f we had a healthy local party, here is what that might have looked like.
Party leaders could have engaged Democrats early in the spring to design a plan for the cycle that everybody bought into. Most likely, each Ward or City Leader would have been given clear responsibilities and goals to hit starting in June. Each City or Ward Leader would then have mobilized their precinct representatives for their area and doled out responsibilities. We would have had regular check-ins on who was hitting their numbers. If an area was not looking good, we would send in additional help.
Here’s what it looked like instead:
There was no consistent direction or resources given from Party leadership. Each Ward or City Leader was allowed to set their own course. Because many of the Leaders are also the city councilperson for their ward or the mayor for their city, many did not have time to get any electoral work done. Many precinct slots are unfilled. There is nobody to call on. Other precinct representatives just will not do the work, having been in the role for years without having to knock a door or make a call.
In sum, there was no county-wide plan and no sense that there would have been the resources to execute it if there had been one.
Of course, some wards and cities still built successful turnout programs. Indeed, hundreds of people – including dozens that I organized personally – did show up to get work done. And I will say that where a Ward Leader, precinct representative, or a volunteer expressed interest in engaging, CCDP provided resources as best they could. Without these efforts the turnout numbers could have been even worse.
But some Democrats doing good work on an ad-hoc basis is not the same as the Party having run a successful campaign in Cuyahoga County.
Looking at the turnout numbers and specifically the decline in Cleveland, it seems clear that the lack of political organizing had a material effect on the election. Some will read this argument and think I’m advocating for the rise of machine politics. I am not.
The everyday mechanics of good political organizing—the door-knocking, the neighborhood meetings—are not about bullying our neighbors to the polls. They are about engaging people who have given up on the political process because they no longer believe it has the power to improve their lives. Organizing is about giving people reason to believe that their act of voting is a meaningful decision that is worth doing.
