Q&A of the Day – How Important are State Political Party Chairs?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio I couldn’t tell you who the chair of either political party is in Florida. How much of a difference does it really make who dems go with?
Bottom Line: Yeah, it’s a fair question. For most Floridians and Americans for that matter, even those who’re politically active, the chairman of a state’s political party isn’t exactly the person who tends to excite them politically. But the people they’re responsible for recruiting often are. And that’s one of the more instructive points in this conversation. Party chairs aren’t designed to be the stars of the show. They’re responsible for recruiting the stars of the show. And the most effective chairs tend to be those you’re not familiar with. Political parties operate a lot like movie productions or sporting events. Unless the director is Steven Spielberg, and even then, if viewers of a movie leave talking about the director as opposed to the actors – it's probably not a good thing. Ditto if we’re talking more about the refs than the players at the end of a football game. But they all play critical roles in the outcome of their productions, which of course in the context of political party chairs, means elections.
You’ve specifically asked about the current battle over who will lead Florida’s Democrat Party. Before talking about the implications of that race – there's a bit of irony which illustrates a point. Can you name the current DNC chair? Its Jaime Harrison, which is probably news to most Democrats. Anyway, he hasn’t been in the news because Democrats outperformed nationally last year. Who is the current chair of the RNC? Ronna McDaniel has been in the news so much I’d be willing to bet more Democrats could name her than their own party’s chair. This has been the result of Republicans underperforming nationally last year. The same is true in Florida only in the reverse. More Floridians likely knew Joe Grueters the state senator than Joe Grueters the Florida Republican Party Chairman, but that was the case. Consider, Florida’s Republican Party just had a record election cycle and who was talking about Joe Gruters who led it? It’s a sign of how well he filled the role. But he’s no longer the chair – opting not to run again - and this past weekend Florida’s Republican Party voted in Christian Ziegler in a race few Floridians were talking about or paying attention to prior to Trump declaring victory over DeSantis with Ziegler being the pick. Notably, DeSantis didn’t back a specific candidate for the post, however Ziegler is thought to represent the Trump wing of the party, while Evan Power who lost the bid and is Vice Chair instead is thought to represent the DeSantis wing. While we watch and wait to see how that will play out, both within the state party and with whatever will be with Trump and DeSantis, about the impact of the Democrats race...
The primary functions of a state party chairperson are to direct candidate recruitment, fundraising, party governance/rules and voter registration. Those are all really important functions within our political landscape. So, in answer to your question as to how much of a difference it could make a who Democrats vote into that post...the answer could be a lot. Florida’s Democrats have suffered losses on all of the key fronts. Starting with candidate recruitment. Florida’s Democrats have had a weak bench for years across this state. Nowhere was this more visible than in the highest profile race as Democrats trotted out Charlie Crist who’d already lost a Gubernatorial race as a Democrat in Florida during a time in which Democrats still held a large voter registration advantage in the state. While really no one expected the record setting blowout which occurred last November by Governor DeSantis, few people – even on the left thought it’d be especially competitive. And that’s the point. When Democrats aren’t running competitive candidates for statewide races, they have significant problems. And all the functions of a party chair go together, but they largely start with candidate recruitment. Someone can be great at fundraising, but how much success will they have if there aren’t candidates donors believe in and think can win? Someone can be great at the grassroots level organizing voter registration efforts but how much success will they have if people don’t believe in their party’s messaging and if they don’t have candidates they’re excited about? For these reasons I think the move Democrats make here will be pivotal.
It’s easy for Republicans in Florida to feel good about where they sit right now. But how long will that remain the case? A year from now will there be a civil war playing out in the party from a DeSantis vs. Trump battle for the ages? And if so, what might that mean within our state where it would all be emanating? That could create an opportunity for Democrats if they position themselves appropriately to capitalize on it should it occur (potentially through suppressed Republican turnout in a general). But will they? Given that a party chair needs to put the political ambitions of the party above their own personal political ambitions, the current crop of Democrat candidates is interesting. The two leading candidates, Nikki Fried and Annette Taddeo, are both known for extensive self-promotion, and both are coming off failed gubernatorial bids (and in the case of Taddeo a failed Congressional bid too). Both felt they should be leading the state of Florida as opposed to running the state’s Democratic Party. That doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job, but there known preference for their own political aspirations would have to take a back seat to attempting to find the next generation of Democrat stars who’d be able to do what they couldn’t - among other challenges. I’m not sure I can see either being especially happy in that role. From my perspective, the person best positioned of the four running for the seat to lead Florida’s Democrats is Broward County Democrat Party Chair Rick Hoye. Once again, someone very few people have even heard of. So yeah, it's important. We’ll see how it goes.