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Newly elected DNC Chair Thomas Perez shown here in June 2016 as the secretary of the Labor Department under President Obama says Democrats need a "50-state strategy" to defeat Republicans at all levels of government. Pete Marovich/Getty Images hide caption

Newly elected DNC Chair Thomas Perez shown here in June 2016 as the secretary of the Labor Department under President Obama says Democrats need a "50-state strategy" to defeat Republicans at all levels of government.

When President Trump delivers his speech at the Capitol on Tuesday, he'll be looking out at a GOP-controlled Congress. It's now new DNC Chairman Tom Perez's job to coordinate the opposition to change that dynamic.

The former labor secretary was elected on Saturday in Atlanta.

Perez tells NPR's Steve Inskeep Democrats have a lot of work to do.

"We need a 50-state strategy plus the territories, and that's what we talked about down in Atlanta last week, making sure that we redefine our mission as a Democratic Party so that we're not simply electing the president, but we're also working to elect people from the from the school board to the Senate across the nation," he says.

On whether a 50-state strategy has a realistic way of competing in red states

Well, absolutely. You look at what happened in Kansas. Donald Trump won by 14 points, and [Democrats] picked up 14 seats in the state legislature because there's radical social engineering going on by Gov. Brownback. [Editor's note: Democrats in Kansas netted 12, not 14 seats in the legislature.] In Alaska, for instance, the House of Representatives flipped Democratic. When we invest in these states and when we have an "every ZIP code strategy," we can succeed because our values and our message, I think, it resonates with the American people. We are the party that fights for Medicare. We're the party that fights for Social Security. We're the party that fights for good wages and we have to communicate that.

On opposing a president who says he wants to preserve Medicare and Social Security

Well, that budget will not allow him to preserve Medicare and Social Security. He talks the talk but they don't walk the walk. He's talked the talk of "I'm going to help the little guy" and ... one of the first things he does on Jan. 20 is to take executive action to make it harder for first-time homeowners to buy a home. A few days later he's making it harder for people to save for retirement. We implemented an overtime rule at the Department of Labor, and he's seeking to roll that back. So he talks the talk, but the reality is he's not draining the swamp. He's filling it with billionaires.

On whether Democrats in Congress will work with Republicans on an Affordable Care Act replacement

The reality is the Republicans don't have ... a replacement. This is a repeal, and when you repeal, what you're saying to people like Ward, who I met a long haul truck driver who in 2015, March 1, got his coverage, on March 15 got his liver transplant. And when I asked him "What do you want to do now, Ward, that you have your life back?" He said, "I want to work again." That's what the Affordable Care Act has done. It has been a lifesaver for people. And when you are trying to repeal something that has created access to health insurance for so many people, that makes no sense. And that's why we're fighting against it.

Originally posted here:
With Republicans In Charge, Democrats Plan To Redefine Their Mission - NPR

Jon Ossoff stood ramrod-straight and spoke in sparing phrases, as if a great burden rests on his 30-year-old shoulders. To hear from many of the 150 people who crowded a Dunwoody synagogue the other night to meet him, its easy to understand why.

The Republican side has been showing up to vote here for years, and we havent been energized, said Melanie Manning, among the Democrats pinning her hopes on Ossoff. Now we are. This election will be different.

No Democrat has represented Georgias 6th Congressional District since Newt Gingrich won the seat in 1978, and since then the reliably conservative district, which now spans from east Cobb County to north DeKalb County, has launched the congressional careers of Johnny Isakson and Tom Price.

But Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker who was until recently unknown to even veteran Georgia strategists, has quickly captured the imagination of Democrats hoping to notch an early victory against Donald Trump. The special election will be among the first in the nation since Trump became president.

His campaign claims nearly $2 million in donations in less than two months, an almost unfathomable amount for a political newcomer. He has racked up celebrity support and a string of big-name endorsements. And national Democrats are pouring staff and resources into his race.

Still, the odds are stacked deeply against Democrats in the 6th, which routinely elected Price by huge margins. The April 18 special election to fill Prices seat has 18 candidates, and Ossoff isnt even a shoo-in to make the June 20 runoff.

