Get Involved

Posted by on 2018-01-24

Democrats:

You will be voting in Massachusetts primaries in 223 days and midterm elections in 286. If the Democratic Party really wants to win back the House and Senate, local Democratic town committees need to get up out of their recliners. Registering new voters, introducing primary candidates, getting out the vote, and giving the electorate a reason to show up on Election Day are what you do if you want to win. Just ask Alabamians.

Elections coming up this year include: U.S. Senator (Warren); U.S. Representative (9 Districts); Governor (challengers to Baker); Secretary of the Commonwealth (Galvin); Attorney General (Healey); Treasurer (Goldberg); Auditor (Bump); Governor’s Council (Ferreira); State Senator (Montigny); State Representative (Markey); County Commissioners (Kitchen, Mitchell); District Attorney (Quinn); Register of Deeds (Treadup); and Clerk of Courts (Santos).

The gubernatorial race and five of nine Congressional District races will actually have primary challengers this year. But so far only a handful of candidates have actually visited Southeastern Massachusetts.

Each Spring the Massachusetts Democratic Party holds its caucuses. This year’s have already been announced, among them the following towns and cities:

  • Saturday, February 3 – Wareham & Brockton
  • Wednesday, February 7 – Barnstable
  • Saturday, February 10 – Fairhaven, Fall River, Taunton, Bridgewater, Somerset, Dartmouth
  • Sunday, February 11 – Falmouth
  • Thursday, February 15 – Seekonk
  • Saturday, February 24 – Westport & Mattapoisett
  • Sunday, February 25 – New Bedford
  • Thursday, March 1 – Attleboro
  • Saturday, March 3 – Plymouth & Middleboro

Last year I wrote about work town committees could easily do. But Democratic Party membership has been stagnant since about 2000 and too many Massachusetts town Democratic Committees are basically defunct. So it’s been up to political clubs and activist groups to do what MassDems ought to be doing themselves.

In Bristol County Democrats didn’t even bother to challenge a Joe Arpaio wannabe sheriff in the last election. For that matter, neither MassDems party chair Gus Bickford nor the huge Democratic State Committee seem worried by the trend toward pro-Trump sheriffs — in Bristol, Plymouth and (most recently) Barnstable counties — that signals the vulnerability of local Democratic Party institutions.

So, Democrats — show up for your town caucuses and get involved. Committees especially need younger, more diverse, and more progressive members willing and able to get things done.

Liberalism

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