[ If our aim is economic and social justice, we’d do better to
focus on changing the rules—including the rules of the Democratic
Party. Even more important than the candidates we elect are the rules
that determine whether real change is possible.]
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EVEN WITHOUT A CONTEST AT THE TOP OF THE TICKET, VOTING IN THE
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY STILL MATTERS  
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Larry Cohen
January 16, 2024
The Nation
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_ If our aim is economic and social justice, we’d do better to
focus on changing the rules—including the rules of the Democratic
Party. Even more important than the candidates we elect are the rules
that determine whether real change is possible. _

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage
at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, Feb. 3, 2023, in
Philadelphia, (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky // The Hill)

 

This year progressive activists are gearing up to elect “rulers”
who can defeat right-wing politicians from the presidency on down the
ballot. But if our aim is economic and social justice, we’d do
better to focus on changing the rules—including the rules of the
Democratic Party. Because even more important than the candidates we
elect are the rules that determine whether real change is possible.

The United States is near the bottom compared to other global
democracies in terms of voting rights, guards against the influence of
money in politics, majority governance, and more
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The candidates we elect pay scant attention to the minimal outcomes we
achieve, largely because of the rules, which encourage them to focus
instead on messaging. Senate rules, the Electoral College, the federal
judiciary, voter registration hurdles, gerrymandering, legal and
judicial limits on organizing and collective bargaining, _Citizens
United_—all combine to discourage popular participation and
activism. This means that the candidates who win under the current
rules—our rulers—have little accountability to political
organizations beyond their next election.

Democratic Party rules also play a major role in blocking progressive
change, both at the national level and in the state parties. There are
no limits on dark money in primaries; many state parties lack
transparency in their governing structure; and same-day party
registration for primary voting has never been enforced in many
states, despite adoption by the DNC in 2018. (States like New York
continue to make it difficult for millions of unaffiliated voters to
participate in the primary, since they require party registration a
month earlier by voters who are not already party-affiliated. Most are
young—and in many states the default at registration is
unaffiliated—but then party leaders in many states don’t actually
want them voting in primaries, since they are more likely to vote
against incumbents.)

Much more support is needed for the growing number of party members at
all levels working to reform state parties, as well as the 50 or 60
Democratic National Committee (DNC) members, including many state
chairs, still pushing for reform at the national level. Last year,
despite a resolution submitted by about 10 percent of DNC members, the
party leadership blocked any discussion of the record level of
dark-money contributions that changed the outcomes of Democratic
primaries, particularly for Congress. Sam Bankman-Fried alone
illegally spent millions influencing who got to run for office as a
Democrat—and he was just one of many big dark-money spenders,
including other crypto tycoons, AIPAC, and a wide range of
right-wingers and even liberal organizations.

Dark-money spending will likely be even greater this year,
particularly in the majority of “Democratic” districts where there
is a progressive incumbent and no meaningful Republican challenger.
The primary provides a means for wealthy conservatives to block
candidates who support issues such as imposing price caps on pharma,
expanding Medicare, cutting the bloated military budget, opposing
arming the right-wing Israeli government. Most Democratic political
operatives and their media and legal consultants will continue to
ignore the influence of dark money in primaries while they scoop it
up.

More than a year ago, the DNC adopted new rules—including a primary
calendar that ignored state law in Iowa and New Hampshire and
eliminated any primary debates—designed to ensure that Biden’s
coronation would proceed untroubled by opposition from any credible
Democrat. Progressives should accept that at this point the rules now
preclude any new candidates from entering presidential primaries; even
if Biden were to drop out, he and his campaign advisors would still
control the selection of a replacement. But for those of us who
believe the Democratic Party is still the only viable channel for
progressive change, the 2024 Democratic National Convention remains
crucially important.

In both 2016 and 2020, led by Senator Bernie Sanders and his army of
delegates, the convention adopted resolutions supporting a series of
reforms, including practically eliminating the role
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750 or more superdelegates in the nominating process. Secretary
Clinton agreed, after negotiating with Sanders, as did the Biden
campaign in 2020—and in both cases Unity resolutions were adopted
that remain in force through 2024
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But unless the 2024 convention adopts a similar resolution, the DNC
starts from scratch for 2028 and all the reforms gained by the Sanders
forces—particularly those keeping superdelegates out of the
nominating process—will expire, leaving the field to DNC insiders
again.

Our Revolution and other organizations will be encouraging members to
run in their states for convention delegate, pledged to Biden (party
rules again ensure that nearly all elected delegates will be pledged
to Biden) but supporting party reform and a progressive platform. Each
state has its own delegate selection plan
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easily searchable with deadlines varying over the next several months.
Progressive House and Senate members, and many state party chairs will
again be supporting this effort, and pressuring the Biden campaign for
support including on such progressive platform items from 2020 as
reducing prices on a wider range of prescription drugs, eliminating
carbon from power plants, and a path to citizenship for most
immigrants. Unity cannot simply be based on defeating Trump—as vital
as that may be—but also on the recognition that progressives
continue to be vital to party success in 2024.

Each state party has its own process, but it often begins with
presidential delegate selection, with those same delegates comprising
at least part of the state party decision making structure. In states
where reformers from the Sanders campaigns, and others, have engaged
and contended for leadership—including Washington, Oregon, Arizona,
as well as smaller states like Nebraska, Alaska, and
Wyoming—significant change has occurred. But New York, New Jersey,
and other Eastern and Southern states are at the other extreme. For
example, in New York in 2021, when democratic socialist India Walton
defeated Buffalo’s incumbent mayor in the party primary, the state
party chair led a write-in campaign to defeat her—in direct
violation of national party rules. But there was no sustained effort
to remove him by the center-left groups that had supported Walton.

If our focus is progressive change at the federal level, Biden’s
reelection, a Democratic House majority, more Progressive Caucus
members, and a Senate Democratic majority are all important goals. The
Senate Democratic caucus is finally prepared to actively consider
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filibuster that would result in debate and final passage by a simple
majority—not the current 60-vote supermajority—on issues starting
with voting rights and other democracy measures, but also including
workers’ rights, pharma pricing, and other key parts of the
progressive agenda. Again, this is party change at the Senate caucus
level that until now has been impossible.

Change at the party level is essential given the constraints of the
rules that currently bind us. It makes no sense to engage in primaries
at the municipal, state, and federal levels and ignore the party
processes that set the rules for those contests. Beyond the party, we
need to focus on changing the wide range of rules that keep
progressive governance perpetually out of reach. If we stay focused on
governance—and those structural changes are linked to issue
campaigns that will galvanize popular support—we have a much better
chance for our politics to move beyond protest towards the power to
genuinely change people’s lives.

_[LARRY COHEN is a past president of the Communications Workers of
America, the board chair of Our Revolution
[[link removed]], and a member of the Democratic National
Committee.]_

_Copyright c 2024 The Nation. Reprinted with permission. May not be
reprinted without permission
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Distributed by PARS International Corp
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_Please support progressive journalism. Get a digital subscription
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to The Nation for just $24.95!_

* Democratic Party
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* 2024 Elections
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* Joe Biden
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* Bernie Sanders
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* Our Revolution
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* Working Families Party
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* Dark Money
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* progressive change
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* Democratic Party reforms
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* Democratic Party rules
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* Democratic primary
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