Highbrow Magazine - democratic party https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/democratic-party en How Political Conventions Went From Selecting Party Nominees to Pageantry and Partying https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10783-how-political-conventions-went-selecting-party-nominees-pageantry-and-partying <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 08:27</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1politicalconventions.jpg?itok=S087Hv2e"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1politicalconventions.jpg?itok=S087Hv2e" width="299" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p> </p> <p>In August, the Democratic and Republican national conventions will take on new, uncharted formats. Due to COVID-19 concerns, gone are the mass gatherings in large convention halls, replaced with a switch to mostly online formats.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is just the latest modification in presidential nominating conventions since they were first introduced in the 1830s.</p> <p> </p> <p>Initially, conventions were insulated meetings of representatives from the state parties, with convention delegates on their own determining which candidate became the party’s presidential nominee.</p> <p> </p> <p>By the early 20th century, convention participants began to receive information about public preferences from commercial public opinion polls and a small number of presidential primaries, which constrained conventions in their choice of presidential nominees.</p> <p> </p> <p>Today’s national conventions ratify a candidate already chosen by the voters in primaries and caucuses.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2politicalconventions.jpg" style="height:600px; width:432px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Insulated conventions</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>George Washington needed no formal nomination, as he was the overwhelming choice for president among those who would make up the Electoral College.</p> <p> </p> <p>Subsequent early presidential candidates were nominated by their party’s members in Congress. But if a state did not have a representative from a particular party in Congress, it had no say in the party’s presidential nomination.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the 1830s, political parties switched to national conventions, which were meetings of representatives from the state parties. Each state was allotted delegates proportional to its Electoral College vote, and early conventions consisted of just a few hundred delegates. These delegates sought to find a popular candidate to head the party’s general election ticket, but had little information on who this candidate might be.</p> <p> </p> <p>Candidates’ names were placed into contention by being nominated, and seconded, by a convention delegate. The winning candidate was determined by a series of roll-call votes of state delegations that continued until one candidate won the required number of delegates.</p> <p> </p> <p>Candidates did not attend the conventions; the norm of the day was that politicians were not to openly campaign for the presidency. Instead, managers of the various candidates bargained with state party leaders to accumulate the required number of delegates.</p> <p> </p> <p>If one candidate began gaining strength in the rounds of voting, that candidate experienced a bandwagon of new support as other delegates wanted to be on the winning side.</p> <p> </p> <p>Sometimes none of the early contenders was able to secure the winning total, and the convention turned to a compromise candidate instead. These late-round compromise candidates were known as “dark horses.” James Polk became the Democratic nominee in 1844 as one of these dark-horse candidates.</p> <p> </p> <p>Party platforms, encompassing the party’s positions on issues, were introduced in the 1840s.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3politicalconventions.jpg" style="height:600px; width:563px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>How Lincoln won the nomination</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>At the 1860 Republican convention, a half-dozen potential candidates split the initial vote, although New York Senator William H. Stewart was considered the frontrunner.</p> <p> </p> <p>Candidate Abraham Lincoln’s strategy was to prevent Stewart’s nomination on the first ballot. Lincoln’s campaign managers would consolidate anti-Stewart delegates behind him in subsequent rounds. Lincoln’s managers won over some delegates by arguing that Lincoln was the most electable candidate, who could draw votes from farmers and businessmen, as well as abolitionists.</p> <p> </p> <p>While Lincoln requested that his managers not make any deals, they did promise a Cabinet position to powerful Pennsylvania Senator Simon Cameron to gain support from that state’s delegation. Lincoln’s managers also packed the public audience in Chicago with his supporters, a task made easier by the use of counterfeit public tickets.</p> <p> </p> <p>Lincoln won the nomination on the third round of voting.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4politicalconvention_laura_patterson_-_wikimedia.jpg" style="height:403px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The public gets a voice</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>In the 20th century, information about public preferences became available, which would help delegates to determine who would be their party’s most popular presidential candidate.</p> <p> </p> <p>Early in the century, a handful of states adopted presidential primaries to select delegates, although most states continued to use traditional methods such as appointment by state or local party leaders or selection at local caucuses. Thus, the vast majority of 20<sup>th</sup>-century convention delegates remained representatives of their state parties, not supporters of specific candidates.</p> <p> </p> <p>An early use of presidential primaries in 1912 proved disastrous. Former President Theodore Roosevelt ran for president again, won 10 of the 13 presidential primaries and was favored by the progressive wing of the Republican Party.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the majority of Republican convention delegates were party regulars who supported the current president William Taft instead. In addition, by this time, a new norm had taken hold, to renominate sitting presidents.