In the last few elections, we have seen double-digit numbers of people running for their perspective party’s nomination. Some surprises happen, a lot of shenanigans have happened, but what we don’t see is any unified party leadership.
According to Ballotopedia.org there are currently 22 notable elected officials, and public figures who have put their hats into this election, twenty Democrats and two Republicans (one of those Republicans being the current president Donald Trump). With Joe Biden’s announcement today that is twenty-one notable Democrats running for president.
For a party that is seeking to beat an incumbent out of office, there isn’t a unified message of what the Democratic party stands for. It feels as though the party is throwing all the viable candidates at the wall and seeing who sticks (or might beat Trump) without taking the future into consideration.
Beating an incumbent is difficult. It doesn’t matter if he is loved or loathed, people, in general, do not like change, and it will take someone who is equally or even more charismatic than Donald Trump to beat him. The Democrats do not need a bunch of House and Senate members not working for the people and running for president unless they are damn well sure they can win.
In 2016 the Democratic convention looked like a hot mess, and it isn’t looking to be any better right now. We don’t need all of the major Democratic players fighting with each other. We need two or three candidates for us to choose from, that we can rally behind early and can fundraise for. Democrats, stop throwing candidates into the wind and hope that someone sticks. Pick a couple of people and move forward, and stop making the primaries feel like a reality show that the American people lose.
