WASHINGTON – As the Democratic Party hits the final stretch of a nationwide organizing push, party leaders including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota are trying to strike the right balance between connecting with new voters and building on activist anger toward President Donald Trump.
Ellison, the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, helped guide what the party called its "Resistance Summer" meant to mobilize, train and register voters at the grass roots level in all 50 states. At a time when the party's power in Washington is at a low point, a recent ABC/Washington Post poll crystallized the challenge for Democrats: it found just 37 percent of Americans believe the party stands for something beyond opposing Trump.
"We just haven't been in the community with people closely enough, we have not been present enough, we have not been at the door, at the meeting, at the rally, at the town hall," Ellison said in an interview, going on to stress that human contact is always preferable to sophisticated, technology-driven voter targeting efforts.
Ellison assumed the deputy chair post earlier this year after losing a bid for chairman, and said Democratic activists in recent months have reached out to voters at hundreds of events, including door knocks and phone banks all over the country. The biggest organizing day yet is scheduled for Saturday, when participants will fan out for a unified "day of action." In the Minneapolis area, Ellison has a goal of attempting to reach 2,500 voters.
"We're going to rely on relationship building and ... let technology serve that goal, rather than the other way around," said Ellison, a six-term congressman from Minneapolis.
Ellison also found last week the balancing act necessary to satisfy more ardent Democrats and progressives without alienating swing voters, perhaps even voters who chose Trump last year but might be having second thoughts. At a party organizing event on Friday, Ellison said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was acting more responsibly than Trump in their back-and-forth over the country's nuclear escalation.
Ellison quickly retracted that remark. But he said he believes Democrats can't shy away from opposing Trump. Citing Republican health care plans that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would take insurance away from millions of Americans, Ellison asked: "What are we supposed to do, not oppose him?"
The DNC's push to define its message and purpose and to intensify local organizing comes even as party leaders, including Ellison, work to rebuild trust with existing party activists — many of whom were unhappy with the tenure of former Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was seen as favoring Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders in last year's presidential race.
