The Democratic Party I mean, not the voters, may be waking up. Running in a Special Election in TN SD 32, Eric Coleman’s campaign called and called the state party apparatus for support. There was a primary last week, but not for the Democrats, only the Republicans.
The Special Election is March 12th, what is the Party doing? What else have they got going on? Some of these people get paid 6 figure salaries to do whatever the hell is it they do. What are they doing?
Eric Coleman, a Daily Kos member, is a great candidate. You can read his story here.
Coleman was smart enough to hook up with 90for90, who hooked him up with another Daily Kos member, TonyTheDemocrat, who runs Postcards To Voters. Tony does for FREE what candidates pay for when they go through the Party.
Remember now, Eric’s campaign reached out to the state party many times, but the party slow walked it. TonyTheDemocrat jumped in, just like he did when he helped Doug Jones get elected in Alabama, by getting 350,000 postcards sent out.
Tony stepped in because he gets what the Party doesn’t, that voters win elections, not money. He knows how to do what Dr. Reid of 90for90 is famous for, “dropping down and going around”.
In an email I got, Tony The Democrat said this:
Tennessee State Senate Special Election
When the former Tennessee State Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mark Norris, resigned to accept a federal judgeship, the vacancy drew four Republicans. In two days, primary voters will determine which GOP candidate will face off against the lone Democrat, Eric Coleman. With your help, we plan to mobilize every Democratic voter in the district and flip this seat.
It's not going to be an easy one to win. Trump won TN State Senate District 32 with 68% of the vote. (under-performing Romney's 71% from 2012)
But, what to we know about Special Elections? Turnout is key.
What is in our favor here?
1. We have lots of lead time for this March 12 election.
2. Early voting starts a full month in advance on Feb. 11.
3. Democrat Eric Coleman, is a compelling candidate.
4. The district includes a good bit of Shelby county which we saturated when we wrote for Phil Bredesen.
5. We plan to write a 2nd round to those who do not end up voting early. (We will let you know if we do this.)
6. Eric has already begin campaigning since he didn't have to compete in a primary.
7. Democrats have a lot of reasons to be motivated to show up.
8. We have YOU! You and thousands of other volunteer writers ready to send fun, friendly election reminders to boost winning turnout in an otherwise below-the-radar special election.
Tony set off an alarm by reaching about 1/3rd of the voters in TN SD32, in 2 days. That made the Party pay attention for a minute at least. Will they continue to? I don’t know, I swear they have ADHD worse than I do! The Party doesn’t pay attention because of an Eeyore attitude — “It’s not a winnable district”, they whine. Well, it will be when we win it and people all over the country are jumping in to help, the least our state party could do is join in, and help make this Special Election really special.
You can help by sounding the alarm yourself. Make a call to the Tennessee Democratic Party!
615.327.9779
Mary Mancini — Chair
Jeff Teague — Executive Director
Kris Murphy — Senior Political Director
Evan Latt — Political Director
Amanda Yanchury — Communications Director
You can help Eric here:
Tennessee 2019 - Eric Coleman