Democrats seem willing to take the risk. Many see him as a first chance to turn the wave of left-leaning outrage at Trumps election and channel it into action. Trump eked out just a 1-point victory in the 6th, and Ossoffs campaign casts him as a way to get under the presidents skin.

Make Trump Furious, his website proclaims.

The making of a darling

Ossoff makes for an unlikely Democratic darling. His campaign announcement was met with fits of head-scratching by some influential Democrats and shrugs by local Republicans.

And for all his polish the London School of Economics graduate speaks French and talks earnestly of the need for extremely competent constituent service Ossoffs tone doesnt match the anti-Trump outcry from those who want an all-out battle against the president.

This is not going to be a campaign focused on opposition to Donald Trump. This is going to be a campaign focused on the needs and concerns of every voter in the 6th District, he said. Many people are concerned about the White House, but theyre more concerned about pocketbook issues.

A north DeKalb native, Ossoff was a 17-year-old student at the Paideia School when he read U.S. Rep. John Lewis autobiography and, on a whim, wrote a letter asking for a job. Within months he was interning in the Atlanta Democrats Washington office.

While a student at Georgetown University, he volunteered for Hank Johnsons 2006 challenge against U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney. He wound up becoming deputy communications chief during the campaign, and he worked as a legislative aide for Johnson on Capitol Hill after his victory.

Ossoff joined a filmmaking firm after leaving Johnsons office, and his documentaries exposed corrupt judges in Ghana and Islamic State atrocities in Iraq. He entered the congressional race in January armed with $250,000 in cash commitments and the blessings of Johnson and Lewis.

Hes quick to bring up the fact that he doesnt live in the district, but just south of the line so his girlfriend of 12 years, an Emory University medical student, can walk to work. Members of Congress dont have to live in their districts, although Ossoff said he will move to the 6th after she graduates.

Ossoff quickly shook up the Democratic side of the race, scaring off former state Rep. Sally Harrell and another fresh-faced contender. But four other Democrats are still in the hunt, including ex-state Sen. Ron Slotin, who said he wont bow to pressure to drop out.

I trust the voters of the district to select who the best person is to represent them, and I think Ill be that candidate, said Slotin, who represented an intown Atlanta district in the 1990s.

The Republican side is a free for all, with several big names among the 11 GOP candidates in the field. GOP contenders also wrestle with the Trump effect, with staunch supporters of the president running alongside others who vow to be a check on his power.

Special elections are typically low-turnout affairs, and this one is likely to be no different, in spite of anti Trump sentiment. What makes it even more unpredictable is that all 18 candidates two independents are also in the race will be on the same ballot.

If history is a guide, there will be no upset. The last time a Georgia congressional seat flipped in a special election was in 1872, according to an analysis by University of Minnesota political scientist Eric Ostermeier, and few of the 30 races since then have even been close.

Im not saying its impossible, former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden said. But the numbers are very difficult for a Democrat in that area.

The Marietta Democrat has a perspective on the race unlike any other. In 1983, he emerged the winner of an even more crowded Georgia special election his race featured 20 contenders to represent the neighboring 7th District. He served the Cobb County-based district until his 1995 defeat.

Ive been real impressed with Jon Ossoff. Hes doing all the right things. And I think hes got a great chance at getting in the runoff, said Darden, who now works for the mega-size Dentons law firm. But look at it realistically: Its a very difficult task.

The big guns

Ossoff will have some timely reinforcements in his corner.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it would commit nine field staffers to organize on-the-ground efforts in the district. Democratic National Committee officials told reporters in Atlanta that the party would also invest in the race.

Several celebrities, including the actresses Debra Messing and Kristen Bell, have pledged their help. And Georgia Democratic Party spokesman Michael Smith said the state organization would work to deliver the White House its first electoral defeat.

Theres also support from the left-leaning Daily Kos website, which so far has raised nearly $1 million for Ossoff.

Thats painted something of a bulls-eye on Ossoffs back. No leading GOP contender has directly confronted him, but the National Republican Congressional Committee painted the Democrat as a far-left Bernie Sanders guy. (Ossoff, for his part, said he backed Hillary Clinton.)

