Generational Change Among Democrats Should Be Applauded

The new organization, “The Bench,” offers an important step in the right direction.

We spend a lot of time at TLP giving Democrats business about the philosophical, political, and policy errors they too often fail to acknowledge or correct on matters ranging from the economy and governance to immigration and crime. In an age of partisan cheerleading by both Democrats and Republicans, we believe yelling about the perfidy of the other side while sticking your head in the sand about your own problems gets you nowhere. “Politics without winners,” as two astute analysts called it.

One of the biggest challenges for Democrats, exemplified by the last presidential administration, is finding a new generation of political leaders who are younger, patriotic, and more diverse in terms of their job backgrounds and who favor common-sense (or “heterodox”) approaches to politics and policy over ideological rigidity.

Enter the new organization, “The Bench,” which is seeking to organize and support a crew of candidates who fit the bill for politically viable generational change. The organization’s goal with this effort is not necessarily to win every race right away but to help new people progress within the party who, given their backgrounds and perspectives, would help to address the negative public face of Democrats, a party held in very low esteem by many voters.

As described in The Washington Post:

The idea, said Andrew Mamo, a spokesperson for the group, is to identify up-and-coming talent within the Democratic Party and provide candidates with the resources needed to win what, in most cases, will be their first race.

The group works with the broader Democratic ecosystem, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other organizations, and Mamo said it can supplement that work by focusing less on explicitly winning races and more on changing the kind of candidates the Democratic Party backs.

“These are not people you would endorse if you just want to put as many wins on the board as possible,” Mamo said. “They are the kind of people who are going to make the big D brand more palatable. They are hopefully going to win seats and show, if we follow people like these guys, we can make the party brand better.”

Here’s the inaugural class of Bench candidates with brief background info.

House Candidates

• Jamie Ager (NC-11), 4th generation farmer

• Shannon Bird (CO-08), state legislator

• Bob Brooks (PA-07), firefighter and union leader

• Cait Conley (NY-17), Army combat veteran and national security expert

• Mike Cortese (TN-05), Nashville business executive and Metro Council member

• Sam Forstag (MT-01), smokejumper and union leader

• Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03), Lutheran pastor and state legislator

• Nancy Lacore (SC-01), retired Rear Admiral, former Chief of the Navy Reserve, and helicopter pilot

• Matt Maasdam (MI-07), Navy SEAL veteran who carried the “nuclear football” for President Obama

• Darren McAuley (FL-15), Air Force military physician and flight surgeon

• Denise Blaya Powell (NE-02), small business owner and former corporate executive

• Bobby Pulido (TX-15), small business owner and multi-Latin GRAMMY winner and American GRAMMY nominee

Senate Candidates

• Mallory McMorrow (MI Senate), state legislator

• James Talarico (TX Senate), state legislator and former public school teacher

• Josh Turek (IA Senate), state legislator and two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA

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A few things of note about these Bench candidates:

They are noticeably younger. At a time when prominent Democrats like Rahm Emanuel are calling for a mandatory retirement age of 75 for the president, cabinet officials, members of Congress, and federal judges, Bench candidates are all in their 30s to 50s, with no candidates older than 60.

This is a positive move for a party whose last president and House and Senate leaders were in their 70s or 80s.

They are (mostly) not lawyers! If a person could snap their fingers and make one big change to the Democrats, my wish would be to temporarily banish all the lawyers from running for office and controlling the party apparatus. Lawyers have their place in American life, but the Democratic Party is overrun with these figures who, let’s face it, tend to make terrible candidates, seemingly have no philosophical core, and flip their principles in an instant to avoid responsibility for failures and make themselves anew. It’s fun to watch lawyers in court argue positions they don’t really believe, with faux conviction, but this character trait makes for untrustworthy politicians who appear distant from voters’ lives and drive cynicism.

In contrast, the new crop of Bench candidates are farmers, veterans, businessmen and women, athletes, pastors, doctors, firefighters, bartenders, and plow drivers. If Democrats want to return to their historical position as the party of economic advancement for working- and middle-class Americans and ditch their professional-class cultural obsessions, they need leaders who come from these communities and occupational backgrounds.

They are locally focused and don’t fit easily into existing left-right schisms. Many in Democratic circles mistakenly assume that being young and offering change means by definition that you’re an online leftist or a DSA-aligned figure. There are plenty of good young Democrats who are not cut in the mold of Zohran Mamdani and others like him who have been successful in deep-blue cities and states but wouldn’t go over well in more competitive environments or in terms of reaching more rural and conservative electorates.

But these Bench candidates are not “centrists” in the traditional sense. For example, Bernie Sanders has also endorsed Bench candidate Sam Forstag, the smokejumper and union leader running in MT-01 against the Republican incumbent, Rep. Ryan Zinke, on a pro-working-class agenda of good jobs, higher wages, and affordable housing. PA-07 candidate Bob Brooks, a former Bethlehem firefighter, bartender, and snowplow driver, decries the corporate takeover of politics and laments the loss of the days when a blue-collar job could support a decent living. His platform includes repealing Citizens United, banning corporate PAC money, instituting term limits, and ending stock trading by members of Congress, along with raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and helping people get into trade schools and find affordable housing and childcare.

Likewise, although you won’t notice the Bench candidates employing losing slogans like “Abolish ICE,” you will hear fierce denunciations of out-of-control ICE tactics coupled with proposals to make the agency more effective and accountable for successfully enforcing immigration laws and border protections without threats to citizens and people exercising their constitutional rights. Similarly, Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow supports a public option for health care but opposes the “Medicare for All” idea endorsed by one of her primary opponents, while James Talarico focuses on tangible health care reform ideas like his state-led effort to cap out-of-pocket insulin costs.

These are candidates trying to win competitive elections and flip seats in red areas by representing the values and policy desires of working-class voters and their families in a pragmatic manner.

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It’s not TLP’s place to tell anyone how to vote. But we do hope you’ll at least give these Bench candidates (and future ones) a fair hearing in upcoming primaries or general elections and support them if you are so inclined.

Democrats have been talking about generational change forever. It’s nice to see new groups and candidates who aren’t down-the-line democratic socialists standing up to do something about it.

Editor’s note: Ruy will be talking with Bench Senate candidate Josh Turek on The Liberal Patriot Podcast out this Friday. Please give it a listen!