Maya for Maryland Democratic Party Chair

We’ve experienced a blue wave, now Let’s Go DEEP!

By Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D.

Dear Democratic State Central Committee Members:

I am extremely proud that the energy and hard work of State Central Committee members, candidates, state Party operatives, volunteers, voters, and donors helped Maryland experience a blue wave in down ballot races in our most recent election cycle.

However, the gains from this cycle can easily be eroded if we fail to strategically position our Party to win future elections where conservatives may have stronger headwinds.

We are at a critical moment in the history of our nation, state, and Party. Republicans are using the politics of fear and division to separate Democrats, neighbors, families, communities, and regions while embracing tactics that weaken our democracy. Indeed, Larry Hogan would not have won reelection without a faction of Democrats splitting their tickets to support his candidacy.

To fight back, we must develop and pursue transparent, equitable, inclusive, and unifying strategies that will enable Democrats to maintain and expand state and federal legislative seats while also winning future gubernatorial races.

Toward this end, Democrats must build a well-resourced, statewide, year-round Party operation that centers on democratic values; modernizes Party operations; builds a pipeline of highly-skilled and diverse candidates and operatives; reestablishes and grows our historical linkage with rural voters; recruits, educates, and builds community among new and existing voters; and, protects and defends our democracy.

Let’s Go DEEP! is a future-oriented strategy I designed to help us achieve this vision. The plan’s major tenets are as follows:

Define Our Values

Mission, Vision, Values: Democrats need to clarify our Party’s values, create a vision for the state based on those values, and define a mission statement that helps guide action toward achieving the vision.

Party Platform: Similarly, a platform clarifying our Party’s position on the issues should be established through an inclusive and comprehensive process that results in a consensus that represents the input of all stakeholders.

Community Conversations: Regional community conversations across the state will be an important way to engage Party stalwarts, draw in new people, and discuss and cultivate buy in for the process leading to the creation of the Party platform. It is also an important way to amplify Party values and positions while engaging existing supporters and new audiences following development of the platform.

Enhance Our Infrastructure

Fundraising: To strengthen the Party’s infrastructure, we must diversify our fundraising strategies and sources. Toward this goal, the party should launch an engaging low-dollar online fundraising campaign while continuing to aggressively cultivate existing and new mid-dollar, high-dollar, and institutional donors.

Stakeholder Integration and Support: The Party will be substantially enhanced by helping State Central Committees share and implement best practices, providing counties and/or regions with subsidized voter engagement tools and supports, organizing at the precinct level, and facilitating effective communication and collaboration between Party leaders and staff, central committee members, elected officials, and other stakeholders.

Leadership Development: We must build a pipeline of diverse candidates and campaign operatives who can boost outreach, turnout, and organizing across the state. Toward this goal, the Party should establish a permanent training academy that trains and certifies organizers, campaign staff, digital media operatives, and people interested in running for public office. Building youth party organizations at each of our state colleges and universities and engaging in strategic partnerships with youth-focused political engagement organizations would help accelerate our leadership development efforts.

Planning and Timely Execution: Our Party desperately needs an inclusive coordinated campaign planning process that results in a plan that is ready to be executed immediately following primaries. Creative input and feedback before and during implementation of the campaign will be important for securing wins up and down the ballot.

Technology, Data, and Analysis: Every county needs the resources to effectively and efficiently canvass, phonebank, post signs and mail. They also need data and analysis to help better target households, communities, and messaging and to assess the effectiveness of their efforts. The Party should reduce waste and increase efficiencies by helping all counties in the state access the necessary technology, tools, and resources to meet these needs.

Communications: The state Party should develop a state and local multimedia news and public relations operation designed to project our message, defend our values, support our candidates, educate voters, and recruit new voters. State Central Committees will receive technical assistance to set up their own media operations that will enable them to share their meetings online, communicate with residents, promote their priorities, and respond to political threats or opportunities. For the sake of transparency, the MDP Chair will also host regular Facebook Live updates and ensure that updates about the Party’s progress are regularly posted on the Party’s website and social media platforms.

Expand Our Base

Rural Equity: Too often rural counties have been overlooked as a place where Democrats can expand their numbers. Yet, rural voters have been historically aligned with issues that Democrats champion. We shouldn’t leave our neighbors or their votes on the table. The Party must invest in recruiting and turning out more Democratic voters in rural Maryland. This approach includes subsidizing year-round regional field organizers on the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland and Southern Maryland, hosting quarterly townhalls with the MDP Chair in rural areas, and running a Democrat in every race on the ballot (with a focus on local/municipal races) in rural areas in 2020 and beyond.

Recruitment and Outreach: At the same time, we must invest in bringing more youth, women, people of color, non-voters and independents into the party. The strength and momentum of women candidates at all levels this cycle demonstrated the value add of targeting our efforts.

Content and Programming : Engaging and expanding our base will be bolstered by targeting key demographics and offering events, online content, and custom advertising to attract their attention, educate them, and influence their behavior.

Affinity Group Cultivation: Networks of Democratic constituent groups — such as LGBTQ, women, faith-focused, African Americans, and LatinX — must also be cultivated using similar tactics to build community, connections, and loyalty to the party. At the same time the Party should continue to grow its historic partnership with organized labor, especially public sector unions who have been under assault by Republicans at the state and federal levels.

Protect Our Vote

With foreign and domestic actors working to undermine our democracy, Maryland has to be hypervigilant about strengthening and protecting the integrity of our electoral system. Recent challenges to our system have included misleading “official ballots,” unreasonably long lines, voter registration errors at the Motor Vehicle Administration, voter suppression, ballot shortages, and the specter of Russian influence over key parts of our electoral system. The Maryland Democratic Party should take a stand to protect the sanctity of our of electoral system and the integrity of our vote by working with the state legislature to create a nonpartisan commission designed to identify and make recommendations to correct the problems prior to the 2020 elections.

I firmly believe that adaptation of Let’s Go DEEP! tactics will allow Maryland’s Democratic Party to not only win future elections down ballot and at the top of the ticket, but also to become a model for the nation in how to best organize a state party and turn out voters.

I will be a leader who will travel to your part of the state to get to know your region, meet its leaders, and understand its unique perspectives and concerns. I will also actively engage all party constituencies and be open to constructive feedback and advice along the way. And, I will make sure the Party is vocal when the people of Maryland and our democratic values are threatened by Hogan and Trump Administration actions. In short, I will work for you and be a strong spokesperson for our Party.

Accordingly, I respectfully request that you support my effort to become the chair of the Maryland Democratic Party by attending and voting for me at the next Democratic State Central Committee meeting at 10am on December 1, 2018 at 4371 Parliament Place, Lanham, MD 20706.

Thank you for your time, attention, and kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D.