</p> <p> </p> <p>Roosevelt lost the Republican nomination, founded the Progressive Party in protest, was nominated by that party and split the Republican vote in the fall general election, allowing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5politialconventions_chuck_kenney_whitehouse.jpg" style="height:600px; width:400px" /></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Demise and comeback of primaries</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>With the divisive results from the 1912 Republican convention and the waning of the Progressive Movement, which championed state adoption of primary laws, presidential primaries went out of favor.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the middle of the 20th century, typically only 15 states held presidential primaries, selecting only one-third of the convention’s delegates. Few candidates ran in these presidential primaries, as primaries were not seen as a successful pathway to the nomination.</p> <p> </p> <p>The public, however, still influenced presidential nominations as newly reliable public opinion polls measured support for potential nominees. In the mid-20th century, the candidate at the top of the national polls almost always was nominated by the national conventions.</p> <p> </p> <p>Other changes came to 20th-century conventions. Franklin Roosevelt was the first presidential nominee to attend a convention when he gave an acceptance speech in 1932, broadcast nationally by radio.</p> <p> </p> <p>Presidential primaries became somewhat more influential after World War II, when some candidates adopted a strategy of running in presidential primaries. Other candidates avoided running in primaries and relied on a traditional strategy of courting the party’s elite who would be delegates at the convention.</p> <p> </p> <p>Running in presidential primaries was a risky strategy: A candidate who lost in a primary could see their presidential bid end, but even someone who won every single primary would not earn enough delegates to secure the nomination.</p> <p> </p> <p>The goal of candidates entering the primaries was to convince party leaders of the candidate’s vote-winning abilities. John F. Kennedy in 1960 used primary victories to convince Democratic convention delegates that he would be the most popular candidate.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hubert Humphrey, in 1968, became the last candidate nominated for president without running in any of the presidential primaries.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Barbara Norrander is a professor at the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from an article originally published in </em></strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/us" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>the Conversation</em></strong></a><strong><em> and is republished with permission. Read the rest </em></strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/political-conventions-today-are-for-partying-and-pageantry-not-picking-nominees-142246" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a><strong><em>. </em>Copyright © 2020, The Conversation US. Inc.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><strong>--</strong><em>Painting of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart (</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_portrait_of_George_Washington#/media/File:Gilbert_Stuart,_George_Washington_(Lansdowne_portrait,_1796).jp" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--President James K. Polk </em><a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/polk/aa_polk_subj_e.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>(Library of Congress</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn86063758/1912-06-25/ed-1/?sp=1&amp;st=si" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Library of Congress</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Laura Patterson (Library of Congress via </em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1996_Democratic_National_Convention.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Chuck Kennedy (Whitehouse.gov, </em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_and_Biden_families_on-stage_at_the_2012_Democratic_National_Convention.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-conventions" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political conventions</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/political-primaries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">political primaries</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democratic-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democratic party</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/delegates" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">delegates</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nomination-process" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nomination process</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/presidential-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">presidential elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voters</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Barbara Norrander</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 11 Aug 2020 12:27:15 +0000 tara 9747 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10783-how-political-conventions-went-selecting-party-nominees-pageantry-and-partying#comments When Did Democrats Become the Party of Elites? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7772-when-did-democrats-become-party-elites <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 07/30/2017 - 14:26</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1democratpresidents.jpg?itok=g7gXXwdh"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1democratpresidents.jpg?itok=g7gXXwdh" width="480" height="241" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>This article first appeared on <a href="http://billmoyers.com/">BillMoyers.com</a>.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>How did it come to pass that of the two political parties, the Democrats — who have long fought for the underdog, civil rights, consumer protections, universal healthcare, the minimum wage and for unions against powerful interests that try to crush them — have now been branded in large swaths of the country as the party of the establishment and the elites?</p> <p> </p> <p>And how did it come to pass that Republicans — whose policies, regardless of stated intent, benefit polluters, entrenched interests and the upper brackets of American wealth — are now seen by many as the anti-establishment populist party which delights in flipping off elites on behalf of the Everyman?