Democrats Could Claim a New American Majority. Will They?

*Mr. Jones was helped by weak Republican turnout. But what made the difference in Alabama were independent, under-the-radar, grass-roots, on-the-ground voter turnout efforts by black leaders and organizers in black neighborhoods across the state. Leaders such as DeJuana Thompson, Latosha Brown and Marvin Randolph organized and conducted programs that mobilized a large number of African-American voters. Organizations such as BlackPAC blanketed the state with canvassers doing the old-fashioned work of picking people up and escorting them to the polls. These groups and leaders are the “hidden figures” of the Alabama election, and in many ways such independent efforts rescued the Jones campaign from its disproportionate focus on white Republican voters.

Given the misdirected spending priorities, Democrats were lucky that many groups in Alabama, especially black organizers (and especially black women), stepped in, picked up the slack and turned out the vote. Looking ahead to 2018, can Democrats progress from being lucky to being smart? Being smart means learning the lessons of Alabama and moving money in ways that will continue to chalk up wins.

The outlook for 2018 is hopeful with the right plans. Yes, Alabama’s outcome was partly because Roy Moore was a poor candidate with excessive baggage. But this formula for victory is more applicable in other states because most white voters outside of Alabama are not as conservative as those inside the state.

By emphasizing turnout in 2018 — especially of voters of color — Democrats can take control of the Senate, the House of Representatives and at least five statehouses. Republicans’ margin in the Senate has now slipped to just a two-seat advantage, and the Senate contests in Arizona, Nevada and Texas are all winnable if there is a robust turnout of voters of color. Texas may be considered as conservative as Alabama, but its actual demographics are much more favorable: Only 53 percent of Texas eligible voters are white (and a quarter of the whites are strong Democrats). Mr. Trump won Texas by 800,000 votes, but there were four million eligible, nonvoting people of color in 2016, three million Latinos alone.

In the 2018 races for governorships, six states could swing from red to blue with the right voter mobilization plan and the proper funding and support. Maryland and Illinois are decisively Democratic, for example, but have Republican governors because Democratic turnout has been abysmal in the off-year elections. . .

If Democrats want to win, they will elevate and give broad budgetary authority to strategists and organizers with long histories and deep ties in the country’s communities of color. They sent Doug Jones to the United States Senate, and they can bring Democrats back to prominence and power in states and districts across the country.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/opinion/democrats-alabama-campaigns.html?