Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is calling for DNC delegates to consider how the Democratic Party’s infrastructure can support a “war machine” to lead attacks against Republicans.
The letter to state party chairs ahead of the DNC chair election, shared first with POLITICO, comes as Democrats scramble to figure out how to move forward after nationwide losses at the polls in November. Party leaders have bemoaned Democrats’ inability to define their own identity and push back against Republican attacks.
Whitehouse argued that Democrats have no institutional and centralized setup to attack the GOP, writing Republicans “rapidly and effectively deploy false narratives, while we struggle to bring true ones to bear.”
“We in Congress customarily say we’re ‘fighting’ for things when we really mean working or toiling,” Whitehouse wrote. “A fight means a defined adversary, a battle strategy, and actual punches thrown. Done well, it involves exposing and degrading your adversary’s machinery of warfare.”
The White House could have been a place to helm and plan offensive strategy against Republicans, but it has not effectively been used this way, Whitehouse argued.
The Rhode Island senator, an outspoken critic of so-called dark money in politics, argued that there was an opportunity for Democrats to win goodwill from the electorate by highlighting stories of surreptitious influence peddling. He proposed the addition of an “offensive coordinator” role for the party.
The ideas from Whitehouse are among a myriad of pitches from Democratic leaders on how to reform the party as it looks to elect a new DNC chair. Delegates will cast their votes for the party’s chair on Feb. 1.
Before then, the candidates — which now include Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Winkler, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, among others — will make their case at various events.
