JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – If the Democratic Party is ailing after losing the presidency to Donald Trump, state parties are on life support.
Here in the long-ago Democratic stronghold of Alabama, the party is all but dead, say some of its disheartened members. Consider: Not a single statewide office is held by a Democrat; the state Legislature is dominated by Republicans with just 33 Democrats out of 105 House seats and eight of 35 Senate seats.
Democrats haven’t won a U.S. Senate election in the state since 1992 or the governorship since 1998. There are no Democratic appellate judges, nor any Democratic members of the state’s Public Service Commission. Democrats also are becoming scarcer in county offices.
Kathleen Parker“The Democratic Party in Alabama is on a crash-and-burn track unless something drastic happens to stop this runaway train,” according to Sheila Gilbert, chairwoman of the Calhoun County Democrats, who hand-delivered a letter outlining the party’s problems following a speech I gave at Jacksonville State University as the Ayers lecturer.
The letter was signed by Gilbert as a leader of the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus (ADRC) and 17 other members in attendance. The group, which formed two years ago to try to help revive the state party, wasn’t coy about its reason for approaching me.