Many of Ossoffs rival campaigns envision a scenario where he emerges as the leading vote-getter against a splintered field of Republicans in April, only to face a unified GOP front in the runoff. Analysts are quick to note the highest-propensity voter in those contests are also the most likely to side with the GOP: senior citizens.

If Republican candidates split the vote, a Democrat could conceivably sneak into the runoff, Kennesaw State University political scientist Kerwin Swint said. But that Democrat would almost surely lose the runoff. The numbers just arent there yet. Lets see what it looks like in 2024.

The cold electoral calculus helps explain why Ossoff tries to tread a careful line. He talks often of the embarrassment of a Trump White House while also trying to appeal to moderates and disillusioned Republicans who dont want anything to do with the Democratic applause lines.

This is about more than Donald Trump. Its about the way people feel about Washington, Ossoff said. The case Im making to people is that we can be strong and prosperous and secure without giving in to division and fear and meanness.

Its exactly what Jill Vogin wanted to hear. The Dunwoody executive hardly paid attention to local politics before November, but Trumps victory triggered a wave of energy that led her to march in Washington the day after his inauguration.

Trump has really turned politics on its head, Vogin said. And people want a candidate like Jon who is interested in reaching across the aisle and bringing sanity back.

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Newcomer with war chest gives Democrats hope in Georgia's 6th District - MyAJC

Instead, Perez was welcomed into his new job on Saturday by jeering progressive activists, who for the second time in a year, saw their preferred pick to lead the party defeated after a protracted and unexpectedly feisty campaign. Supporters of Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the choice of Sen. Bernie Sanders, painted Perez's election as another victory for an establishment they blame for ceding the White House to Donald Trump by alienating young and working class voters. Minutes after the results were announced -- Perez prevailed on a second ballot after falling one vote short on the first -- the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Adam Green, a vocal Ellison backer, leaned back and ruminated on the contentious scene.

"This was not an ideological battle between a corporate Democrat and a progressive," he said, noting that Perez too would have been his choice for attorney general in a Clinton administration. "We agree with him on policy and thought he would challenge big corporations like he did as (President Barack Obama's) labor secretary."

The problem, Green suggested, was that Perez did not -- at least not yet -- have "his finger on the pulse of progressive resistance" to the new administration. Across the ballroom, one young and frustrated Ellison supporter, Alexa Vaca, put it simply: "This shows that the Democratic Party didn't learn their lesson."

While Democrats clawed at each other in Atlanta, the festivities at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, were beginning to wind down. Over the previous 48 hours, the annual conservative gathering had welcomed its first sitting Republican president in his first year in office since Ronald Reagan.

A year before, Trump skipped the conference, backing out the day before his scheduled appearance. The American Conservative Union, which organizes the gathering, bit back in response, saying Trump's decision "comes at a critical time in our movement's history. His decision sends a clear message to grassroots conservatives."

"I think that Trump is a different type of conservative than, perhaps, the mainstream conservative, and I think that's why he got so far in the primaries," said Wesley Dalton, a student at Brigham Young University in Utah.

Matt Batzel, the national executive director of American Majority, a conservative organization that trains grassroots activists, described Trump as a "Patriotic Conservative" before grinning and confessing, "I just made up that term."

Even what remained of the GOP's dedicated libertarian wing, which had been transformed by the rise of Trumpism from an ascendant force to a CPAC afterthought, sought to parlay the presidential moment by passing out caps that read, "Make Taxation Theft Again."

"People don't notice it as much here, because if we wear it around they just assume it's the (Make America Great Again) hat," said Zach Garretson, donor relations officer for the libertarian Stonegait Institute, "but when we're not at an event like this and you wear that hat, people will look at it and be like, 'Oh! What does that say?'"

Conservatives' willingness to look beyond their unlikely standard-bearer's ideological inconsistencies have been rewarded in the early running. They routinely made glowing reference to the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be a Supreme Court justice -- proof, many insisted, that Trump, whatever he actually believed, was firmly on track to govern like they hoped.

"I want to thank you for finally inviting me to CPAC," Bannon said at the outset. The former Breitbart boss had previously hosted "The Uninvited," a parallel gathering for fellow out-of-favor right-wingers. "I know there are many alumni out here in the audience."

