This is the Virginia Scope daily newsletter covering Virginia politics from top to bottom. Please consider becoming the ultimate political insider by supporting non-partisan, independent news and becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter today.
Have a tip? You can reply to this email or reach out to me directly at Brandon@virginiascope.com.
Democrats Need Working-Class Candidates. So Why Are We Making It So Hard?
By Eva Posner
Eva Posner is the founder of Evinco Strategies, a Richmond-based, women-run political strategy firm.
If Democrats are serious about winning up and down the ballot, not just once but consistently, we have to change the way we support the people we ask to run. It is not enough to recruit candidates. We have to sustain them.
Recruiting candidates in every district is a powerful start, but without real support, we risk burning out talented leaders before they ever have a chance to build long-term power.
These candidates are on the front lines, facing threats, misinformation, and enormous pressure.
Yet too often, they are left without the resources or infrastructure to succeed.
Yes, I am talking about money, training, and help with communications, compliance, targeting, and endorsements. But I am also talking about the human element. If we want working-class leaders to step up, we have to meet their basic needs: childcare, mental health support, personal security, and logistics.
We also have to trust them. We cannot parachute in with messaging that flattens community nuance into cable news soundbites. Local candidates know their communities better than any pollster. We should let them lead with values, not scripts.
Campaigns are human endeavors. And in a moment when trust in politics is at an all-time low, treating candidates, volunteers, and voters like people, not metrics, can start to rebuild that trust.
I know it sounds crazy to seasoned political operatives who have been trained in “the right way.” But I’ve seen it work first hand. It challenged my training, and it changed my view of politics.
In 2018 I worked for a candidate who took on the full establishment against an incumbent —both parties, the business elite, and police unions were against her—and she won with a horizontal, community-run campaign. Her campaign was outspent 5 to 1 and won by 12 points.
Their success was rooted in trust and relational organizing. It was messy, it was collaborative, and it worked. That experience taught me to step back and support, not control, local leaders.
Democrats do not have a content problem. Poll after poll shows voters agree with us on the issues. We have a messenger problem. Too often, voters do not trust who is delivering the message, and who can blame them? Washington does not understand what it is like to live without a nearby heath care provider, grocery store, or decent public school.
Local leaders do. And they should be our messengers.
We do not need uniformity. We need authenticity. If a mayor talks about housing instead of healthcare, that is fine. If a candidate says “universal” instead of “affordable,” so what? Let candidates meet their communities where they are.
When local campaigns align across school board, statehouse, and congressional races, we build a movement, not just a slate. That is how we win.
Virginia is beginning to show what is possible when we organize from the ground up. Let us give our candidates the support and respect they deserve. Let us treat them, and their voters, as the humans they are. That is how we build a party people believe in.
We cannot just fight for the presidency every four years. We have to show up for every voter in every race every time.
A veteran of dozens of Democratic campaigns nationwide, Posner specializes in state and local races with an emphasis on first-time and working-class candidates. She brings expertise across communications, field, fundraising, and campaign management. Before entering politics, she was a journalist covering government and human trafficking.
Energy plans from gubernatorial nominees
This is the Virginia Scope daily newsletter covering Virginia politics from top to bottom. Please consider becoming the ultimate political insider by supporting non-partisan, independent news and becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter today.