Tuesday, Nov. 2 — midterm election day. If you're someone like me, you're probably looking forward to this day with some mixture of dread, revulsion and dark humor (at the prospect of Christine O'Donnell getting elected and lecturing America on the evils of masturbation from the Senate floor).
The narrative the mainstream media has concocted gives liberals like me plenty of reason for concern. They paint a picture of out-of-touch Democrats about to receive a royal beatdown the likes of which haven't been seen this side of 1994 at the hands of a fired up Tea Party-infused electorate. Headlines have been along the lines of "Delusional liberal elites are still in denial over Obama's crumbling presidency," and "Dems face day of reckoning."
And yet, virtually ignored has been the story of a concurrent renaissance of progressive candidates right here in the Ocean State. On Sept. 14, amid the media hubbub over Tea Party-backed radical Christine O'Donnell knocking out Mike Castle in the Delaware Republican Senate primary — the Tea Party's biggest coup yet — Rhode Island also held a primary, the results of which political blog RI Future summarized simply as "Progressives win big in Rhode Island."
And indeed they did. Progressive favorite Angel Taveras became poised to be Providence's first Latino mayor in stunning fashion, winning 49 percent of the vote in a crowded four-way field of candidates. Not only that, but he did it by expanding beyond the traditional liberal strongholds of the East and South Sides and winning 11 of the city's 15 wards.
This Providence victory was added to by other progressives' successes throughout the state ("Tanzi brings new vision to progressive policy", Sept. 29; "I support Chris Blazejewski," Oct. 1). Many of these political newcomers defeated long-time, entrenched, conservative Democrats who have long stood in the way of progressive policy. Tanzi, a Brown Resumed Undergraduate Education student, blasted David Caprio (D-34), an 11-year incumbent and member of a Rhode Island political dynasty, by a stunning 16 percent margin. David Bennett beat Al Gemma (D-20) by nearly two to one. Other Democrats-in-name-only, like Doug Gablinske and Mary Ann Shallcross-Smith, were also booted out.
All told, 10 incumbents out of the 110-member General Assembly were defeated, mostly by challengers from the left. Moreover, many open seats were filled with members of this progressive vanguard. This gives us a real chance of having a strong progressive bloc in the legislature that can actually become a force pushing the legislature toward good policy.
That's all great, but the question is, how will we manage to counter the rightward trend in the rest of the country? To answer this question, I think the national Democratic party could learn a thing or two from our experiences in Rhode Island.
Lesson one: it's the candidates, stupid. Especially in this anti-incumbent atmosphere, it doesn't pay anymore to just show up with the backing of the political establishment and a D next to your name. The so-called "enthusiasm gap" only exists when unexciting corporate Democrats are on the ballot. When candidates step forward who can truly inspire confidence and hope, we see them attract volunteers — the lifeblood of a campaign — and motivate their supporters to turn out to the polls rather than sit at home.
Lesson two: you have to build power to get power. We shouldn't view this progressive victory in a vacuum. Progressives in Rhode Island have spent the last few years building a strong community that then was able to mobilize for these candidates. Rhode Island's premier political blog, RIFuture.org, has been a digital meeting place for progressives since 2005, uniting environmentalists, labor activists, ethics reformers and more. Together these groups have built power to the point where the three most viable candidates for governor individually showed up to two-hour-long progressive town hall meetings, where they were grilled on their progressive credentials in hopes of winning the progressive community's vote. By uniting through the RI Future community, these groups hold much more power than they do individually.
Similarly, the Progressive Leadership Fund has been a significant force in turning out the vote for this new generation of progressive candidates. Chris Blazejewski's popular "Drinking Liberally" events have also become a hub of Rhode Island progressivism and a new constituency that candidates must satisfy to get a realistic shot at winning an election.
The lessons shown by Rhode Island's primaries can and should be adopted nation wide. It's up to us as progressives to start the long process of building the infrastructure that will eventually lead us to victory. Then parties will know that putting forward candidates that run on conviction and strong values are a better choice than party stalwarts.
Maybe there's a good reason that Rhode Island's motto is "hope."
Kurt Walters '11 likes to think of himself as a renaissance man. He can be contacted at kurt_walters (at) brown.edu.
