New chair of DC Democrats turns focus to boosting turnout, drafting action plan

With at-large DC Council member Anita Bonds having decided to depart the DC Democratic State Committee after 12 years as chair, party members elected fresh leaders Sept. 20 to head the group.

The task before new party officers is tall. Reformists, who won out in the race for chair with the victory of Charles Wilson, clamored for change during the June primary. They now want to register more Democrats, draft an action plan, raise voter turnout, and maintain a regular online presence for the committee.

Wilson, a leader of the Ward 8 Democrats who had run on the anti-party-establishment “Dump Trump” slate in June, was elected with 42 votes at the Democratic State Committee meeting. His opponents — James Bubar, one of the leaders of a rival slate in June with Bonds’ support, and Stanley Mayes — received 21 and 8 votes, respectively.

Running for vice chair, Ward 4’s Linda Gray had no opponent and won by acclamation on a voice vote. The same goes for Ward 8’s Phil Pannell, who was elected by acclamation as the recording secretary. The corresponding secretary race was won by Ward 2’s Alexa Wertman-Brown, who received 44 votes to Sheila Bunn’s 30.

The DC Line spoke with Wilson last week and asked about his plans as chair. Below is the conversation, lightly edited for clarity.

The DC Line: Why should people care about the DC Democratic State Committee?

Charles Wilson: The DC Democratic State Committee is comprised of close to 90 Democratic residents who are there to help set the party platform, to engage voters on issues that impact the quality of life in their communities, and [are] there to be an additional voice for residents — to advocate on their behalf before the council, before the mayor’s office. And we’re essentially an arm of the Democratic National Committee, so we have a national presence to help fight for statehood and other causes that are not only important to the District of Columbia, but the nation as a whole.

The DC Line: You’re from Ward 8. Voter turnout has plummeted in Ward 8, down to 8 percent in the June primary.

Wilson: 7.7 percent.

The DC Line: What explains that?

Wilson: There are a lot of different causes. You can point to the lack of competition on the ballot. You can point to voter apathy. You can point to concentrated poverty. But we don’t want to necessarily focus on the causes as an organization; we want to focus on the fix. Part of the solution is [something] the Ward 8 Democrats helped initiate: this vote-by-mail concept that several states have already implemented, where residents — yes, you can still go to the polls if you’d like, you can still participate in early voting, but we want to be able to present another option to residents — [would be] able to cast their ballot by mail. States like Oregon and Colorado already do this, and have seen an uptick of almost 10 percent in voter turnout.

The DC Line: What’s one idea you have to push statehood as chair of the Democratic State Committee?

Wilson: I think what the state committee can do — because there are a lot of different organizations … participating in the statehood movement — and I think the state committee can kind of be that umbrella to bring all this energy, so that it works some synergy with each other. Whether it’s DC Vote or other Democratic organizations, who have their own statehood initiatives, [it’s important] for us to work in cooperation with each other to make sure we are pushing the same message, and just relying on each other’s energy.

The DC Line: You pledged you would expand the state committee’s fundraising operations. How much money does the committee have in the bank right now?

Wilson: Well, you know, I was just elected last week, and we’re having a transition meeting later on this week, so I’ll have an answer for you later on.

The DC Line: What’s a good target for the Democratic State Committee — how much money should it have, do you think?

Wilson: When you compare us to other state organizations, I think that you have to look at it from the perspective of not necessarily what we want to have, but what initiatives we want to put in place, and the amount of money … you have to raise to push those efforts forward.

The DC Line: So what’s one thing the committee could spend money on?

Wilson: For example, we talked about low voter turnout. I think as a committee we can help push resources to some of the ward organizations and other Democratic-affiliate organizations to help get out the vote in their own particular wards. Because at the end of the day, voter turnout is a grassroots effort, and the ward organizations are probably better suited to reach out to the voters in their wards, but the state committee can be there to help assist in that.

The DC Line: You said you want a state committee retreat followed by a 20-month action plan. Do you have any ideas where you want the retreat to be?

Wilson: Last time, we had it in Ward 1 … [and] a lot of great ideas came out of that retreat about two years ago. It’ll still be here in the District, of course. But exact location, that’s TBD. But it will happen in 2019.

The DC Line: What are two things you would push for to be included in the 20-month plan?

Wilson: One, how are we going to register more Democratic voters? That’s important. We’ve seen an uptick of residents not affiliating with a party or becoming independents, and we need to put forth a robust effort to register more Democratic voters here in the District. And, in addition to that, we want to have increased programming throughout all eight wards of the city. [We need] forums that engage voters either on local topics that have a direct impact on the quality of life or on national topics.