The prospective new leader of the Democratic Party says the key to the party’s future at the ballot box is getting more and more voters to the polls.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said Monday on CNN that his ability to turn out voters is why he should be selected to head up the party in the future. He said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s popular vote victory in the presidential election wasn’t enough, because she couldn’t turn out about 5 million extra voters that came out for President Obama.
He pointed to his record in Minnesota as an example of his ability to get people to their voting locations.
“We need to turn out the vote, and I’m actually pretty good at it,” Ellison said “In my state of Minnesota, my congressional district used to have the lowest turnout of any congressional district in Minnesota. Now it has the highest.”
Ellison said the fact that he’s a black Muslim man should not concern anyone who thinks the next choice to head the Democratic Party must appeal to the white working-class voters that many say handed Trump the presidency.
Ellison said his district is 75 percent white and he spends time talking to constituents every day. He added that Democrats need to make an economic appeal to working class voters that isn’t based on race or sex.
“We’ve gotta have an economic populist message that really addresses people’s core anxiety,” Ellison said.
He also attempted to play down concerns that he wouldn’t be able to lead the Democratic National Committee and serve in the House at the same time.
“I’m a very hardworking person, but let’s focus on what went wrong in the election,” Ellison said. “Turnout. The problem was turnout. We gotta get someone who’s going to increase turnout.”
