Democrats in the District of Columbia are rattled by the result of last year’s presidential race. At the Jan. 28 meeting, at the Capitol View Library, the Ward 7 Democrats discussed the state of the party. There were strong comments on why the Democrats lost the White House.
Ed Potillo is the chairman of the Ward 7 Democrats. (AFRO File Photo)
“Hillary Clinton ran an elitist campaign,” Ward 7 political and health care activist Ambrose Lane, said. “When I was driving in Pennsylvania in the fall, I didn’t see any of her signs on the I-81 or I-78 corridors but I saw plenty of Donald Trump signs. It would seem to me that the Democrats have a White problem. Many people voted for Trump as an allegiance to Whiteness more than principles. Trump gives White people the opportunity to say what is really on their mind.”
Ward 7 resident Richard K. Hawkins agreed with much of what Lane said. “I took an Amtrak train from D.C. to Los Angeles in the fall and I went through the heart of the country,” Hawkins said. “When you are on the train, you see a lot of people’s backyards. I saw Trump signs and Confederate flags traveling to Pittsburgh, through Ohio and then to Chicago and from there, Nebraska and to L.A. I didn’t see very many Clinton signs.”
Hawkins sensed Trump might pull off the Nov. 8th win based on the conversations he had with people on the train and in the communities he went through. “For example, I would ask them if they supported Obamacare and they would say no. But if I asked if they were for the Affordable Care Act, they said yes.”
Linda Keyes, active in Democratic politics on the grassroots level, said reverse sexism played a role in Clinton’s defeat, too. “To me, it seems that it was the women who hurt Hillary,” Keyes said. “There are some women who have a thing about other women . A lot of women didn’t vote for her because they were thinking ‘who does she think she is.’”
Post-election data shows Trump won 53 percent of White women while Clinton won the overwhelming votes of Black, Latino, and Asian women.
Clinton’s lack of enthusiasm among millennials, Americans born from 1980 to 2000, was also cited as a reason for Clinton losing.
“Many of the young people in my generation supported Bernie Sanders for president,” Kevin B. Chavous, president of the D.C. Young Democrats, said. “When Bernie didn’t get the nomination, many people of my generation became disappointed and disillusioned.”
In response to Chavous, Keyes noted that Clinton was a longtime Democrat and worked within the party while Sanders was a Socialist. Sanders is the only Socialist in the U.S. Senate but caucuses with the Democrats for committee assignments.
Potillo said the discussion was important because the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is set to select the new party chairman on Feb. 26 in Atlanta. He talked about the process and how District Democrats will have a voice in it. “The voting members of the DNC from D.C. are D.C. Council member Anita Bonds, who is the chairman of the D.C. Democratic State Committee; I as the vice chairman; and committeeman Arrington Dixon and committeewoman Mary Eva Candon,” Potillo said. “The four of us will vote as a bloc for who the next chairman is.”
He said there are 447 members of the DNC from the District, the states, territories, and U.S. possessions.
Potillo talked about a few candidates for DNC chair. “One candidate is Rep. Keith Ellison, he has a great, great chance,” he said. “If Ellison does run and win, it will also be his responsibility to make sure that a Democrat takes his seat in Minnesota when he steps down from Congress to run the DNC. Another candidate is Tom Perez, who is Obama’s pick.
“The front-runners in the race are Ellison and Perez.”
Potillo said the DNC candidates are holding forums around the country to introduce themselves and explain why they should lead the party. On Feb. 10-11, the candidates will be at the Baltimore Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.