</p> <p> </p> <p>For the moment, keep Donald Trump out of this conversation — after all, Democrats have been hemorrhaging seats in statehouses and Congress for decades. Also set aside any talking points about which party’s policies truly benefit forgotten Americans or which short-term trends show up in the polls.</p> <p> </p> <p>More important for Democrats is whether they can rewrite the political narrative that now has them on the side of the establishment and Republicans on the side of sticking it to the man.</p> <p> </p> <p>If Democrats want to regain their electoral stride and recapture defiant voters who once saw the party as their advocate and voice — the same voters they need to establish a sustained governing majority throughout the land — they must think less about policies per se than about how those policies translate to messaging and brand.</p> <p> </p> <p>Just as consumers purchase products not merely for what they do but for what they say about the people who buy them, voters are drawn to narratives, brands and identities as much as the policies that affect their lives. These narratives give voters meaning, define who they are, and become an essential part of their identity and self-image.</p> <p> </p> <p>And what’s most toxic in American politics today — as it has been throughout our history — is to become the party associated with domineering overlords and supercilious elites who seem to enjoy wielding power over the rest of us.</p> <p> </p> <p>To some extent, the Democrats have only themselves to blame for their elite, establishment image.</p> <p> </p> <p>Few question the party’s need to build its campaign coffers in what is now an arms race for political dollars. But by cozying up to Wall Street and the privileged — and appearing more at ease hobnobbing among them than among those who work in factories, small businesses and call centers — Democrats have sent a subtle message about the people they prefer to associate with and seek out for advice. To many Americans, it reeks of hypocrisy at best.</p> <p> </p> <p>Republicans, who unapologetically celebrate wealth as a symbol of American dynamism, face no such messaging dissonance.</p> <p> </p> <p>But perhaps more important is the jujitsu maneuver that Republicans have used to turn one of the Democratic Party’s strengths — its good faith use of government to level the playing field and help the little people — into a weakness.</p> <p> </p> <p>From the New Deal through the ’60s, the Democrats were able to show that government was an essential tool to correct market inequities, protect the little people from unchecked power and special interests and ensure that the American birthright included safeguards against crippling poverty and misfortune.</p> <p> </p> <p>Government, most Americans believed, was their defender and their voice. In 1964, according the American National Election Studies, more than three-fourths of Americans said they trusted government most of the time or just about always. It was the Democrats who stood for grass-roots change and the Republicans who represented the powerful and resistant establishment.</p> <p> </p> <p>Democrats then expanded their vision of a righteous government by exercising its power to fight segregation, discrimination, environmental blight, corporate malfeasance and consumer hazards — and to advance healthcare as a right and not a privilege. All of that seemed to follow the New Deal script of government as a force for good.</p> <p> </p> <p>But with Richard Nixon channeling George Wallace’s racialized anger at the federal government and Ronald Reagan saying that the only way to christen our shining city on a hill is to free up aggrieved entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens stifled by burdensome red tape and regulations, the Democratic association with government began to turn noxious.</p> <p> </p> <p>As Reagan put it in his 1981 inaugural address, we should not allow “government by an elite group” to “ride on our back.”</p> <p> </p> <p>For four decades now, Republicans have succeeded in framing Democrats as the party that uses government to bigfoot rather than aid the American people. Democrats may celebrate public servants for keeping our food safe and our lakes healthy, but Republicans have successfully portrayed them as humorless bureaucrats who salivate at the urge to exert power and control over taxpaying Americans.</p> <p> </p> <p>And Republicans have very artfully created a counternarrative, turning the market into a synonym for liberty and defining it as an authentic expression of American grass-roots energy in which small businesses and entrepreneurs simply need freedom from government to shower benefits on us all.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/10hillary.jpg" style="height:352px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Of course the market’s magic may be more mythical than real — given that powerful corporations and interests dominate and exploit it often at the expense of workers — but that inconvenient fact is immaterial to the brilliant messaging advantages Republicans have derived from it.</p> <p> </p> <p>Indeed, in the Republican playbook it’s the teachers, unions, environmental groups, professors and civil rights organizations that constitute the establishment whereas Koch and other industry-funded astroturf groups are the real gladiators fighting the status quo.</p> <p> </p> <p>But it’s not just the Democratic association with government that Republicans have used to brand it as the party of the establishment and elites. Republicans have also turned the table on the liberal values that Democrats embrace.</p> <p> </p> <p>Beginning in the 1960s, liberals have sought to flush prejudice, bigotry and discriminatory attitudes from society by turning diversity into a moral value and creating a public culture intolerant of misogyny and intolerance. On the surface, that should be a sign of national progress.</p> <p> </p> <p>But conservatives — with help from an unwitting or overly zealous slice of the left that too often overreaches — took these healthy normative changes and cleverly depicted them as an attempt by condescending and high-handed elites to police our language and impose a politically correct finger-pointing culture.