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RALEIGH, N.C.Roy Cooper wants Democrats to do something they havent done in state politics in years: Go on offense.

His eyes on 2018 state Legislature races and potential special elections before then, the North Carolina governor is launching a multimillion-dollar, multiyear effort to knock Republicans out of the state capital. And national Democrats, reeling from losing hundreds of seats in statehouses across the country over the past decade, are hoping other governors pay close attention.

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Coopers initiative is the latest frontier in a state thats a cauldron of just about every political fight in Americaredistricting, voter ID, public education, gender. The two major parties are just about equally matched here, though unaffiliated voters outnumber Republicans. North Carolina is where Hillary Clinton swooped in for her final, exuberant past-midnight campaign rallyonly to see the race called later that day for Donald Trump; its where a local battle over who can use which bathroom became a national brawl over human sexuality.

Already, Cooper has quietly banked $1 million for his new group, Break the Majority, and plans to raise several million more, along with recruiting candidates and then campaigning for them in state Senate and General Assembly races. The money, being put into a new state Democratic Party account, will also cover salaries for what will effectively be a new campaign committee, with a dedicated communications director, research director, several junior staffers and cash for everything from field organizers to ads.

Given the cutthroat nature of politics in North Carolina, Coopers power play is especially audacious: Though there have been previous independent expenditures and coordinated campaigns in the state and beyond, an effort with this kind of focus and funding is unprecedented.

Until I get some leverage in the General Assembly, I cant get the things done in education, in economic development. I cant do as much to stop this social conservative legislation that makes us embarrassed as a state, and doesnt truly reflect who we are as North Carolinians, Cooper, who is six months into the job, told me in an interview in the governors mansion here for Politicos Off Message podcast. And its time for that to stop.

Cooper is coordinating closely on mechanics and messaging with Eric Holder, whos chairing the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. At the state partys Unity Dinner last weekend, Holder called North Carolina ground zero in the fight to restore our democracy as the finishing touches were being put on the launch for what NDRC executive director Kelly Ward calls a great model for Democratic governors across the country.

Cooper already had national Democrats paying attention: Hes the only swing-state candidate for governor or senator who won last year in a state Trump carried, thanks in large part to the outrage over HB-2, the transgender bathroom bill, and the businesses that pulled out of the state in response. Lanky, with a homegrown Nash County drawl and stories about growing up on a farm, plus two degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, hes exactly what many Democrats say theyve been waiting for. He kept them waiting for years, including four terms as state attorney general.

Ralph Northam, running for governor of Virginia this fall, and Gwen Graham, running for governor of Florida next year, are among those whove debriefed with Cooper, and Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez has expressed interest in learning from the victory, according to a person familiar with the conversations. The Democratic Governors Association hired Coopers campaign manager, Trey Nix, as its campaign director for the 2018 cycle.

Cooper tells the people who call him for advice to start early and commit to raising huge amounts of money to outspend opponents wholl likely have massive outside help. Campaign aides have pushed how they invested in online organizing, and how much time Cooper spent responding to attacks directly, on camera. They knew that he was a little more progressive than they were, but they also knew that he had a connection and cared about the state in a unique way, Nix says of North Carolina voters.

Cooper also stresses what he thinks is the connecting thread between taxes, education and jobs that most candidates miss: They have to figure out how to shake voters who believe Democrats are going to take something from them and give it to somebody else who doesnt deserve it.

But first, Cooper warns, Democrats need to get real about how completely Republicans have outmaneuvered them in state-level elections, and how, in the existential moment the party finds itself after the 2016 wipeout, its time to get scared straight. The Trump fatigue he says he already hears from North Carolinians isnt going to be enough.

Democrats didnt get it, Cooper says. And where else can you go at this point? We have to look at the root of the problem.

Winning a legislative majority is Coopers dreamoptimistically, some North Carolina Democrats say theres a chance of that by 2020. But for now, the goal is to break the GOPs supermajority in the General Assembly, which has allowed North Carolina Republicans to essentially govern around Cooper, overriding vetoes, cutting funding andin an example Democrats cite as pure proof of overreachthreatening to impeach the secretary of state.

The states districts are so gerrymandered that when HB-2 was passed last year under the previous governor, North Carolina Democrats point out, 90 percent of the legislators who voted for it had won their previous race by double digits, if they drew an opponent at all. They have complete confidence in their absolute authority, says Morgan Jackson, the top Democratic strategist in the state who is advising Cooper on Break the Majority.

