After building their bench in 2018, Dems risk losing focus on state and local races
Democrats are giddy to start the presidential race but the group of party leaders who spent 2018 focusing on state and local office have an urgent request: Don’t forget about us.
These Democrats they are worried that the party risks overlooking important campaigns amid a presidential contest that’s almost certain to gobble up the left’s attention, enthusiasm, and, critically, dollars.
“It is not an existential crisis, but it can very quickly become an existential crisis,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, a progressive start-up that encourages young men and women to run for office.
Run for Something didn’t even exist before Donald Trump’s election in 2016 but became an important group in part because of its funding from big donors, who supplied half of its budget, according to Litman.
But the group’s co-founder says she already senses more reluctance from donors since the midterms and she thinks that’s because interest has shifted to the presidential primary. She and others worry that fundraising won’t become any easier as the relatively small community of big-time donors are regularly hounded by multiple White House candidates.
“It’s already an uphill battle,” Litman said.
Losing focus non-presidential races was a significant problem for Democrats during Barack Obama’s presidency, when the party lost about a thousand state and federal offices. The defeats drove Democrats out of power in Congress and many state legislatures.
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