| | | | |  | | By Brittany Gibson | Presented by Bank of America | With help from Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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POLITICO Illustration/AP Photos | What up, Recast fam! Ontario declares a state of emergency as truckers continue their protests along the Canadian border; President Biden splits $7 billion in Afghan assets between 9/11 victims and aid in Afghanistan; the Winter Olympics is a ratings fail (are you watching?) and it's Super Bowl time. Brakkton is taking some much-needed time off, so today, Brittany is filling in, kicking things off with a sit down with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. How do you create a unified message and strategy for the Democratic Party today with its splintering factions and relentless in-fighting? Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison's first response to that question was a record-breaking fundraising haul. In 2021, the DNC ended the year with about $65 million in the bank to head into the midterms, higher than any other off-year. In comparison, the DNC only managed a bank balance of $6.5 million after Trump's first year in office. But in Harrison's own words, it's not enough for some people in Washington. He's been criticized for not spending enough time in the Beltway. And he's beating back reports that there's growing friction between him and White house officials. After losing a long-shot Senate bid in 2020 to unseat Sen. Lindsay Graham in his home state, the life-long South Carolinian was tapped as DNC chair with a key endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn. He's facing some headwinds. Democrats are trying to buck trends against them in this year's midterm elections. The party in the White House loses 26 seats on average in the House of Representatives — a shift that would cost them the majority. This is in addition to several toss-up Senate seats on the line this November that could put the Senate back under Mitch McConnell's control.
| | | | A message from Bank of America: Bank of America has convened a coalition of sports partners to connect youth with paid internships and mentors to help guide future success. "At twenty-four, the skills that I've gained throughout this internship have made me unstoppable" says Joseph Merchain, LA Rams Community Affairs and Engagement Intern. | | | President Joe Biden's low approval ratings and inability to follow through on campaign promises on voting rights enhancements, police reform, human infrastructure and student debt cancellation are also liabilities for the Democratic Party. Then there's the even lower approval rating of his heir-apparent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Not to mention the unexpected wins for the GOP in the Virginia and New Jersey elections of 2021… It's Harrison's job to stop losses that are slowly being considered inevitable within the Beltway. As a leader for the DNC's partner organizations based in Washington and state parties across the country, people are looking to Harrison for reassurance on strategy and issues around voting rights as well as the money and resources to support the Party's response to this cycle's plethora of obstacles. We chop it up with Harrison about taking his state party organizing and fundraising skills nationwide, navigating intra-party feuds in Washington – and his own political future. ◆◆◆ This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: How frustrated are you with your colleagues in Washington and how they handled the voting rights bills and filibuster reform? HARRISON: Well, listen, I don't know if it's frustration with my colleagues. I'm frustrated with the end result. You know, I was a young staffer on the Hill and back in 2006, the last time we got the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized. At that time, George W. Bush was president, Republicans controlled the House, they controlled the Senate. And it got signed [into law]. Many aspects of the bill that was being considered in the U.S. Senate this time around — particularly the John Lewis component of this, which was, you know, putting teeth back into the Voting Rights Act — was almost identical to what was passed just a few years ago. So the question is what changed? Legislation didn't change dramatically, but the Republican Party did.
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THE RECAST: Some Democratic donors have really singled out Sen. Sinema. Seventydonors sent a letter to Sinema saying that they would not contribute to future campaigns or would support a primary challenger because of her actions around the Voting Rights bill and the filibuster reform. So as head of the DNC, you're partly responsible for fundraising for the Party. Is she making your job harder?
HARRISON: Well, I wouldn't say that. I mean, at the end of the day, people give their money based on their beliefs. Back in the day I've written enough checks myself, and I support candidates who support the things that I believe in. I support parties who believe in the same thing. And again, overwhelmingly, the reason why [voting rights legislation] is even an issue that is being brought up is because the Democratic Party is pushing this. It is high on our agenda; it is our number one thing to get done because we know the importance and how personal the right to vote is for all Americans. And we know it's the right thing. This isn't the Democratic thing to do. This is the American thing to do. Fifty-seven years ago, my grandparents could not vote here in South Carolina and I can tell you, I don't want that legacy, the hardships, the barriers that my grandparents had to experience to be the future for my sons who are growing up right now.
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Then-Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally in October 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. | AP Photo/Meg Kinnard | THE RECAST: The DNC came out with a memo with all the resources programs that you have focused on voting rights. But some of those programs, like the Red State Fund, will help with voting rights, but they're not specific to it necessarily. So what's the DNC budget specifically for this issue? HARRISON: The Vice President and I went to the campus of Howard University recently and announced that we were committing $25 million to our "I Will Vote" initiative. That was a significant investment in putting voter protection staff on the ground in our battleground states. Many of our critical states already have staff on the ground that is working to educate voters about the changes in the voting laws … so that they understand them and can push back against any changes or modifications that don't seem to be equitable to all of the voters. We are establishing a 50-state voter protection strategy. We're working with our experts to make sure that there's voter protection staff across the country. We are recruiting attorneys non-stop. We have established a national year-round voter assistance hotline so that we can answer any questions or resolve any issues related to voting. And we're doing voter registration for the first time in almost 30 years, the DNC is actually going to fund some voter registration issues.
