Party of Elites or Party of the People? Report back from SoundCheck 2022
Left to right: Delia Ramirez (2022 Dem. nominee for IL-03), Greg Casar (2022 Dem. nominee for TX-35), and Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16).
Grassroots organizers, campaigners, policy experts, union leaders, candidates, and elected officeholders met this week in Washington DC to strategize about how to articulate an “inclusive populism” and make the Democratic Party fight for a multiracial working class.
The one-day event on Tuesday, July 26, was convened by Way to Win, Battle Born Collective, Fight Corporate Monopolies, Groundwork Action, Working Families Party, Economic Security Project Action, and Popular Comms.
Leah Hunt-Hendrix kicked off the day by drawing attention to a little-known strategy memo from Indiana Rep. Jim Banks (R) titled “Cementing GOP as the Working-Class Party.” The memo outlines a plan to frame the Democratic Party as the party of elites, and thereby win over more working-class voters, across race.
Speakers presented research showing the popularity of naming and picking fights with powerful economic culprits, discussed the forces we are up against inside the Democratic Party, and shared strategies and success stories of overcoming these forces — for example, the recent primary races of Summer Lee, Greg Casar, and Delia Ramirez.
Triple threat, coming to DC on Jan. 3!@SummerForPA @Delia4Congress pic.twitter.com/GiPrATZDYx
— Greg Casar (@GregCasar) July 26, 2022
In an interview with The New York Times, Adam Jentleson of Battle Born Collective warned that, “Democrats must find a more effective way to meet working-class voters where they are, and channel their very real anger — or else Republicans will.”
Left to right: Lancaster City Council President and 2022 Dem. nominee for PA HD-49, Izzy Smith-Wade-El and Jonathan Smucker of Popular Comms.