Schlapp nodded to the awkward moment, then declared: "Here's what we decided to do at CPAC with the uninvited. We decided to say that everybody's a part of our conservative family."

And with that, they were off. Bannon railed against the media -- "the opposition party" -- and drew cheers as he outlined plans for the "deconstruction of the administrative state."

More applause interrupted his description of Trump's decision to withdraw the US from Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, calling it "one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history."

For observers of a party and movement that has traditionally embraced free trade, the scene was instructive. Not a year ago, the idea of a Republican administration's scuttling of a massive free trade pact (and promise to take apart or narrow other existing deals) being met with rapturous ovations might have seemed absurd.

But the presidency has a certain affect on people and political parties.

With Barack Obama in the White House and Hilary Clinton, it seemed, poised to follow him, Democrats enjoyed nearly a decade of relative peace. On the eve of the election, as progressives put the finishing touches on strategies for nudging the new administration to the left, many confided that, for all the tumult of the primary, they fully expected the Clinton administration to offer them a seat at the table.

At CPAC on Saturday, the results of its annual survey ran in stark contrast to the scenes in Atlanta.

Eight in 10 of those polled agreed that Trump was "realigning the conservative movement" -- and 86% approved of the job he has done since taking office in January.

"I love this place," Trump said at the top of his speech a day before. "Love you people."

And they loved the President right back. For Democrats, down in Atlanta, that kind of affection seemed a long way off.

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Trump unites GOP as Democrats bicker - CNN

New York Times

Angling for a Comeback, Democratic Governors Sharpen Focus on Jobs New York Times WASHINGTON As Democrats battle President Trump on a multiplying array of issues, from immigration and climate change to health care and transgender rights, a group of Democratic governors is pressing the party to set one concern above all the rest: ... and more »

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Angling for a Comeback, Democratic Governors Sharpen Focus on Jobs - New York Times

ATLANTA The race for the Democratic National Committee leadership is over, resolved with a Tom Perez chairmanship and a deputy role for Keith Ellison that momentarily quelled even the angriest Bernie Sanders-wing protesters in the room.

Now restless activists are eager to shake up the rest of the partys leadership.

Story Continued Below

The party-officer elections here over the weekend turned into a mini-convention of up-and-coming politicians, activists, and operatives straining to envision the opening days of Donald Trumps administration and Republican domination of Washington as a moment of Democratic revitalization, not reason to sink further into the partys roiling existential crisis.

Quietly and pointedly refusing to attach their names to the musings they talk about starting to look past the all over-70-years-old leadership team of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Jim Clyburn in the House of Representatives. Some hope, wistfully, the three will step aside before the 2018 midterms to help send a message and generate new ideas. And as much as they like the idea of Chuck Schumers expanded Senate leadership team, they cant help noticing how few of the bodys younger rising stars are included. Theyre tired of Capitol Hill denizens staking their claim as the only leaders in the party, particularly as Trumps political upheaval continues to echo throughout their ranks.

We have to prepare a farm team within Congress, in our states, in local races. I dont know when we became the party only of people who have been there for decades, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the 46-year-old running for re-election who flew here to help nominate Perez and two other officer candidates. We have to be aware of the energy that is all around us right now, not just on Facebook, but on our streets."

Garcetti acknowledges that his own hope for a new era of party leadership is somewhat self-serving: Look to the cities, he said, as the places where the work of infrastructure, climate change, and immigrant affairs is happening on the ground.

But milling through the hallways of the Atlanta Westin Peachtree Plaza, the party operatives were far more blunt about the need for a broader change in direction.

Absolutely, the fact that Nancy has held on forever and stifled a younger age group, its a thing, its absolutely a thing, said one longtime state party official, pointing to the new crop of elected officials that includes four new vice chairs under the age of 50 as evidence that a new wave is coming. Thats what youre seeing here, its a new push."

Theres been no movement for 10 years, maybe more, he said. Its got people frustrated."

Politics and time have a way of resolving a bunch of issues on their own, added former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, advocating a turn to leaders with the luxury of years worth of work ahead of them.

The partys three-day meeting here, accordingly, was a demonstration of the memberships eagerness to move on, not only from an election cycle that saw a 68-year-old candidate defeat a 74-year-old candidate in their presidential primary only to lose to a 70-year-old Republican but from an entire era.

