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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJoe Biden's Likely Pick to Lead His Party
The AtlanticIf hes named as chair, Harrison will inherit an organization in significantly better shape than it was when Tom Perez took over in 2017. Under Perez, the DNC has paid off its debt, rebuilt its infrastructure, and boosted employee morale. No one, though, expects that keeping Democrats organized will be easy, especially without a common political enemy in Donald Trump. The next chair will help decide the partys messaging ahead of the 2022 midterms and play a big role in the fight over which states will hold the first presidential primaries in 2024.
Harrison became nationally known this year during his run against Senator Lindsey Graham, as he set fundraising records and became a cause for Democrats far beyond his state. Graham ultimately won by a much-wider-than-expected 10-point margin, boosted by South Carolinas partisan lean and his role in confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. But the goodwill that Harrison built up and the coming vacancy at the top of the DNCPerez confirmed to me yesterday that he wont be running for another termhas many Democrats thinking that Harrison is a perfect fit for the role. The timing just seems right, frankly, said Trav Robertson, a friend of Harrisons who is now in Harrisons old role as South Carolina Democratic Party chair.
More than just timing is involved. Harrison has the support of James Clyburn, his mentor and former boss, who is the House Democratic whip and whose endorsement during the primary campaign helped power Biden to the nomination. Yesterday, Clyburn pointed out to me that he had supported Harrison when he ran for DNC chair in 2017, and said, I think hes better prepared than he was when I supported him the first time.
cilla4progress
(24,731 posts)Stacy Abrams? Maybe she's not available.
Really impressed with Harrison in any case, and donated a lot to him. That was a hard loss.
MANative
(4,112 posts)to run for Governor again. Sorry, don't remember where I saw that.
Mike 03
(16,616 posts)Don't recall the source, but I believe it was posted here, with a link or reference.
She will be an amazing presidential candidate in the future after being Governor Adams.
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)She wouldn't have time to do much at the DNC.
Stacey was completely robbed in the 2018 gubernatorial election in GA, so I wish her all the very best in getting rid of that master vote-supresser Brian Kemp.
Sucha NastyWoman
(2,748 posts)But for the same reason as Stacie Abrams, I hope not.
Id rather see him run for Texas Governor.
calguy
(5,309 posts)regnaD kciN
(26,044 posts)Frankly, Id prefer someone with a track record of flipping her state blue, rather than just someone who ran for Senate once and lost by a larger-than-expected margin.
irisblue
(32,974 posts)cilla4progress
(24,731 posts)for GA gov.
This cycle I broke my rule about donating to campaigns in other states...
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)has been since we knew he was going to become our nominee. That's the tradition and why no platform is determined before we have our leader.
Power's no longer centralized as much as it was decades ago, though, and most of the many big power blocs and figures don't work for the party and don't have titles. We're giving the apparatus leaders more power because letting it shift away and, for instance, putting a straw figure in the DNC chair caused real problems in 2016. Jaime Harrison will be in charge of making the apparatus work, but he will not determine what we do as a party.
Oh, and lacking a president, the speaker of the house, second in succession to the presidency, is the highest ranking elected Democrat and thus the party leader. For real.
Upthevibe
(8,048 posts)I was in for him or Stacey Abrahams. I'm seeing on the other postings here that she's probably planning a run for the Governor of Georgia - that's AWESOME!
Rice4VP
(1,235 posts)midterm and general election. Jamie Harrison seems too green. He couldnt even win his own race