Democrats faced with voter turnout problems

Julia Terruso, Tribune News Service

More than 500,000 Democrats in Pennsylvania’s bluest city didn’t vote in last month’s primary. Turnout in Philadelphia, a perennial problem for Democrats, is sure to be higher in November. But the number of city voters who head to the polls could make or break President Joe Biden’s reelection chances. With six months to go until a high-stakes presidential election, the turnout challenge for Democrats is compounded by waning enthusiasm for Biden, including some in the party protesting him, generational and ideological divides in the city party, and lingering tensions over how the local party is run.

It’s led to frustration from some Philadelphia committee members, who say they’re concerned about the effectiveness of the party’s turnout operation and its long-standing party boss, Democratic City Committee Chairman Bob Brady. Big-city Democratic machines aren’t what they used to be, thanks largely to the reduction of political patronage in city government.

And Brady gives an enormous amount of deference to local ward leaders, meaning the strategy — and vigour — of the party’s turnout efforts vary by neighbourhood. But with Philadelphia’s slice of the statewide Democratic vote continuing to shrink in recent elections, Brady’s critics are calling for a more cohesive citywide strategy that takes advantage of its greatest asset: the thousands of elected Democratic committee people who are trusted voices in their neighbourhoods. “What is Bob Brady’s plan to boost turnout?” asked Fred Dedrick, a committee man in West Mount Airy. “The numbers were horrible, even for a primary, and the turnout keeps getting worse and worse. What has happened to this army of party people who are supposed to be advocating for their neighbours?”

The debate reflects long-standing rifts recently aggravated this winter when some progressive members were dismissed. Brady countered that the party is running one of its most robust campaigns in years, led by the Biden campaign in coordination with party ward leaders. “We’re doing everything we can,” Brady said. “We’re working in complete conjunction, which never happens. (The Biden campaign) hired all our people, local people. They’re not bringing anyone in from Arizona that wants to know where to get a good cheesesteak.”

Through it all, the Biden team is projecting calm. “There’s an understanding across the board that whatever family feud is going on in the Democratic Party in Philadelphia, it is gonna be put aside to get President Biden over the hump,” Biden’s Philadelphia campaign lead, Kellan White said. “We’re gonna talk to everybody because we need their help to get out the vote or ultimately, we all lose in November.”

On a Wednesday afternoon ahead of primary day last month, Democratic ward leaders, committee people, and elected politicians gathered for the weekly “pizza with the chairman” open house. Brady, a former congressman who has chaired the city party since 1986, sat at the head of a table huddling with small groups. His cell phone, one of the most valuable political rolodexes in the city, kept ringing. Brady, 79, is perhaps the most well-connected Democrat in the region. He often greets Biden on the tarmac at Philadelphia International Airport when the president visits, which is a lot.

“He gets upset if I’m not there,” Brady said. But Brady’s old-school style is often criticised by younger, more progressive members of the party and tech-savvy organisers eager to modernize. “There are some who are like, I’m the big bad wolf with the big bad party,” Brady said from his office, decorated with photos of him and past Democratic presidents. “Come talk to me. The door’s open.” Some don’t feel welcome. This year about 20 committee people were ousted after signing a letter supporting progressive Working Families Party candidates for City Council over Democratic nominees. The two Working Families Party members won seats long held by Republicans, and all five Democrats still cruised to victory. Only a handful of the city’s 3,400 committee people were impacted but it intensified tensions over how the party operates.

“We’re doing the work while the Democratic committee fails to get people out to vote … and purges really hardworking people,” said Rebecca Poyourow, an ousted committeeperson in Roxborough, where she cofounded an effort that’s boosted turnout in her neighborhood. “You send a signal that you don’t want our help,” she said. Andre Carroll, a Democratic nominee for state representative who previously worked on a Working Families Party candidate’s campaign, said Democrats must focus on turning out a diverse coalition. “The thing about politics is that we need to do a better job of increasing participation and any time we’re removing people from their posts, we’re going in the opposite direction,” he said at the Brady lunch. Others defended the ousters. “I’ve been a ward leader 28 years and I’ve always done what my chairman asks of me,” said Angel Cruz, who runs a North Philadelphia ward.

Cruz represents one of the lowest turnout wards in the city. Brady’s own ward had 21% turnout in the primary. Some argue there should be consequences or incentives for ward leaders to drive turnout. But Brady insists the party’s leaders aren’t to blame. The city has lost residents to the suburbs in recent years and voter apathy is hard to overcome.

“We can only do what we can do,” Brady said. “They gotta turn out. We give them every reason to turn out and the numbers all through the elections are horrible.”

A chief criticism of the city party from some elected committee people is there’s no user manual for turning out voters. “If there is a coordinated approach to voter engagement and registration, there’s a ready-made army of people who could be mobilised,” said Laura Boyce, a committee person in the Second Ward. “That could be more effective than outside campaigns coming in, or at least really complementary to it.” In 2021 after meeting with party leaders, Boyce sent a list of recommendations, including a newsletter and monthly training sessions on constituent engagement, voter registration software, and canvassing. None of it was ever implemented.

Philadelphia has 66 wards split up into divisions, which each elect two Democratic and two Republican committee people. The neighbourhood representatives act like political block captains and historically helped connect residents to city services or jobs. Today, the role can feel more nebulous. How active a committee person is can depend on their relationship with their ward leader and whether the ward is “open,” allowing it to be run more autonomously than the city’s closed wards.

Tim Lynch, a committee person for eight years in Northeast Philadelphia’s 56th Ward, pays for and circulates pamphlets in his division ahead of elections but there’s no coordinated effort ward or citywide. “If the committee man wants to do something on his own, God bless ya,” he said. Gianni Hill, an adviser to Brady, said with a decentralised system of ward leaders comes different approaches and some resistance to new technologies and ideas.