Non Aggression Pact My Ass-- Homey Don't Play That

-by Tracy B Ann

The powers that be in the Democratic Party don’t seem to understand the importance of running a Democrat in every election, every time. It seems so simple to me, and obvious. Not giving the voters a choice is not Democratic.

Are some of those Democratic candidates going to lose? You bet they are! By simply running though, they are doing a lot of things, not least important, giving the voters a choice.

It’s been said at the top of some state parties that "running a Democrat will bring the Republicans out to vote." Umm, ok, not quite sure about that logic but it does seem that not running a Democrat sure does suppress the Democratic vote.

Voters stop showing up when there is no one from their party for them to vote for cycle after cycle. Writing in your own name is only fun so many times.

Dr. Reid of 90for90 was told that same thing when he went about registering Democrats to vote. “Oh, no! You’ll register Republicans also" Well, for one thing, as Dr. Reid himself would say, that’s ok, we want them to vote too. For another thing, he was doing targeted voter registration that makes sense.

Want to register Democrats? Probably don’t try to do it at Klan rallies. Do it at rallies to raise the minimum wage and protect women’s rights.

By running a Democrat in every race, every time, you will also be holding the place for the Democrats to come, setting up the shot for them to win in the future, and forcing the Republicans to spend funds where they didn’t plan on it. It’s playing the long game.

Something else the top of the party says is that they don’t want to run a candidate where they know they can’t win, because heaven forbid they should lose. There are a lot of ways to lose. You can lose by not running a candidate or you can lose running a candidate. Either method has a loser, one is just the biggest loser and that’s the method of not running a candidate.

Special circumstances dictate exactly why there should be a Democrat in every race; you never know what might happen before an election. Candidates can get caught up in scandals, drop out for a variety of personal reasons, or suffer tragedies. Looks pretty bad to not have a Democratic candidate when this happens.

How do you get a candidate to run in what will most surely be a losing race? A good start would be changing the party mindset about losing. Edison tried to invent the light bulb thousands of times. Reportedly he never thought he failed. He would get excited with every attempt, “That's 999 ways to not invent a light bulb, let's go for 1,000.” There is a saying in the self help world "If you have nothing to lose by trying, and everything to gain, then by all means TRY."

Find some local dentists, contractors, accountants etc. and ask them to run for office. They won’t win but they’ll get some PR, without spending a penny. There is no need for them to campaign, just put their name on a ballot.

Thousands of people will see that name and when they start looking for a dentist, accountant or contactor they’ll see a name that sounds familiar and choose that one. No one will remember where they saw the name, just that it seems familiar.

There really is nothing to lose... except, when there is. There are places where either the state party or, say, a powerful Democratic Senator, has a non aggression pact with the Republicans. They are busy playing footsie and protecting their Republican friends and actually don’t want a Democratic candidate running.

They are so invested in not having a Democrat running that they may threaten to ruin someone's career if they step up. If that’s happening, it might not be the best idea for that dentist, contractor or accountant to put their necks on the chopping block names on the ballot.

In that case, the thing to do would be to find a progressive 21 year old college kid who gives fuck all about what some old fart Senator thinks. That kid really does have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

In Virginia there is just such a senator, Senator Lionell Spruill and he’s been not supporting Democratic candidates for years. He has said he "will not endorse a Democrat just because they’re a Democrat…" The time to be choosey is during a primary, in a general election it’s time to support the Democratic candidates.

If those at the top of the state and local parties can’t understand this maybe they need a reminder that Democratic voters want representation. In every race, every time.

The Democratic Party of Virginia — (804) 644-1966

Susan Swecker, chair@vademocrats.org - Chairwoman, Democratic Party of Virginia
Gaylene Kanoyton, gaylenesevents@cox.net - 1st Vice Chair, Organization
Marc K. Broklawski, marc@vademocrats.org - DNC, 2nd Vice Chair of Rules
Dave Leichtman, dleichtman@gmail.com - Vice Chair, Technology & Communications
Sen. L. Louise Lucas, senlucas@aol.com - Vice Chair, Outreach
Tyler Bishop, tbishop@mwcllc.com - Vice Chair, Finance