surges of interest from their communities who see these races as immediate opportunities to make a difference.

The 2016 election showed us that this is the time to question old assumptions. If progressives are willing to throw norms out the window, a comeback is possible.

Jen Ancona is a Latinx political strategist, organizer of progressive donors, and has worked building the political power of black and brown communities for 12 years at organizations such as PowerPAC.org and Citizen Engagement Lab.

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