Hamilton County Democrats on Thursday defined themselves and the stakes for the upcoming midterm elections, promising to work together to hold onto seats and gain more.
The keynote speaker at the party’s annual Estes Kefauver Dinner acknowledged it would be an uphill climb, and a political scientist said there are several factors working against Democrats this year.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., rallied local party members after a series of candidates and officials spoke about why they were Democrats.
“This election is a choice, a clear one,” she said. “It is our job to remind our friends and neighbors that it’s Democrats who stand up for them.”
The Hamilton County Democratic Party held its annual dinner at the Imperial Ballroom of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, featuring Schultz and Rep. Lincoln Davis, from Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District.
In an election year that so far has not been kind to local Democrats, Davis faces Scott DesJarlais, a Jasper, Tenn., physician. Schultz faces a re-election battle of her own against Republican Karen Harrington.
Schultz said she travels to other districts to fire up the base, and is vice chairwoman for incumbent retention. She said before her speech that Democrats knew from history they were facing an uphill battle and defended the record of the current Democratic Congress.
“We had to rescue the economy from the jaws of the abyss,” she said.
John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, said there are a number of factors making this year’s elections tougher than usual for Democrats. He said historically the party in power loses seats in midterm elections. Throw in a bad economy and anger about health care reform, and a situation is created where “the Democrats have to play a lot of defense.”
“Right now the purpose of the campaign is to motivate, to rally the base and get them committed to the candidate,” Geer said.
Schultz said Democrats are “still in an education process” about health care reform, but she said it’s already done good things for consumers. She said it did not go as far as she would have liked, saying she supported a public option, a government-run alternative to private insurance.
“This is a historic opportunity we couldn’t let go by,” she said. “It’s not perfect.”
The event also featured Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter and 3rd Congressional District candidate John Wolfe, who got a round of applause when he said health care reform should be a springboard for single-payer health care.
Davis, who spoke before Schultz, said he had been asked before why he wasn’t a Republican.
“I care for people,” he said. “My heart would not allow me to be a Republican.”
Marty Von Schaaf, president of the Republican Hamilton County Pachyderm Club, said Democrats are using a tired argument to separate themselves from their opposition.
“I’ve heard that quote for years from the Democrats and I keep on wondering why they say it because we’re the ones who give the little guys the tax breaks,” he said.