Here in New York in 2014 we had a primary for governor. Zephyr Teachout challenged our incumbent Governor, Governor 1% Andrew Cuomo, from the left for the Democratic nomination and got clobbered 60 to 35. I wrote an analysis afterwards about how the primary played out in the City which you can read here. The point of that analysis was to hopefully learn something about populist Democratic primary challenges from the left with the hopes that this would improve understanding about how to win these challenges rather than, as is almost always the case, lose them:
In summary, Governor 1% Andrew Cuomo won in some of the City's poorest State Assembly districts while Zephyr Teachout won in some of the City's richest. This is the inverse of what should happen in a liberal primary challenge. These lessons can be applied practically anywhere in the country, but they are especially instructive in New York's case.
If the polls are correct, the campaign of Bernie Sanders is headed for a similar fate as Teachout's: lots of support from affluent white liberals, little support from less affluent people of color, ultimately ending in defeat. The question is will progressives learn anything from it this time?
In 2010, Lt. Governor Bill Halter launched a strong challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, a primary target of national progressives. He too came up short, largely because he failed to secure the votes of people of color:
Lincoln already held a sizable advantage with Arkansas' African American voters before being forced into a runoff. In the initial primary matchup in May, Lincoln beat Halter 58 to 42 percent among blacks, compared with her much narrower 44 to 43 percent performance across the electorate, Patterson said.
I could point to case after case where these efforts have fallen short for this exact same reason. But for some reason, progressive activists don't seem to mind losing these primaries or changing their tactics and strategies to win. No matter how many cases prove why they lost. The liberal Sanders Campaign is no different and even now many progressives keep scratching their heads, not getting it.
So I'll try and sum up a few quick pointers, once again, on how to solve this problem in order to build a real populist, progressive campaign that wins, rather than loses.
In the Summer of last year I noted the first thing I would do if I were the Sanders Campaign manager:
He'd be in the South Bronx, rural West Virginia and South Texas and every place like it. On foot. Every single day. Even in red states. NOT in Berkeley or Santa Fe or the Upper West Side. Or any other place in any way similar.
The entire point of that is so you don't do what progressive campaigns so often do: start out courting affluent white liberals with progressive rhetoric that appeals to them, then swooping in days before election day with pictures of Martin Luther King and some off the wall unknown endorser playing catch up. Work to build a relationship with these communities on their terms, highlighting the issues that they are talking about. Listen more than preach. Get familiar with nuances of the cultural happenings. These things can only happen when a candidate is on the ground, close to the action, far from the glare of the media, in intimate settings. Do the hard work, just like one does in liberal communities to build up credibility. Like I said in that diary:
7. Church. Be a guest there. As often as possible. Poor people who vote go to chuch.
That's a fact, like it or not. Most folks of this income, church can be their only ray of hope in tough times and progressives have to respect that. Don't go telling these folks what they ought to care about. Instead, ask them. Think for people of color income inequality is a brand new pressing issue? Try a constant state of affairs like the weather. In summary, begin building the campaign HERE. The best thing about this is this: if progressives can win these voters by doing the hard work, the candidate will get the traditional liberal white vote automatically! They'll see the message is resonating with the people who need to hear it most and won't care if they never see you get 20,000 people in Berkeley. They'll chip in the cash and turn out their votes. That's when the more centrist candidate knows the pressure is on, not when a candidate simply focuses on the people who already sold.
What's even better is recruiting candidates who come from the community to ally with you. Congresswoman Donna Edwards campaign for the house should be a national model of how progressives can win establishment challenges and new allies. The moribund and aging House Democratic Conference is ripe for the picking, but one has to do the hard work in order to win. It isn't going to happen any other way. In every district, I am certain, there is a city councilperson or school board leader who might have the stuff to win a challenge. Focus on them, recruit them, groom them, and most importantly support them financially as much as the Sanders Campaign has been supported. That's a real revolution for electoral victory and not just affirming news coverage. Furthermore, in many of these seats the primary is the election. One doesn't even need a huge number of votes to win.
Finally, something about ideological purity. Drop it. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter how long such and such has been a progressive warrior if they are a bad candidate, lacking the skillset and profile of a winning politician. Not only will such a person not win, but they'll be ineffective in building the kinds of coalitions one needs to get things done. Senator Elizabeth Warren may not be as progressive pure as Senator Sanders, but she is an effective politician and certainly good enough to get things done. As I've stated, and many other black commenters agreed, she has given the best speech on racial issues I've ever heard. You don't need an ideological purist to carry the fight. What you need is a skilled fighter beholden to your interests. It doesn't matter if the candidate is in it for the fame, in it for the ambition, or in it for the power. Or that they once worked on Wall Street, or in Silicon Valley, or for a major corporation. What matters is they the candidate understands progressive voters and donors are the key to victory and safety. That's how you gain power, which should be the ultimate goal, not making noise.
At some point progressives need to stop talking like losers. 'We did pretty good.' 'We fought the good fight.''42% for 2nd place is a stunning accomplishment.' In our system of elections, the winner takes all. The loser gets nothing. Progressives at some point need to get sick of walking away with nothing after so much passionate effort. Or with some meaningless platitudes from the winning candidate so one can say 'we pushed them to the left!' If progressives want to win, learn something from losing. Start the movement where it matters most and build out from there.