Troy Blackwell, a long-time US Democratic Party volunteer and staffer, is running for a position as vice chair for the Democratic National Committee, where he hopes that improving the party's messaging will make them more competitive in future elections.
With the 2024 presidential defeat of outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, the party's leadership board are ramping up efforts to engage voters, with many of their working class and youth base having opted for the Republicans in the latest election cycle, largely over their lessening appeal to everyday Americans.
"We need to be proactive," Blackwell, a Bronx native of Puerto Rican descent who has worked for Barack Obama in his second administration and for Kamala Harris, tells °®Âþµº. "We can't wait for someone to attack us or put us on the defence."
He says, "If the messaging isn't there, the policies, the fundraising, nothing else falls into place." He is running for one of the five DNC vice chair positions, which will be voted on by members in February.
Blackwell, whose professional background is in communications, including working with labour unions, wants the Democratic Party to go beyond basic PR. For him, messaging means addressing media misinformation, going on listening tours to understand the needs of constituents—including hearing under-represented voices, such as Arabs and Muslims, and rebuilding the party's historic coalition with the country's working class as its backbone.
"We're trying to rebuild a coalition," he says. "We're talking about working class engagement. Compared with Trump and the Republicans, the Democrats have always been the party of the working class. If you look at the [Joe Biden] administration, we've seen the wins."
Blackwell is referring to outgoing President Joe Biden's domestic legislation in supporting infrastructure, new high-tech jobs in the Rust Belt, and the administration's support of labour unions. With Biden leaving office with low unemployment and slowed-down inflation, many thought this would put Harris on a strong path to victory.
However, the party's lack of focus on everyday Americans' issues, such as corporate price gouging of necessities and exorbitant healthcare costs, seemed to drive away support. Despite tangible victories, the Democrats lost popularity across the country.
This was combined with the Biden administration's support for Israel's unpopular war on Gaza, creating a rift with youths, leftists and Arab and Muslim communities, leading to a drop in overall voter turnout and Democratic Party registration, including in deep blue districts.
Still, many Democratic leaders found it frustrating that they believed they had more to offer Americans than their Republican counterparts.
Blackwell thinks Republicans should be called out for making cuts to social welfare programmes, a difficult message to spread given the proliferation of conservative media outlets.
Part of this change in messaging could include creating a Muslim caucus, something he believes could address Islamophobia and misinformation in the media of the Muslim community.
Right now, it is commonplace for xenophobic rumours to proliferate in mainstream media, which came up earlier this month with attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas. Over the summer, a false rumour of Haitians in Ohio eating domestic pets reached mainstream news.
He says, "The ecosystem has outgrown us. We've fallen behind, and we need to catch up, which will take serious thought and investment."