In June, after years of litigation, the Supreme Court ruled that North Carolinas existing district map was racially gerrymandered and unconstitutional, and sent it back to district court to reconsider holding special elections before next November, as Democrats had been hoping for. Cooper says that makes the current Legislature itself unconstitutional, and he is calling for special elections before it gets to vote on another budget next year.

The current court situation makes special elections unlikely, creating complications for Cooper and the other Democrats whove fanned out to begin recruiting: State law requires that legislators live in their districts to run, and right now, no one knows where the eventual district lines will be, and thus whod be eligible where.

But given how many legislators have never faced competitive races because of the current legislative map, Cooper and his colleagues feel optimistic, citing the kind of energy in the base and turnout at local political meetings that Democrats say theyve been seeing around the country since Trump won. Theres a great deal of enthusiasm. Theres a great deal of check-writing, too, says Dan Blue, the state Senate minority leader.

Coopers political career is a sometimes puzzling mix of boldness and caution. He got his start in politics fresh out of law school, running a successful primary against the then-majority leader of the General Assembly. He says hes agnostic about primaries in the races hes recruiting for now.

Hes less agnostic about running for president, of which theres been some talk: Despite a party that has no clear 2020 front-runner, despite Cooper fitting a Bill Clintonesque profile of a Democratic governor from a conservative Southern state, despite his approaching politics with a tactical, figure-out-how-to-win and just-make-it-happen-sensibility, no one close to him sees any chance of that. This is a guy, after all, who spent 15 years as attorney general never quite feeling the fire in the belly to run for the job he has now.

Among the people still holding out hope that he might is Jim Hunt, a former North Carolina governor who remains a dominant Democratic presence in the state 16 years after finishing his fourth term and is a gushing Cooper fan.

He doesnt want to be presidentyet, Hunt says.

But Hunt, who ran a smaller independent-expenditure effort on behalf of state legislators when he was in office, says hes fine with Cooper focusing on winning a majority for now.

You know its a huge job, Hunt says of Coopers ambitious plan to oust his rivals, because no one in America has done it successfully.

Continued here:
Can Roy Cooper Show Democrats How to Win Again? - POLITICO ... - POLITICO Magazine

WASHINGTON There areearly signs of Democratic enthusiasmin Texasin the latest round of federal campaign finance report filings over the weekend, but whether that fundraising support will translate into trouble for Republicans remains to be seen.

Four GOP incumbents from Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and U.S. Reps. John Culberson of Houston, Ted Poe of Humble and Lamar Smith of San Antonio found in recent days that theirDemocratic challengers hadposted better fundraising hauls than they hadin the second quarter of this year.

"It's happening in other places as well," said Achim Bergmann, a Democratic consultant who has clients across the country including one challenging Culberson. "It's particularly surprising and encouraging in a place like Texas, and it might be an indication of where Republicans are taking things for granted and are going to be sorry."

This sort of scenario is the first sign of incumbent danger in political circles, but most of these incumbents already have hefty war chests from previous campaigns.

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"Comparing a quarter's worth of fundraising is like declaring victory after one inning of a baseball game," cautioned Nathan Gonzales, a political analyst at Inside Campaigns, a political newsletter.

The most recent fundraising stretch early April through the end of June marked a time when dozens of Democratic challengers declared their campaigns for office around the state. The Democrats highlighted below either out-paced or nearly out-paced their Republican rivals in the second quarter.

U.S. Senate

U.S. House races:

Whileads fromsuper PACshave oftendominatedthe television airwavesahead of elections in recent years, candidate fundraising still matters because it illustrates enthusiasm and candidatesare able tobook TV ads at a lower price than outside groups.

Bragging rights are due for any challenger who raises more than an incumbent many donors refuse to give to challengers.But the first quarter is often among a candidate's strongest; it's the low-hanging fruit and easiest ask.

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Additionally, some of this money will be spent by Democrats to survive their own primaries.The Houston-based Democratic primary for Culberson's seathas the potential to turn into a financial arms race, with Democratic candidates spending hundreds of thousands to make it through both a primary election and expected runoff.

While some GOP incumbents may have posted comparatively weak second quarters, months and years of previous fundraising keep them on strong footing going forward.

"These Democrats are off to a great start, but this is a long game, and most of them will have to do even better," said Gonzales.

Other noteworthy fundraising:

Disclosure: Joseph Kopser has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewedhere.

Read related Tribune coverage:

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing legislation to rename the street outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., after pro-democracy dissidentLiu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who died in Chinese custody on Thursday. [link]

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Four Texas Republicans in Congress were just outraised by Democratic challengers - Texas Tribune

OXFORD - Democrats in Oxford unanimously nominated Scott Flaherty as their candidate for first selectman at their caucus Monday night.

