A Win for Suozzi!
Implications for 2024
Susan Wagner was an adviser to the Suozzi Campaign and previously helped Concerned Citizens of NY 03 to oust Congressman George Santos. After Tom Suozzi announced his run to fill the vacancy, Susan and others from Concerned Citizens of NY 03 became trusted advisors during the high-energy campaign.
There is no shortage of opinions about Tom Souzzi’s victory in New York’s Third Congressional District last week [Feb. 13]. Some suggest it was a harbinger of how immigration, Israel, and abortion could play across the country. Others called the election an anomaly, pointing to the surprise Election Day snowstorm that suppressed voter turnout. Many noted that it was a special election prompted by the first expulsion of a Congressperson since 2002, leaving a wide swath of the electorate feeling defrauded by the both the Republican party and George Santos.
While some of these theories may turn out to be accurate, what is sorely missing from the “analyses” in mainstream media (NYT, WAPO and others) and the punditry is the role played by the volunteer-run grassroots groups across the country who participated in large and small ways in Suozzi’s campaign.
Since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, hundreds of grassroots groups have sprung up across the nation determined to save Democracy. These groups are led by savvy, well-organized volunteers who commit dozens of hours each week to support selected candidates in important races. These groups are having a strong and growing impact on elections up and down ballots across the country (Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York), including the defeat of GOP initiatives aimed at restricting abortion.
Most pundits and media do not yet fully grasp the changed political landscape resulting from the enormous fire power these hundreds of thousands of “organized” battle-tested advocates bring to Democratic politics. Because there were few other races during New York's compressed Special Election period (December 1, 2023-Feb. 13, 2024), the impact of these groups on the race was particularly impressive.
During Suozzi’s campaign, over 60 grassroots groups knocked on doors, made phone calls, supported the campaign’s social media initiatives, donated money, wrote postcards, sent letters, and more. This happened because of pre-existing relationships between grassroots groups, campaign staffers, and Suozzi himself. From the start, Suozzi recognized and embraced grassroots groups. “They were my stealth weapon,” he said.
So, what conclusions can be drawn from the Suozzi win? And what takeaways for the Democratic party?
Even the vaunted Nassau County GOP ground game can be beaten if the full capacity of the grassroots is unleashed to strengthen the candidate’s priorities and messaging.
Paid campaign staff should identify early on who in grassroots leadership they should work with. They should ascertain what skills these groups offer and coordinate accordingly. For example, embracing Markers For Democracy led to “Sunday’s For Suozzi” which resulted in each targeted household receiving on average five postcards.
There must be a seat at the table for the grassroots groups. Historically, campaigns have a point person for recognized coalitions (seniors, youth, religious, environment, and labor, etc.,) This liaison facilitates communication between the campaign and these interest groups, enabling the campaign to manage messaging, problems, schedules, etc. This structure worked well for the Suozzi campaign as demonstrated by its success across various interest groups.
Collaboration thrives when there is a foundation of trust and respect. Many groups participating in the Suozzi campaign held more progressive views than the candidate but mostly set aside their inclination to push favored issues out of respect for Suozzi’s strategy. We play the long game, working with candidates, building relationships in the district, trusting that we will continue to work with public servants to advance policy goals once elections are won.
In our view, it is crystal clear why Suozzi won: It’s the Grassroots, Stupid!
The Suozzi campaign points the way to truly tapping into grassroots muscle in 2024. For over 5 years, even as our country has been failed by institutions and individuals that do not aggressively take on Trump and Trumpism, thousands and thousands of members of all-volunteer grassroots groups nationwide have worked tirelessly to save democracy. The type of respect and collaboration demonstrated in the NY-3 campaign spead to campaigns in all battleground states could supercharge our effectiveness this year!
Excellent article. I and many many other volunteers are working closely with the Rudy Salas campaign for congress in California CD22. We are doing all the usual canvassing, phonebanking, postcarding, and fundraising. But the campaign is also using people’s social media skills, IT skills, research skills. Very very encouraging and exciting.