Experience with my local Dem party versus local activists [View all]

[Fast Walker 52]

Last edited Tue Apr 18, 2017, 01:34 PM - Edit history (1)

I've been trying to get more involved in my local Dem (county) party but have had a hard time getting anywhere. I have done some election day poll work for them in the past. The local party is an elderly bunch and really just seem to be there for running elections, and don't seem to have much interest in generating enthusiasm or in winning elections. Their monthly meetings about as boring as they could possibly be. They don't seem to do any real fundraising. I was dismayed that they recently had an election for new local party leadership, and they chose the same elderly lady who had previously been chair.

I live in a red state (Indiana), in a red county, and have a Republican US House representative (Todd Rokita). I've been tired of seeing the Dem House candidate get pummeled in election after election. A race that never gets any media attention. I'm sure it's a "safe" Republican seat. But still I feel like we need to really run a competitive race, and more importantly get some energy and money into the race.

I reached out to the guy in charge of running my congressional district race for the Dems, and he pointed me to a meeting last night which had some candidates that are running for Congressional representative. This meeting was put on by a local "Voices for Change" and local "Indivisible" chapter. They had invited Rokita, but he chickened out. I hadn't heard anything about this from the local Dem party!

There was real progressive energy at this meeting, and it was great. A LOT of talk about healthcare but also about environmental issues and jobs. Our representative Rokita was really unpopular with this crowd, and there's a lot of energy to remove him. Unfortunately, none of the potential candidates were that thrilling and it was hard to see them being real competitive. The ladies who spoke from Voice for Change actually seemed a lot better than the candidates. So one worry is getting good candidates. Another worry is getting money from the local Dems, who don't seem to have much.

Another worry is these local progressive groups may not be committed Dems. There was little mention of Democrats at this meeting and it was mostly about opposition to Trump and Republicans, though they did promote liberal/progressive ideas. The woman in charge of Voice for Change said she used to be a Republican, and got turned off on them.

So I think these non-Dem-affiliated groups are going to be our best bet for change, where the passion and energy is. I think Dems have to make sure they work effectively with these groups, though I'm not sure what is going to happen with my local party.

Anyway, I'd appreciate if anyone shared their thoughts about this situation.