Flaherty made his political debut last year, as a candidate for state representative in the 131st District. He is a bar manager and longtime Oxford resident, who worked for more than 10 years at the Oxford House, on Route 67.

I look forward to working with both sides, he said after the caucus. The current polarized climate is not helping anyone.

Flaherty will face Republican First Selectman George Temple, who is serving his third term.

The other candidates are:

John T. Powers, for a seat on the Board of Finance. A veteran of the U.S. Navy Submarine Service, he most recently served as a senior project team lead for AT&T in Meriden.

Christin Kimball, for a seat on the Board of Education. She is the founder and owner of Sasstastic Designs, in Oxford, which develops and designs corporate identity and branding for independent business owners. She is also an adjunct professor of communications at Southern Connecticut State University.

Pete Zbras, for a seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission. He has been an alternate on the board since 2013.

Betsi Hellman, for a seat on the Zoning Board of Appeals. A town resident for more than 25 years, she founded the Oxford Library Foundation in 1999. She and her husband own two small businesses in the town: Aeroturn LLC, which manufactures turnstiles, and Brighton & Hove Ltd., an engineering consulting firm.

Margaret West, for Town Clerk. She is the long-serving incumbent in that office.

Originally posted here:
Oxford Democrats tap candidate for first selectman - CT Post

NEW YORK-- House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley hesitated when asked about his party's core message to voters.

"That message is being worked on," the New York congressman said in an interview this past week. "We're doing everything we can to simplify it, but at the same time provide the meat behind it as well. So that's coming together now."

The admission from the No. 4 House Democrat - that his party lacks a clear, core message even amid Republican disarray - highlights the Democrats' dilemma eight months after President Donald Trump and the GOP dominated last fall's elections, in part, because Democrats lacked a consistent message.

The soul-searching comes as Democrats look to flip at least 24 GOP-held seats necessary for a House majority and cut into Republican advantages in U.S. statehouses in the 2018 midterm elections. Yet with a Russia scandal engulfing the White House, a historically unpopular health-care plan wrenching Capitol Hill and no major GOP legislative achievement, Democrats are still struggling to tell voters what their party stands for.

Some want to rally behind calls to impeach the Republican president as new evidence indicates possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Russian government. Democratic leaders are reluctant to pursue that approach as it only energizes the GOP base. Others want Democrats to focus on the GOP's plans to strip health insurance from millions of Americans. And still others say those arguments can be fashioned into a simplified brand.

"The Democratic Party needs to up its game," national Party Chairman Tom Perez said in a speech this week. "What I hear most from people is, 'Tom, we not only need to organize, but we need to articulate clearly what we stand for.'"

For now, at least, Democrats are waging a tug-of-war largely between the Russia investigation and the GOP's attempts to gut the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Several liberal groups that had been laser-focused on health care have intensified calls for impeachment in recent weeks, including MoveOn.org, Indivisible and Ultraviolet.

"We need to be talking about impeachment constantly," said Scott Dworkin, co-founder of the recently formed Democratic Coalition Against Trump. He warned on Twitter, "If you're an elected Dem & you're not talking impeachment or 25th amendment then find a new party."

Yet one of the left's favorites, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is focusing almost exclusively on health care.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, said in an interview that "there should not be a rush to judgment" after emails released by Donald Trump's son this week revealed that Trump's top advisers held a meeting with a lawyer they were told represented the Russian government.

Sanders sidestepped questions about impeachment, warning instead that "many, many thousands of Americans" will die every year if the GOP health care plan becomes law. Sanders has hosted swing state rallies focused on health care in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio in recent weeks and was in Iowa on Saturday.

Democratic operative Zac Petkanas, who led Hillary Clinton's campaign war room, agrees that this week's developments in the Russia investigation shouldn't change the party's focus heading into 2018.

"Candidates need to be saying the word 'health care' five times for every time they say the word 'Russia,'" Petkanas said. He added, "I think it's a fundamental mistake to make this election a referendum on impeachment."

It's not that easy for some elected officials, like Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., who says concerns about Russia have caught up to health care as a priority among his constituents. He described the Russian developments as "a threat to our foundation of democracy" that demands attention.

"Congress has to be able to walk and chew gum. We have to be able to do both," Kennedy said.

Democrats are naturally playing defense given generations of victories that expanded the role of government, from the social safety net of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to Lyndon Johnson's landmark civil rights legislation to Obama's health care law.

But many Democrats outside Washington insist they must go beyond opposing Trump and his policies if they expect to make major gains in 2018 and beyond.

"Democrats would make a mistake if we thought pounding Trump and not having an authentic message of our own is a winning strategy," said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. "The message of Democrats has to be about issues that matter to people at their kitchen table."