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DNC Chair Jaime Harrison speaks during a campaign event for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in August 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. | Win McNamee/Getty Images | So we are taking this seriously. This is the largest voter protection effort in the history of the DNC. Listen, you can't out organize suppression, but you sure as heck can mitigate it. THE RECAST: I'm curious about your conversations with other activists and organizers — the people that did a lot of the voter education work in the last election cycle — what's their response to you? Especially after President Biden's trip to Atlanta to promote these [voting rights] bills when some organizers very publicly did not attend. They said they support Biden's push for this legislation, but they need action on the legislation itself.
| | | | A message from Bank of America:   | | | HARRISON: Listen, some of this stuff is not unique. If you follow the Civil Rights Movement, you understand that there are folks who work on the outside, there are folks that work on the inside, but at the end of the day, it's that push and pull that gets something done. And we also learned from the Civil Rights Movement that you get setbacks sometimes, you get roadblocks sometimes. But the one thing that John Lewis taught me, as a friend and as a mentor, is that you never give up. I think quite often back to so many of the things that he had to go through. Think about him marching over the Edmund Pettus Bridge [on Bloody Sunday] and you know, Jim Clark and the dog sicced on him, and all John Lewis beaten and bloody. And guess what? Two days later, he's back marching again.
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Then-Senate candidate Jaime Harrison waves goodbye to supporters after conceding to his opponent, incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in November 2020. | Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images | THE RECAST: I've talked to some state party and DNC members who said that if the White House supported you more to carry out your agenda for the DNC, Democrats might be in a better position heading into the midterms. I want to know if you agree with that sentiment, or— HARRISON: I believe the White House and I are in lockstep. I've talked to folks in White House four times this week about our agenda and our commitments to making sure that we win in this midterm. And I announced a historic amount raised by the DNC, over $157 million. Never ever in an off year has a DNC ever raised that amount of money, and we did it in the midst of Covid. So that's a huge achievement. So we are making historic announcements time after time after time again because we understand that democracy is on the line. THE RECAST: I saw your tweet thread over the weekend about this. In one of the tweets you said, "Only in DC… can you break a fundraising record & have folks complain it isn't enough." What's the disconnect there, do you think?
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| HARRISON: There's some folks who just love to keep drama going. But at the end of the day, you got to focus on the work. My grandparents used to say, "Jamie, control what you can control." What can I control? I can raise the money for the DNC. And guess what? That's what we're doing. We can build the infrastructure to make sure that we are prepared for the midterms. That's what we're doing. I'll leave all of the other gossip to the folks who love reading National Enquirer style gossip columns. And I'll focus on doing the work. THE RECAST: I spoke to Trav Robertson, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. And looking ahead to the midterms, he said "Washington insiders," political elites and consultants are already anticipating "a bloodbath." He said that "Washington insiders should listen to Jamie [Harrison]. They would be wise to listen to him. They'd be wise to take his counsel." Do you feel like Washington insiders — as he calls them — are listening to you? Do you feel like you're being heard here in Washington?
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Then-Senate candidate Jaime Harrison reviews his printed ballot with his son William during early voting in October 2020. | Sean Rayford/Getty Images | HARRISON: I do and in the end our plans are getting the desired results. And we are now rebuilding the infrastructure within our state parties. We are doing and we've made [these commitments], and the only reason why we could have made these commitments is because we had the support of the president and the White House to do so. We put $23 million into our state party apparatus. Never in the history — again, historic — never in the history of the DNC, have we made that type of financial commitment. And that's, that's the floor. That's not the ceiling. That's the floor. Never in the history of the DNC have we ever committed that amount of resources to state parties going into a cycle. And it's because this President understands that at the end of the day we will win or lose based on the strength of our state party apparatus and our infrastructure. ◆◆◆ It's been quite the week! We at The Recast have been hard at work on a project that we're excited to unveil very soon. But in the meantime, here are some weekend to-dos. David Olusoga, one of Brittain's most well-known public historians, the author of "Black and British: A Forgotten History," has a new documentary series premiering on the Smithsonian Channel, "One Thousand Years of Slavery." Check out Capital B, a news site that launched last week. Helmed by journalism vets Lauren Williams and Akoto Ofori-Atta, its mission is "bringing high-quality, original reporting to Black audiences across the country." You're going to want to read this New Yorker profile of Caetano Veloso, Brazil's most celebrated musician.
It's Mardi Gras season. To get pumped, check out this mini doc of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians. We started watching "Suspicion" on Apple TV+ and we are hooked: It's an international thriller about five ordinary Brits who're suddenly arrested and charged with kidnapping the son of an uber rich and connected PR maven. Things do not go well.
Julie Otsuka's new novel, "The Swimmers," is a social satire that dives beneath the surface of life at a community pool. A new documentary, "The Sun Rises in the East" explores the history of The East , a Brooklyn center that became a cultural hub for Pan-Africanism in the '70s. Twin-singing duo Ibeyi is out with a new song, celebrating all things sisterhood, "Sister 2 Sister."
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| And we're really feeling this moody, trippy song and video by Omar Apollo and Daniel Cesar.
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| TikTok of the Day: Universities really secured that bag.
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| | | | | A message from Bank of America: "Since 2010, we've invested nearly $30 million to fund more than 20,000 jobs for young people across the country." - Raul Anaya, President, Bank of America Greater Los Angeles.
For Crenshaw native and LA Rams Community Affairs and Engagement Intern, Joseph Merchain, this Bank of America partnership has given him critical job skills from organizing youth football clinics to assisting with community research and events throughout Los Angeles. Aligned with Bank of America's $1.25 billion, five-year commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity, building access to work experiences like this have helped young people develop a professional network for future career aspirations.
Learn how Bank of America has convened a coalition of partners in sports, including the Los Angeles Rams, to connect young people, predominantly from communities of color, to meaningful job, skills-building, networking, and mentorship opportunities. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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