Democrats ramp up efforts to turn more red seats blue in the South in the wake of recent successes

Deborah Barfield Berry | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Colin Allred waited outside a room in the U.S. Capitol as members of the Congressional Black Caucus slipped out of their weekly policy meeting to greet him and chat for a bit.

The Democrat from Texas had only a few minutes inside to make his pitch for why the caucus should support his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, who represents a red district in his state.

Allred had convinced the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to include him in its Red to Blue program, which gives “top-tier” candidates organizational and fundraising support.

“We have to continue to remind people around the country there are some (competitive) seats in the South," Allred said after the room emptied.

Less than six months before midterm elections, national Democrats said they are ramping up their efforts in the South working with the Congressional Black Caucus and local grass-roots groups to pick up more seats, even in traditionally red districts like Allred's.

The DCCC and the caucus say the South is key to a Democratic takeover of the House.

The shift in focus comes in the wake of recent Democratic victories in the South, including in Alabama where Doug Jones pulled off an upset in the Senate race last December.

“We have a lot of important work to do down that way,’’ said New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, chairman of the DCCC.

That work, he said, includes races beyond those included on the committee's target list. "Don’t make the mistake that we’re not keeping a close eye on these districts," he said.

CBC members have been meeting regularly with DCCC officials and pushing to channel more resources to races in the South.

“We’re not forfeiting the South like we used to, and the party is coming down to help,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “If we’re going to grow, we’re going to grow in the South. This traditional Democratic forfeiting in the South and this traditional Democratic message doesn’t work. … We’re forcing them to come and they’re coming."

Richmond said caucus members have helped recruit and support candidates in the South, including Allred.

Some Democrats have long complained the national party has skipped over the South, conceding races to Republicans and taking the base there for granted.

“For too long, Democrats on a national level have ignored the South," Jones said. “They’ve come down to raise money, but then they have not provided the resources necessary to make the parties viable or as viable. They have not provided the boots on the ground."

Unlike in the past, Jones said the DNC did step in to help his bid to fill the seat vacated by Republican Jeff Sessions. “My race was indicative of what can be done," he said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he and other Democrats from the South are pressing the national party to expand its base in the South, which he said is “fertile ground for Democratic political growth.”

“You have to have a buy-in from people you’re trying to work with and so I see them doing just that," he said. “The proof at the end is how much investment goes with it."

Democrats said they’re planning post-primary meetings for May and June to map out action plans for local communities, including many in the South.

The DCCC already has staff in some competitive districts in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, said Kamau Marshall, the committee's director of African American Media and deputy national press secretary.

The DCCC also set up a national program sending 25 "constituency organizers" to work with candidates and build relationships with communities of color, including grass-roots groups and churches.

“The name of the game right now is doing these things early, being on the ground early, being active in these communities in advance, not in September, not in October," said Marshall, adding that get-out-the-vote efforts should be the focus by then. “I think African American people and just people of color in general are fully aware that they feel like people come to them at the last minute and people take their votes for granted."

Derryn Moten, chairman of the Department of History and Political Science at Alabama State University, said he hasn’t seen much evidence of national Democrats stepping up efforts to put more "boots on the ground'' there.

He said it’s important for Democrats to make that happen by next month.

“The Dems have the best shot of taking back the House of Representatives than they’ve had since 2010 or earlier," he said. “The Dems need to galvanize and organize and get people who are empathetic to the Democratic message out to the polls."

He said the South is "plum for the picking."

But the South remains a difficult landscape for Democrats. In Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, for example, only four out of 23 congressional seats are held by Democrats.

Still, many point to Jones’ upset in ruby red Alabama as a sign Democrats can win more seats in the region. Jones said the Democratic National Committee stepped in early providing resources and manpower.

“There was this appearance that we weren’t getting any assistance at all," he said. “That was not the case."

“But at the end of the day (they) also recognized that our race was a unique race and we were the ones controlling the race," he said. “That was important because we had a campaign strategy."

Marshall said national Democrats took note of the Jones victory. African Americans, particularly women, are credited with helping Jones win.

“It showed the value of African-American women and African Americans in general," he said. “I think these things have already been happening, but it was more in our face. ... It also has let the party know, ‘Hey we need to hop on these things and we shouldn’t take these things for granted.' ’’

Lujan credits the work of Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and African-American women in Alabama for helping Jones win, saying it’s a lesson “everyone better had paid attention to and everyone better had learned from.”

Sewell campaigned for Jones and mobilized CBC members to go to Alabama in the final weeks of the election.

“That plan worked and it will continue to be used and adopted and refined,” Lujan said. “We’re going to continue to learn from folks who were down there putting in the hard work.’’

Thompson said the Alabama race can serve as a blueprint for the importance of working with local groups and businesses, including pollsters and consultants. He said some efforts are underway now with minority-owned and women-owned groups.

“For too long the black community was looked at for output, but not input,’’ he said. “Input means who is doing the polling. Who is doing the media buys — the things that generate income for businesses.”

Moten said it’s also important for national Democrats to help state parties in the South, many of which are in disarray.

"They may have to come down here ready to do battle with folk," Moten said, referring to states like Alabama which has several competing Democratic groups. “Somebody should try to bring these folks together.’’

Jones, meanwhile, said he will continue to urge good candidates in the South to run. He also plans to help his Democratic Senate colleagues up for re-election.

“One of the problems the party has had in the past is they’ve talked a lot and they felt like they have tried to represent people, but in fact they haven’t been listening to people as much as they should have,’’ he said.