Donna Brazile, a veteran of Democratic fights from the 1990s and earlier and the partys interim chairwoman until Perez took over on Saturday peppered the proceedings with reminders of how eager she was to get on with the election, insisting its time for a fresh face and perspective to take the reins.

And few of the partys entrenched leaders showed up in Atlanta: none of the House or Senate leadership team came, and even hometown civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, 77, was a no-show.

Instead, the weekend belonged to a younger crowd desperate to move beyond the doom and gloom and start talking about winning over new voters skeptical of the Democratic brand.

Why am I here? Why am I here talking at you when youre probably ready to vote by now? Because I am here to tell you that our party has an incredibly bright future, said former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, 35, in his keynote address on Saturday. Im here to tell you that a nightmare that is a Trump presidency is just a speed bump on our journey to liberty and justice as a country."

One day earlier, the sessions main speaker was California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 59-years-old but embarking on a new role as an anti-Trump warrior. The night before that saw Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, 43, widely regarded as a big part of the partys future in the state, address the crowd.

Saturdays election was punctuated by the exit from the race of South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 35, whose closing message to a crowd that included a crop of new party chairs from states like Washington, Iowa, Hawaii, and Nebraska, who have swept into power by replacing older rivals in the last few months was about the imperative of the party to move ahead.

Its not that any of the crop of up-and-comers is secretly plotting to replace Pelosi and Co. anytime soon especially not after seeing Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan fail in that quest in December. Pelosi a major fundraiser and veteran of many midterm fights moved after that challenge to elevate younger faces within the House leadership structure.

Given how many Republicans there are in office, the idea that the partys old leaders need to be replaced in order to give the younger ones power creates a distracting false choice, said Kasim Reed, the 47-year-old Atlanta mayor who hosted the weeks proceedings.

The facts on the ground are already creating opportunities for anyone who has talent and grit and ambition, he said. It isnt a decision that these folks need to get out of the way for other folks to get in."

That conversation has to be predicated on what states actually want, and we have not invested in learning what they actually need, added Abrams.

That sentiment was echoed by former party chair and onetime Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who backed Buttigieg for the chairmanship and who regularly speaks of the need for a new perspective atop the party infrastructure: I dont think the House and Senate is the problem, I do think the party has been mired in D.C. for eight years and weve got to get out of there."

But many feel the imperative of facilitating the younger wind blowing through the party. Its out with the old ideas that have seen the party sink to its lowest point in decades, and in with the new, even if those ideas arent yet fully formed.

At some point we all need to do a gut-check and say, Have I been doing this long enough? Is it time for me to turn this position, the reins, over to somebody else with fresh and new ideas, a new energy, a new generation? said former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan. Its hard sometimes, you think youre indispensable, I have things to do that arent finished."

Its true whether its for me, for Nancy Pelosi, for Chuck Schumer, whether its anybody, she added. Everyone needs to have that conversation with themselves."

If theres no leadership change, party officials think, they are at risk of missing out on younger voters, who simply arent responsive to Democrats or at least Democrats not named Barack Obama. And that would be a massive mistake with the political wind appearing to shift in their direction as Trump's tumultuous opening days barrel along.

A lot of our base feels we were not embracing our base all the time, and the only way we can really have our voices heard is to be at the table, said Bronx Assemblyman Michael Blake, 35, a new party vice-chairman who noted the wide array of 30-somethings who ran for that position this year. We cant just talk about it, we have to be present."

We already have a strong party, they just dont think theyre Democrats and they dont show up to elections that arent interesting to them, said Dean. Weve got a lot of catching up to do."

At least within the party mechanism, that conversation has already started. The question now is whether Washington will follow suit.

There has been a lot of conversation on younger voters. Its the future of the party. I have written a letter to all the chairs asking them to commit to a budget line item specifically dedicated to millennial outreach and technology, said New York Rep. Grace Meng, 41, who was also elected vice-chair on Saturday and said the new leaders met late on Saturday night to discuss such new ideas.

I dont know if that would have happened if we had not lost in November."

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The DNC isn't enough: Democrats demand more leadership changes - Politico