Democrats Need to Invest In State Parties, Not Just Rock Star Candidates
New DNC chair Jaime Harrison is borrowing from the Howard Dean playbook
Jaime Harrison, the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, knows fully well the power that an individual candidate can have on their state party’s bottom line. After all, though he lost his Senate race in November against incumbent Lindsey Graham, Harrison still raised $130 million — $15 million of which he diverted to the South Carolina Democratic Party, according to Federal Election Commission filings. That made Harrison by far the state party’s biggest source of cash; it raised $22 million overall during the last election cycle.
Yet Harrison isn’t exactly looking back on his fundraising efforts as an example of a new winning formula for the party — it’s more of a warning. He felt obligated to transfer so much money to the South Carolina Dems because the national party had not invested in state parties for the long term — especially not in Republican states like his. Without his contribution, the S.C. Dems would not have been able to spend as much on other local races.
“We need to think about what additional resources we need to bring to help state parties so that their work is continuous work and not something that just stops at the end of…
