Braying To The Choir

If Utah Democrats hope to extend their message beyond party lines, they'll need to bring the hee-haw.




'The Sound of Silence.' It could be the theme song of the Utah Democratic Party.

When Republicans, such as U.S. Reps. Chris Stewart or Burgess Owens, paint the Dems as "socialists," or smack them with other derogatory labels, there often is no response or pushback—just a very disturbing quiet.

There is no one like Jim Dabakis (the now-retired state senator from Salt Lake City) or Randy Horiuchi (the late Salt Lake County Councilman) to blast back at the GOP as cheap-shot artists whose talent for name-calling often seems to dwarf their other skills. And so, the effective Republican bumper-sticker sloganeering continues to eat its way through the Utah body politic.

For decades, the Utah Democratic Party has found itself under the knee of the state's GOP supermajority. It faces challenges in fundraising and messaging, particularly in rural Utah. If that weren't enough, the Democrats have been busy fighting among themselves for control of a party that controls very little.

"Over the last several months, and honestly over the last two years, I've seen the party pulled apart by issue after issue," said Jeff Merchant upon his election as party chairman in June 2019. "My hope is that we can address those issues and start talking about bringing the party together."

Read more: https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/braying-to-the-choir/Content?oid=16883076
(Salt Lake City Weekly)