Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Rodney Strong told members of the JFK Club on Tuesday that he does not expect a local "blue wave." However, he said Democrats will be focused on picking off local seats gradually.
While county Democrats did not unseat any of the incumbent Republicans on the state level, he said each of the candidates did run good campaigns.
“I know we talk a lot about a blue wave, but I don’t think it’s going to be a wave,” Mr.
Strong said. “I think it’s going to be a brick by brick process.”
He pointed to the county’s political past, where Democrats ran Hamilton County in the 1970s and Republicans were an afterthought. Mr. Strong said Republicans slowly “picked-off” seats and positions in county government over decades, and eventually took over the county’s government.
“We are where Republicans were in 1974,” Mr. Strong said. “We’re at the point where we are building and doing a good job of building, but we need to keep building in order to turn the county blue. So let’s all work together, find folks and encourage folks and get people running.”
Mr. Strong said Glenn Scruggs ran a wonderful campaign and got fairly close to unseating incumbent Todd Gardenhire in District 10, but he said Mr. Scruggs ran into the same issue so many other Democratic candidates run into during that race.
“Because of the gerrymandering of District 10, the problem was the red wall of Bradley County, and that is the big problem,” Mr. Strong said. “Whoever decides to tackles that again needs to look at starting now and building relationships. Either someone in Bradley who wants to run and knows people who are ready, or someone here who has the ambition to be known in Bradley.”
The party leader said the local races coming up are extremely important. He pointed to the County Commission as being crucial to gaining influence within the county.
“Our ultimate goal is to turn Hamilton County blue and take control of the Hamilton County Commission, and win county-wide offices,” Mr. Strong said. “We currently have three commission seats, and we need five to have the majority.”
Mr. Strong told the club District 2 is a seat the Democratic Party can win. He used Marco Perez’s successful campaign against conservative Tom Decosimo in the school board race as an example.
“We have a good example in that school board race,” Mr. Strong said. “In District 2, you had a progressive candidate who did a lot of foundational work and ran a good campaign, and won over a hard-right Republican. So Commission District 2 is a target.”
The chairman told the club they needed to emphasize the importance of voting in local races when they help campaign. On top of that, he asked for prospective candidates to start campaigning now, rather than waiting until the last minute.
“Voting in the August primary for the HC General election has more impact on their lives than voting for president,” Mr. Strong said. “All politics is local, and we need to drive that message home. The vote for your county commissioner has a lot more impact than your vote for president.”
“Now is the time to get people to decide to run and learn how to run. Too often we have good candidates who come forward, but they wait until it’s time to pick up the petition to decide to do it.”
Mr. Strong asked for the JFK club to help with the Democratic campaigns in Georgia’s runoff senatorial elections. Even though the JFK Club is located in Hamilton County, they are so close to the peach state, the club can easily help with those campaigns, he said.
“It’s not quite over, there is a runoff in Georgia and we are working through the HCDP to make contact and work together with Georgia Democrats to find out what we can do to help out with that election,” Mr. Strong said. “There is a need for phone banking, postcard writing, canvassing, and other opportunities.”