</p> <p> </p> <p>In effect, conservatives have rather successfully portrayed liberals and Democrats as willing to use cultural and political power against ordinary Americans. They want to take my guns, regulate my business, dictate who I can hire, and tell me what I can buy, which doctors I see, how I live, when I pray and even what I say — so goes the conservative narrative.</p> <p> </p> <p>That their definition of “ordinary Americans” is quite narrow — meaning whites and particularly men — is beside the point because it’s the political branding that matters, not the fact that liberal economic policies and efforts against bigotry and discrimination have helped millions of ordinary Americans.</p> <p> </p> <p>Taken together, Republicans have successfully defined Democrats as a party of bureaucrats, power brokers, media elites, special interests and snobs who have created a client state for those they favor, aim to control what everyone else does and look down their noses at the people who pay the taxes to fund the same government that Democrats use to control their lives.</p> <p> </p> <p>And why is this so damning for Democrats? Because our nation was founded on resistance to power, and it’s part of our political and cultural DNA to resent anyone who exercises or lords that power over others.</p> <p> </p> <p>Read past the first paragraphs of our Declaration of Independence and it’s all about King George III and his abuses of power. Our Constitution encodes checks and balances and a separation of powers. Our economic system rests on antitrust law, which is designed to keep monopolies from crushing smaller competitors and accumulating too much power.</p> <p> </p> <p>So if large numbers of Americans see Democrats as the party of entrenched elites who exert power over the little people, then Democrats have lost the messaging battle that ultimately determines who prevails and who doesn’t in our elections.</p> <p> </p> <p>And let’s be clear: Donald Trump didn’t originate this message in his 2016 campaign; he simply exploited, amplified and exemplified it better than almost any Republican since Ronald Reagan.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Bernie Sanders answer, of course, is to train the party’s fire at banks, corporations and moneyed interests. After all, they are the ones exerting unchecked power, soaking up the nation’s wealth and distributing it to the investor class and not the rest of us.</p> <p> </p> <p>And to some extent that has potential and appeal.</p> <p> </p> <p>But remember, most Americans depend on corporations for their jobs, livelihoods, healthcare, mortgages and economic security. So it’s much more difficult today to frame big business as the elite and powerful establishment than it was when workers manned the union ramparts against monopoly power. Working Americans today have a far more ambivalent relationship with corporate America than they did in the New Deal days.</p> <p> </p> <p>Somehow Democrats have to come up with their own jujitsu maneuver to once again show that theirs is the party that fights entrenched power on behalf of the little people. Liberals have to figure out how to merge their diversity voice with the larger imperative of representing all of America’s underdogs. These are not mutually exclusive messages.</p> <p> </p> <p>Democrats can preach all they want on healthcare and Trump and the environment. But if they don’t correct the larger narrative about who holds power in America — and who’s fighting to equalize that power on behalf of us all — then whatever small and intermittent victories they earn may still leave them short in the larger battle for the hearts and souls of American voters.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This article first appeared on <a href="http://billmoyers.com/">BillMoyers.com</a>.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>A former speechwriter and strategist for causes, candidates, and members of Congress, Leonard Steinhorn has written two books on American politics and culture and frequently writes for major print and online publications. He is currently a professor of communication at American University and a CBS News political analyst.</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hillary-clinton" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hillary Clinton</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voters</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democratic-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democratic party</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ruling-class" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ruling class</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Leonard Steinhorn</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 30 Jul 2017 18:26:21 +0000 tara 7641 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7772-when-did-democrats-become-party-elites#comments Meet Ro Khanna: The ‘Rising Star’ of the Democratic Party https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2331-meet-ro-khanna-rising-star-democratic-party <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:26</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1khanna.jpg?itok=SjxRhAqt"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1khanna.jpg?itok=SjxRhAqt" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/04/ro-khanna-hopes-to-unseat-congressman-honda.php">New America Media</a> and <a href="http://www.indiawest.com/">India-West</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Editor's Note:</strong> <em>Ro Khanna, who has been called by the New York Times “a rising star in the Democratic Party,” says he wants to bring the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley to Washington.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> FREMONT, Calif. -- Ro Khanna, formerly a high-ranking trade official in the Obama administration, announced this week his bid for California’s 17th District congressional seat, which is currently being held by the venerable Mike Honda.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Khanna and Honda are both Democrats likely to be pitted against each other in 2014, due to new state mandates which allow two opponents from the same party to run against each other in the general election. The district – from which Honda received 73 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Evelyn Li in 2012 – stretches from Cupertino to South Fremont and covers huge swaths of the Silicon Valley. Almost half of District 17’s residents are Asian-American; Fremont is home to one of the largest concentrations of South Asians in the United States.