Stunned at the surge

Democrats look to copy Sanders' success

They're stunned at the surge in support for 'The Bern.'

By Lauren French and John Bresnahan

They haven’t endorsed him, and many think he doesn’t stand a chance to win. They’re overwhelmingly supporting Hillary Clinton. Yet Democrats are in awe of their schlumpy, old colleague Bernie Sanders.

Hill Democrats are scrambling to figure out how they can capture some of Sanders’ magic — and his ability to conjure up campaign cash, seemingly out of thin air, from an apparently endless stream of supporters.

They’re also stunned by how “The Bern” has tapped into the zeitgeist of college-age voters, a key demographic for the party in a presidential election year. That surge of support is something Democrats haven’t witnessed since the glory days of Barack Obama back in 2008.

“The fundraising base is phenomenal. You can’t ignore that. You can say that winning a primary is ephemeral. But that funding base — millions of people willing to donate, more than Obama. Wow, that’s something amazing,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said.

Sanders’ campaign raked in more than $6 million in the 24 hours after his crushing victory in the New Hampshire primary earlier this month. Sanders is fundraising on a par with Clinton, a development that has stunned the Democratic establishment and provided him the financial muscle for a drawn-out struggle with her for the presidential nomination. Success like that is something party leaders can’t ignore, even if they reject the messenger.

It’s not that Sanders will be embraced as the establishment pick anytime soon. Clinton has a stranglehold on congressional Democrats’ endorsements, with more than 180 House and Senate members openly backing her. Sanders has only three, despite fighting Clinton to a draw so far.

And for all the enthusiasm and money Sanders is generating, he’s having a harder time translating that momentum into enough primary wins against Clinton. On Saturday, Clinton bested Sanders by 5 percentage points in Nevada, helping to stabilize her campaign after a rocky couple of weeks.

But Democrats, particularly in the House, are actively strategizing about how they can reach the young, white voters who propelled Sanders to victory in New Hampshire and a near win in Iowa. And if Sanders can rocket out of obscurity to challenge a political heavyweight like Clinton, they admit it would be wise for Democrats to try and incorporate his most successful messages.

“I think Bernie Sanders has a very positive message,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared at a recent party meeting in Baltimore, echoing comments she’s made elsewhere. “It’s about fairness, it’s about opportunity. … I’m very proud of the way Sen. Sanders has expanded the universe of young people especially interested in the political process.”

Still, the progressive love for Sanders is something of a catch-22 for House Democrats. The majority of Democrats in the House are liberal but the party needs to win support from blue collar and moderate voters to retake seats in swing districts. There is a risk, however, of alienating Sanders’ supporters if Democrats don’t appeal strongly enough to the liberal base. Finding a balance between the two is tough.

Rep. Steve Israel of New York, who was chairman of House Democrats’ messaging arm for 2016 — said it’s about selecting issues that have support from moderate independents and fired-up progressives. Student loan debt, overhauling Wall Street regulations and campaign finance reform top the list, Israel said in a recent interview.

Israel added that while Sanders has proved effective in tapping into voters’ anxieties, it will be up to House Democrats to follow through with tangible solutions to allay those fears — otherwise the party would be no better than Donald Trump or the Republicans.

“Our job is to deliver a crisp and disciplined message on how we’re going to resolve those anxieties in a pragmatic way,” Israel said. “It’s an opportunity for us. … Voters are going to make decisions based on who is going to solve those problems. When you go to the doctor, do you want the doctor to yell about what’s wrong or tell you how to fix it?”

Messaging on solutions is part of a larger election-year strategy Senate and House Democrats are test-driving. Republicans are the party of complainers while Democrats can offer solutions, the minority party argues.

In interviews with senior Democrats in the House, they hinted that while Sanders is great at revving up the base, a similar chord is being struck by the Vermont socialist and Trump. In this view, both men are playing to voters’ fears more than their hopes. And to win elections, Democrats say you have to be more than angry, although that middle-class angst is what Republicans rode to victory during the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections.

“Here you have a large number of people in the United States who went through a very, very rough period of time. They’re angry, they’re disaffected, they’re disconnected,” said Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the minority whip, noting how millions of Americans suffered — and are still suffering — from the 2008 financial crisis. “They’re angry, frankly, at all of this … Bernie, Trump, [Ted] Cruz and [Ben] Carson have all tapped into that. It’s not Bernie alone. That’s what Trump is tapping into.”

Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, a member of the party’s messaging committee, said Democrats need to convince voters that they’re working toward providing answers on issues like stagnant wages and gaps in skills.

“Bernie Sanders has been able to rub some emotions so clearly for us it highlights the role tuition plays as an ever burdensome part of American life. It’s about opportunity,” Neal said. “There is a balance and I think our message needs to be more focused on growth and opportunity. Grievance doesn’t do it. Addressing the reality of what faces middle-income people in America [is important.]”