Written by Josh Warburton
The Washington county Democratic Party is excited at the prospect of unifying all local active Democrats under one tent. With recent disbanding of the Democrats of Southern Utah PAC, and converting of the Women’s Democratic Club eminent to more of a social club, the Washington County Democratic Party believe they will be a more unified and successful force. Della Lowe, the party Chair, said they welcome all like-minded individuals who want to get involved saying. “The more people who can stand behind the Washington County Democratic Party and work with us, the better off we are.” County Secretary Randy Thomson added, “It really strengthens us as a party,” referring to members of the two other groups joining forces under one party banner.
After an election night that yielded no surprising results for the local Democrats, Lowe did see some light at the end of the tunnel. Referring to the final vote percentages in the local elections last month as progress and taking into account that it was a non-presidential election year Lowe said, “I think it’s hard to judge this election both locally and nationally though, because the turnout from both parties was extraordinarily low.” The local Republican incumbents were largely held to similar percentages of the vote in 2014 as they received in 2012, a bigger feat than it sounds considering that in 2010 no Washington County Democratic candidate garnered more than 17% of the vote and most incumbent Republicans ran unopposed. The best-performing Democrats this year received about 26 percent of the vote, a similar high water mark as they achieved in 2012, the year of the Obama/Romney race which energized supporters on both sides achieving a much higher voter turnout, which according Lowe, means they are gaining traction.
Lowe claimed overall fundraising in 2014 was up, pointing toward efforts of Dorothy Engelman and others, but also stating that the uphill climb they have is ongoing. “We raise money from grassroots individuals, so you’re always going to have more problems raising money there because we’re not going after big PACs and we’re not going after corporate money.”
When asked if a Democrat has a chance of being elected in Washington County in the next 10 years Lowe replied with an emphatic yes stating, “First of all, this state has not always been one sided and I think we need to continue to raise awareness to our values and our issues and make sure that we explain them properly so that people know they are aligned with the values of this state. I also think there are more out-of-state people who are moving here and many constituencies that have become more vocal and stronger.” Thomson added, “The LGBT community, for example, is growing stronger and making great strides and we’re also seeing more diversity in the state moving forward. Diversity brings change but it also brings acceptance.”
Lowe spoke of how things are changing, “When people know others of different faiths, different sexual orientations, and who have different views, they change their minds about whether or not someone is an acceptable human being.”
“We need to continue fielding candidates who are both articulate and good listeners. The essence of democracy is debate and compromise. The word compromise has become a dirty word in recent years but it is not. No one gets everything they want; however, no matter which party you belong to, once elected you need to serve all the people, not just the people who agree with you.” Lowe said.
In addition, County Democrats have an upcoming planning retreat for board members where they will discuss details on everything from ground game to plans for a much expanded public education campaign, but they are currently enjoying a little downtime after the last election before hunkering down again, “You have to take a breath and this is the perfect time to do that.”
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