Paying another visit to the Coffee Bean on Indian School and Miller in Scottsdale, Congressional District Six candidate Garrick McFadden offered his perspective (while I devoured a Volcano Brownie) on how Democrats can win in CD 6 and other state offices and local and congressional districts while improving their party infrastructure.
Saying “demographics is destiny,” McFadden, running for the Democratic Nomination in CD 6 against Anita Malik and Heather Ross, feels that Democrats can beat Republicans across the state by employing two methods to improve the Democratic state infrastructure: ground game and technology.
First, all candidates need a well-manned ground game, staffed with a multicultural team of volunteers that will go into all Democratic-leaning communities, knock on doors, and persuade the voters in those areas to turn out and vote in levels that will improve the hopefully winning margins for Democratic Candidates. Mr. McFadden feels that these voters in Democratic-leaning precincts are a largely untapped reservoir of Democratic supporters that need to be cultivated, educated, persuaded, and encouraged to turn out in levels that perhaps candidates in previous election cycles did not vigorously pursue.
Second, using technology effectively is another way McFadden believes Democrats can improve their infrastructure and improve their margins in Democratic-leaning precincts. Making use of the VAN vote builder software application, McFadden and other candidates can identify likely Democratic voters and efficiently target them to visit and discuss their candidacies with them.
Mr. McFadden’s strategy has already yielded unparalleled results. According to Mariana Aguilar, Mr. McFadden’s campaign coordinator “based on Garrick’s ground game theory, we have already knocked over 20,000 doors, more than any other Democratic campaign in the history of the district. And unlike other campaigns, we have not only prioritized Democrats who always vote, but also Democrats in marginalized communities that may not vote in every election. Garrick believes that only with both of these groups at the polls can Democrats win in District 6 or statewide—one of the reasons why we set up our campaign office at the Metro Center Mall along the I-17 corridor.”
McFadden’s approach to winning echoes many candidates who are running on a liberal progressive (rather than pragmatic progressive) message, employing a getting out the base strategy to winning. The campaign has and will also reach out to other potential supporters like independents, disaffected Republicans and Democrats that voted for Trump after they voted for Obama (although McFadden did express wonder how some Obama supporters could have supported to Trump, the ultimate Birther, after seeing his behavior, lies, and actions during the campaign). He feels that Democrats should run on issues similar to ones he is championing which include single-payer health care, paycheck fairness, disbanding private prisons, abolishing I.C.E. (or shifting it to the Department of Justice) and decriminalizing cannabis. He also feels that Republicans like David Schweikert and Paul Gosar are embarrassments and should be defeated because they have demonstrated a continual refusal to listen to their constituents on issues like the Affordable Care Act.
Garrick McFadden has several good ideas on how to improve Democratic turnout that should be considered. Voters are not going to turn out for a candidate if they do not make an effort like coming to their door to reach out to them and discuss ideas for moving the district forward.
For more information on Mr. McFadden, his ideas, and his race for the Democratic Nomination in CD 6, please view the links below.
https://www.facebook.com/electgarrick/
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Home&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.electgarrick.com%2F
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