In South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Democrats don't have to retreat from their opposition to Trump, including talking about Russia, but they must tie it all together with a consistent theme that goes beyond day-to-day news cycles.

"It's very simple," he said. "We exist to help people go about their lives, to protect their rights and freedoms and opportunities."

Jason Crow, a Democrat running for Congress in a Colorado swing district, said voters regularly ask him about the Russia story, which "goes to the core of our institutions and our faith in government." But he's anchoring his pitch on issues that "are real and immediate to people's lives: going to college, paying the bills, financing a house, whether they can go and get the health care they need right now in an affordable and accessible way."

Meanwhile, Crowley said voters may have to wait a few more months before they hear national Democrats' new message.

"We're all working on that," Crowley said. "We're hoping to have this up and running and out by this fall."

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Democrats split over core message to voters as 2018 midterms loom - CBS News

Nurses gather to protest health-care cuts at the National Day of Action in Los Angeles on January 15, 2017. (National Nurses United)

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We have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. It is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter From Birmingham Jail

Despite efforts by the political establishment to shut it down, the quest for a state-based, Medicare-for-all type system in California, based on patient need, not corporate profits, rolls on.

After SB 562 passed the California Senate in early June, California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon unilaterally blocked the bill from advancing before a single hearing could be held or a single amendment could be considered.

Nurses, the lead sponsors of the bill, and thousands of health-care and community activists who have organized and mobilized in support of SB 562, responded with multiple protests at the State Capitol, canvassing and hosting a town-hall meeting in Rendons Los Angelesarea district, and flooding social media in protest.

They are far from done. Activists will work to hold every member of the California Assembly accountable, insisting all sign on as co-sponsors of the bill and declare whether they agree that insurance companies should be the determinants of our health. They are also reminding Rendon that there is still time to move the bill in a legislative session that does not end until mid-September.

With Rendon claiming he acted because the bill is woefully inadequate, many have wondered what the job is of elected representatives if not to hold hearings and make amendments to legislation they think need changes.

Corporate-media critics have been quick to inflate the projected cost of a system to guarantee health care for all Californians, with real patient choice, and no premiums, deductibles, or co-pays that reinforce an inequitable system based on ability to pay.

But economist Robert Pollin, lead author of a study on the potential costs, recently wrote that the bill could deliver decent health care to all 39 million California residents while also lowering overall costs of health care by about 8 percent relative to the existing system. Under Pollins recommended approach, virtually every California household and business would spend less on health care than they do today.

The real issue is not costit is political will and political priorities. Will state legislators be accountable to the 40 percent of the states population who remain without any coverage or with out-of-pocket costs so high they face financial stress or ruin if they seek to get care?

Or will they continue to protect their corporate donors who hold as much sway in Sacramento, even with its two-thirds Democratic majority, as they do in Trumps Washington? As Lydia ONeil and David Sirota have noted, donors from the health services sector and major health insurers gave more than $16 million to Democratic candidates and the California Democratic Party in the 2014 election cycle.

The seminal fight for SB 562 also reflects a national struggle for the movement for social change in the United States. In a decade in which Democrats have lost 1,000 national and state elections under the umbrella of a status-quo leadership that remains more responsive to Wall Street, K Street, and Silicon Valley than to its grassroots base, the battle for single payer/Medicare for All takes on added significance.

A recent national poll shows that 60 percent of Americans believe it is the federal governments responsibility to make sure all Americans have health coverage. The question remains: Will those who control the Democratic Party believe that resistance to Trump is enough to win lost voters, or do they need to actively promote real populist reforms, like Medicare for All?

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Opponents of SB 562, from the inner circle of the Democratic Party to their allies in the mainstream, and even some in the liberal or supposed progressive media, have cited the pretext that we must wait while fighting the threat of repeal of Obamacare, falsely characterized some components of the bill even as amendments are blocked by Speaker Rendon, or denounced assertive tactics of the campaign by supporters to pass the bill.

We can draw lessons from the words of Dr. King, during the great civil-rights movement, written from solitary confinement in a dismal Birmingham jail cell in 1963.

Dr. King chastised the white moderates who, with their criticism of direct nonviolent action and greater devotion to order than to justice, often posed a greater stumbling block to the stride toward freedom than the most virulent opponents in their path.

And he had stern words for those who always advised African Americans to wait for a more convenient season.

For years now, wrote Dr. King, I have heard the word Wait! This Wait has almost always meant Never. We must come to seethat justice too long delayed is justice denied.

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Since When Is It Not Okay to Play Hardball With the Democrats? - The Nation.