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Both candidates have aggressively begun campaigning 20 months before the general election. Khanna has already amassed $1.2 million for his congressional bid, according to his Dec. 31, 2012 Federal Elections Commission report. He has also recruited several key members of President Obama’s re-election campaign team, including Steve Spinner, who will serve as Khanna’s campaign chair.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Jeremy Bird, who served as the Obama campaign’s national field director, will serve as a general consultant to Khanna’s campaign. Leah Cowan, formerly a field director with the Obama re-election campaign, will serve as Khanna’s campaign manager.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Honda, who has served in Congress since 2001 and co-chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, has already received endorsements from President Barack Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean, former chair of the Democratic National Committee.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But Khanna characterized Honda as a politician who did not understand the economic dynamism of his community. “This district at this time needs a voice who understands the global economy, and what policies will foster entrepreneurship and growth,” the 36-year-old Indian American told India-West shortly before announcing his congressional bid. “We need real solutions about how we will compete in a global economy, and someone who can work across the aisle to find common ground between business and labor.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Congress has simply not focused on an economic growth agenda or supporting entrepreneurs. We need to have the right tax and trade policies that will encourage companies to stay in the United States and invest here,” he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “We need to figure out how to encourage more small- and medium-size businesses to take advantage of overseas markets and export. And we need to foster entrepreneurship,” said Khanna, the author of <em>Entrepreneurial Nation: Why Manufacturing Is Still Key to America's Future</em>, which was released by McGraw Hill last August.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Khanna, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service in the Commerce Department, said he will push aggressively to make the Silicon Valley’s advanced electronics, semiconductors, and also clean technology products available to markets overseas without unfair tariffs or restrictions. He also hopes to aid small and medium businesses to gain access to capital to be able to export their products abroad.</p> <p>  </p> <p> To keep up with a global economy, Khanna opined that children need to learn to code as a “second language” and to be “exposed to entrepreneurship from an early age.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2khanna.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 337px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> In support of Khanna’s congressional bid, Kamil Hasan, founder of Hi-Tek Ventures, told India-West, “Ro represents the values and aspirations of our community very well. He also has a clear understanding of the issues important to the high-tech community, and can strongly and proactively represent Silicon Valley in Congress.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> An at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, Hasan added, “Silicon Valley needs to get actively involved in helping strengthen our country's competitiveness, and in creating jobs. Ro is capable of achieving this. While we have a lot of respect and regard for Congressman Honda, and appreciate his contributions to the causes of Asian-Americans, the time has come for a young and dynamic professional to represent this district.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Anil Godhwani, co-founder of the India Community Center in Milpitas, said he is also supportive of Khanna’s run. “Given what Silicon Valley needs, Ro is the better choice to represent the tech community,” Godhwani told India-West.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Godhwani, who said he has known Khanna for about a decade, characterized the candidate as an entrepreneur who would bring fresh ideas and new energy to the 17th district.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Barbara O’Connor, former director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento, told India-West that Khanna will have to appeal to the large Asian-American bloc which makes up almost 50 percent of the residents of his district. “Mike is well connected with the Asian American community and there’s a huge amount of support there for him,” she said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Ethnic groups love incumbents, and they are circumspect of challengers,” noted O’Connor. “You’re not going to get them to give up an incumbent unless there’s a very compelling reason,” added O’Connor, emeritus professor of communications at CSUS.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “To win this race, Khanna must focus on independent voters and young people who tend to be less partisan in their voting patterns. Both candidates will have to build large social media campaigns in addition to the shoe leather, door-knocking tradition of campaigns," said O'Connor.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://www.indiawest.com/">India-West</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ro-khanna" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ro khanna</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mike-honda" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mike honda</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/california" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">California</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/silicon-valley" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">silicon valley</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democratic-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">democratic party</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">government</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/running-office" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">running for office</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sunita Sohrabji</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:26:42 +0000 tara 2654 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2331-meet-ro-khanna-rising-star-democratic-party#comments