The Progressive Group plans to spend millions of dollars on training hundreds of prospective Democrats in Texas, Arizona and seven other states over the next few months as part of an effort to diversify its staff pipeline. Democratic Party.
“People with the strength and enthusiasm to get involved in politics still find a barrier to pursue a career in politics, because it is still an old -fashioned club where you have to meet someone who knows someone to get a job in the country. . Lauren Baer, the arena’s managing partner, said. “We want to expand the openness of those who can enter progressive politics, so that it better reflects our country and our party as a whole.
The group aims to build local infrastructure by training staff living in key states to make it easier for candidates to quickly find professional help. In addition to Texas and Arizona, the group also operates in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. It also aims to help Democratic campaigns recruit more diverse staff, a key target for candidates hoping to justify the party’s increased focus on racial justice.
The arena began after the 2016 election and has since trained more than 6,200 Democratic employees and volunteers. More than half are women, more than half are racial minorities and about a third are LGBTQ individuals.
“We’re focused on who we’re training, precisely because Democrats haven’t intended to train in years,” Baer said.
The group will also directly fund approximately 40 organizers in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas to work on state and district legislative competitions, a continuation of the program first launched last year in the Virginia election.
In Virginia, despite the Democratic defeat, the party won four of the seven state legislatures where the arena has positioned its staff, including a 400-vote victory to one.
It also hosts mass training for more than 125 people in Arizona later this month and 600 people in Texas in June.
Baer, a former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida, said Democrats need to focus more on building long -term infrastructure rather than investing money in the ballot boxes of individuals who candidate.
“For a long time, Democrats have had what I think would be called the problem with the shiny thing, which means we want to love and invest – sometimes over -investing – in candidates,” Baer said. “And we’re doing it at the cost of building the kind of long-term, permanent, on-site energy and infrastructure needed each year to win.”
Source: Huffpost
