If Democrats want to take back the White House in 2020, we need to make sure Democrats take back Lackawanna County, PA in 2019.
My name is Jerry Notarianni. I’m the Democratic (Minority) Commissioner of Lackawanna County, and I’m writing today to explain what’s going on in the county, how it affects Democrats’ chance at taking back the White House in 2020, and what you can do to help.
In 2008, President Barack Obama won Lackawanna County and its neighbor county, Luzerne, by 39,397 combined votes.
Just eight years later, Donald Trump won the two counties by 22,638 votes, representing a 62,035 vote swing.
Trump won Pennsylvania by just 44,292 votes.
After eight years of decline, the vaunted Lackawanna machine that had helped power Democrats to victory in Pennsylvania for nearly the past century, had failed.
What happened?
Like much of the Rust Belt, Lackawanna County is, at its core, made up of union towns. Home to the Anthracite Mining Region, the United Mine Workers, alongside other building trades unions, brought generations of Lackawanna County residents into the middle class.
But as Republican waged their war on workers’ right to organize, and union membership in the United States fell by nearly 50%, our community suffered as well. The old unions that had been so effective turning out Democratic votes were losing their ability to provide the same electoral edge.
To compound the problem, the Lackawanna County Democratic machine was starting to fail too. Beginning in 2009, participation in Democratic county primaries, reflecting the combined ability of area Democrats to turn out the vote, fell by an average of 10.8% during each election.
If Democrats want to take back Pennsylvania in 2020, it starts by taking back Lackawanna County in 2019.
In order to win, we’ve set an ambitious goal of recruiting, and training, 500 new volunteer activists to register, mobilize, and turnout Democratic voters in the old union towns all across Northeast Pennsylvania.
But we can’t hit this goal alone. To fight back, we need your help.
We’ve got an ambitious, $25,000 goal to help us recruit, mobilize, and support these 500 new grassroots activists so that we can rebuild the Lackawanna County Democratic Party and win here in 2019 AND 2020. So I’m asking, will you stand with us and make a contribution today to help hit that goal?
We’ve watched as Daily Kos activists helped Conor Lamb fight for the Democratic Party values in Western Pennsylvania. We’ve seen Kos members help turn out the vote for Doug Jones in Alabama. We’ve been amazed by the incredible support, generosity, and passion of the Daily Kos community.
So thank you to the Daily Kos community for all that you do. I hope we can earn your support in this fight. If you have any questions about the campaign, the race, Lackawanna County, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below.
With gratitude,
Jerry Notarianni