Ask Ructions-Who Dares?
Dear Ructions,
With local elections and Governor Lamont’s transportation plan unveiling done, this feels like the right time to start looking at changes in 2020.
There aren’t many openings for progressive Connecticut Democrats. A meaningful vacancy may not appear for years. People waiting for a challenger to step forward. What would be the harm to an ambitious rookie in running for Congress and taking the fight to one of our long term representatives? Many counsel patience. Why should someone itching to run wait?
Sign me,
Ready to be part of something big
Dear Ready,
Why indeed? If you wait until there is a vacancy, one of those tiresome establishment figures will leave you where you are now—tending to that aching heart. “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you,” declared Margaret Thatcher. There was little she did not know about tipping over the established order.
Here’s some advice to anyone contemplating a run at an incumbent. The First Congressional District fits the profile of districts with primary voters receptive to a challenge. You will need to begin with some supporters, savvy family members and loyal friends, who are committed to you alone. Without them, the logistics can become overwhelming.
Town committees are chosen in January. That may provide opportunities to make friends among the discontented. The 2018 quiet revolution on the Middletown Democratic Town Committee had far reaching consequences. Start sniffing around West Hartford. Fury at the treatment of second highest town council candidate Beth Kerrigan may be the start of something. A rebellion there will help you identify potential allies in a significant town.
Plenty of Washington consultants have been wondering when 2018’s rumblings along the Queens to Boston fault line will be felt in Hartford. Raise some money and hire a few pros—and listen to them. Start reciting the incumbent’s fundraising sources in 11 campaigns. They won’t change in the 12th. Put some feelers out to former staff members, several of whom are said to be, (what is the right description to use?) disgruntled and looking for someone to listen to their tales. No honest environmentalist can be anything but appalled at the Larson plan for a tunnel through Hartford and under the Connecticut River. Others who pay attention to who gets what in politics shake their heads at the jobs given to one family at the expense of qualified candidates.
There will be no statewide primaries next August. You can petition your way onto the ballot for a primary that will attract a low turnout. Anything can happen. After 22 years, an incumbent’s ties to local party organizations fray. (He won his first term in the state Senate by defeating an incumbent in a primary almost 40 years ago.) Find a veteran of the 2006 Lieberman v. Lamont primary. Quit your job in January. Watch what local camps form around Democratic presidential candidates. Go to their events. Make supporters out of their supporters. Devote your full measure to leapfrogging the timid entitled who crowd our elected offices.
You will feel discouraged now and then but you must not show it. The worst that can happen is you return to where you are now. The best? You know the answer. Proceed to the starting gate.
If you are impaled on the horns of a dilemma and want to risk receiving advice, send a message to kfr@dailyructions.com. Identities will be protected. Messages may be edited.