Taking Back America: On Democrats and Safe Seats

I posted a version of this on MyDD and Daily Kos, and based on feedback I got decided it's generally applicable enough that it can go here, too (full disclosure: the versions on those sites are blatant pitches for support).

As you know, David's running for office in Virginia. Here in the Commonwealth, just like nationally, Republicans approach their safe seats strategically. They nominate and elect young conservatives who build relationships, gain experience, and establish a record and a war chest for subsequent runs for higher office. Republicans use their safe seats as platforms - for moving the state rightward, to establish legitimacy, over time, for ideas that take some selling, to generate money, organization, and support for less-safe legislators, and most of all, to build a farm team.

Democrats approach our safe seats, well...less strategically. We reward loyalty and nominate and elect people who've waited their turn. We nominate and elect people who convince us best that they can "work with the Republicans" - without ever giving any real indication of how that might happen. One of David's opponents said, in a public forum, that she would accomplish it in part by taking each and every one of the Delegates to lunch. Funny, I wonder what it is on the Chili's menu that she thinks will turn the right-wing legislators, who this year voted against birth control and seriously considered making it mandatory to report miscarriages to the police, into reasonable people open to reasonable policies. I can't wait to hear which burger does that. I'd suggest she do the research first, then run for office.

In the meantime, there are at least two safe Democratic Virginia House seats that are open this year - the 57th District (Charlottesville), the seat from which strong progressive leader Mitch Van Yahres is stepping down, and the 45th, the seat from which long time progressive Marian Van Landingham is stepping down.

David's running in the 45th, and in this district, Democrats have a choice. We can act like Democrats in safe seats and dutifully elect someone who's going to be a safe Democratic vote, someone who's been waiting his or her turn, someone who tries to convince us that the key qualification is willingness to try to get to know the Republicans in Richmond better. Or, we can learn from our Republican counterparts' successes in dramatically shifting the agenda in this state (not to mention, nationally). We can elect a young, true, and strong progressive leader who understands that, while legislating is ultimately about compromise, and that until the ratio changes we're going to continue to be disappointed in what comes out of the VA House, we must never start from a position of compromise.

We must start out fighting for what we really want, even while we know what we'll ultimately get will be a compromise. Republicans start out at what they want and compromise when they have to. Democrats start out with what we hope we can get and then compromise some more. It's no great mystery how politics has shifted increasingly to the right - Republicans have systematically pulled it there, and Democrats, by and large, have walked along behind them.

Democrats in safe seats can and do have a huge impact on the future of the party, and whether we'll ever be a governing majority again. We have twenty years of Republican history to learn from, and it's about time we start applying those lessons. Safe seats aren't for moderates, they're not for compromise, and they're not for rewarding party hacks. Safe seats are tools for change.

When he announced his retirement from the 57th, Delegate Van Yahres called on Democrats to break form and elect some new blood:

"Since 2000 the level of petty partisanship in the House of Delegates has increased to almost intolerable levels. Democrats spend all our time trying to defeat the increasing number of bills that attempt to take away people's rights; whether these efforts are directed at women, non-Christians, gays, immigrants, or anyone else that the majority party doesn't like. The General Assembly used to be about protecting rights and helping those who can't help themselves. Now it's about a narrow conservative political ideology and getting re-elected....

In order for this to change we need more energetic young members. So I have decided to step down to let a new generation of Democratic leadership take over."

Amen, Mitch. You'll be very much missed, but let's see if Democrats in the 45th, the 57th, and in every other open safe seat take your sage advice.