West County Democrats

Today, West County Democrats were introduced to Stephen Webber, the new Chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party.  Mr. Webber brings great energy and a fresh face to the state Democratic party organization, and a packed house at the WCD general session welcomed his comments.

Mr. Webber opened with remarks about the size of the crowd, saying that he is seeing the same large turnouts throughout the state, perhaps higher than they’ve ever seen.  He thought it was also notable that we host our meetings in the UFCW union hall, because these are people who are experiencing hard times right now– with direct assaults on organized labor coming from our state legislature, and they need our support.  To be clear, the Democratic party believes in organized labor and will continue to stand with them through these trying times.

To frame the importance of the Democratic party today, Mr. Webber shared his experience in the State legislature and in the military- How friends fought and died for American values that matter, values that are worth fighting for, values that Donald Trump does not respect and nor is worthy of.  We have a moral obligation to oppose Donald Trump, and are engaged in a battle for the very soul of our country.

From Mr. Webber’s view, the Republican Party in Missouri is owned by a couple of billionaires and it is increasingly difficult to find anything the Republican party truly believes in other than issues promoted by their wealthy donors.

This what we are up against.  We are not making a choice to stay involved in the political process, we are obligated as patriots, as Americans to oppose Donald Trump and the corporate owned Republican party in Missouri.

Yes, Democrats need to make changes, not in values we share, but in the processes we use to deliver our message and offer our representatives for elected office. The role of a political party is to help candidates win elections. The election cycle dictates a surge of activity by candidates in advance of an election, but the state-wide party must provide more consistent awareness throughout the year, even in off election years.

 This is Mr. Webber’s vision for how the Missouri Democratic Party will do that:

 1. Improve the perception of Democratic brand so that, when candidates plugin for an election cycle, they’re starting at a higher place. We need to be communicating positive messaging throughout the State.

 2. Provide a basic infrastructure for campaigns to plug into.  The Missouri Democratic Party has been neglected over the last ten years, and the grassroots support has eroded.  We can rebuild those networks and provide the campaigning knowledge to support newly recruited candidates.

 Stephen Webber is now the full-time Chair of the Democratic Party in Missouri but has a staff of only five, so partnerships with local organizations are absolutely necessary.  Both sides have duties and responsibilities.  It is the party’s responsibility to provide tools, resources and training. Local townships have the responsibility to use these tools effectively to drive awareness and candidate recruitment.

After some discussion of plans for and the logistics of recruiting and training future candidates, Mr. Webber spoke to the need for better use of social media and local organizations for better communications. If we do this right, we can create a sustainable stream of consistent messaging that is personalized to fit the need of local communities and can be shared easily with friends and family. 

If the state Democratic Party can help recruit, do a better job communicating our brand, provide better training and speakers (particularly in r
ural areas) we will well positioned to win back seats in Missouri in 2018.  This is a battle for the long haul.  It took years for the other party to take the large shar
e of the positions in the state, it may take years for us to recover, but we will.

Our responsibility now is to help the pendulum swing back for the Democratic Party as quickly and as far as possible.