Former Congressman Bob Brady has been running the Democratic City Committee for slightly longer than I’ve been a journalist. The only difference is, I’m still relatively effective.
By Denise Clay-Murray
To be honest, if you paid any attention at all to the 2023 mayoral race here in Philadelphia, the issues with turnout in the 2024 presidential race won’t surprise you much.
Out of the 1.17 million registered voters here in the City, only 28% bothered to cast a ballot. This was despite $22 million being pumped into television ads for the mayor’s race and another $20 million for judicial races.
Only 60% of the city’s registered voters bothered to come out for the presidential election on Tuesday. That’s nearly 600,000 fewer voters than President Joe Biden got in 2020.
While all of the recriminations from Election Day haven’t hit yet, it’s safe to assume that the losses the Democratic Party took, especially if the numbers hold up for Republican Dave McCormick over incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, will lead to some heads rolling.
The state Democratic Party’s chair, Sen. Sharif Street, is probably facing some blowback. And to be honest, Gov. Josh Shapiro should probably be asked a question or two about how much effort he actually put into getting his former attorney general colleague Kamala Harris elected to the nation’s highest office.
But the one person who believes that he should be above reproach is Brady. He’s already said that he’s not stepping down as party chair, and even went so far as to say that the folks running Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign didn’t show him enough “respect” to get a full-court press from the DCC on her behalf.
Now, in our Election Day wrap-up, I kind of got into the contretemps between Brady and Harris campaign senior adviser Brendan McPhillips over turnout. Among the things that McPhillips said, and I’m paraphrasing, was that he hoped the Harris loss would convince other candidates not to give Brady loads of money to do nothing.
McPhillips has a point. The party chair’s job is to organize and get the vote out. It’s not like there was no money available to do that. Harris had a billion to work with, and Pennsylvania is a battleground state. Why wouldn’t the state’s biggest city get a nice chunk of that?
But that only works if you’re effective. All one has to do is look at the mayor’s race, and many of the other races preceding to see that any resemblance between an effective voting apparatus and the Democratic City Committee machine is purely coincidental.
However, it does need to be fixed. And the first thing that needs to happen to fix it is to say to Brady that while you’ve decided you’re not going to step down as party chair, Democrats have other ideas.
Now, I have no personal beef with Chairman Brady. He’s an affable man that you don’t see at many DCC events, but he throws a mean beach bash at the Jersey Shore that almost all of Philly’s politicos show up to. When it comes to statewide or national Democratic candidates, he’ll make a stump speech if asked. It won’t be the most inspiring speech you’ll ever hear, but you’ll know he supports the candidate.
But Brady has been party chair four years longer than I’ve been a journalist. The only difference is, I, for the most part, am still pretty effective. But I also know that I’m really close to the point in my career where it’s time for me to pass my knowledge off to the next generation and let them run things.
I tell folks that, to use a Star Wars analogy, I’ve been Luke Skywalker for a lot of years. I’ve fought the forces of the Empire. I’ve tried to use The Force to make changes. Now, I’m ready to be Yoda, teach young Jedi how to use their lightsabers, and fight only when I have to.
It requires a subjugation of your ego, but you’ll be okay.
Philly’s Democratic Party has a lot of young, bright talent. While Council President Kenyatta Johnson is probably too busy to do it due to his Council schedule, but Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson or at-large Councilmembers Rue Landau and Isaiah Thomas could work.
But something has to be done. The district attorney’s race is coming up and it’s a very important one.
It’s time for you to give control to the next generation, Bob. The Force will still be with you, I promise.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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