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New Democrat Candidates Talk Tech
by Bara Vaida
SAN FRANCISCO -- Although most states have not completed their redistricting processes, New Democrats already have started recruiting their 2002 election candidates, several of whom flew to the Bay Area in mid-July to learn about technology policy.
Arkansas Senate candidate Mark Pryor; Fred DuVal and Ken Cheuvront, who are candidates for seats in the Arizona House; and Dario Herrera of Nevada attended the New Democrat Network's Fifth Annual West Coast retreat last weekend with 20 lawmakers and high-tech executives to discuss issues such as biotech policy and privacy.
"Every state wants to expand its tech sector," said DuVal, who plans to run for one of two new seats that are to be created in Arizona thanks to redistricting this year. "And I'm here to talk about how to bring that prosperity to my state."
The three candidates also represent the future for the New Democrat Network, the political arm of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats in the House and Senate. Every election cycle, NDN searches to recruit federal candidates that could help expand its rank and influence.
The 2000 Election Cycle
In the 2000 election cycle, 26 of the 34 federal candidates, for whom NDN provided financial support, won their elections. Fourteen of the candidates either beat incumbents or won in open seats, helping to boost the House New Democrat coalition membership to 72 from 41 after the 1998 election. NDN's success also led to the creation of a 20-member New Democrat coalition in the Senate, which was created in early 2000 with just a few senators. NDN supported six of the nine freshmen Democrat Senate members and four of them beat incumbent senators.
Simon Rosenberg attributes the gains to the group's knack in choosing viable candidates who espouse moderate economic platforms such as balancing the budget and free trade, as well as supporting liberal social policy such as protecting the environment and abortion rights.
"Being moderate on economic issues is critical to our success...and that is why weekends like these are so important," he said. "We have to show Democrats have a long-term economic strategy."
The Redistricting Challenge
Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Calif, co-chair of the House New Democrats, has noted that with redistricting there will be no new "safe" Democratic seats, rather that most new districts will be in the "swing" suburban category where moderate candidates, like New Democrats, are likely to have the most appeal for voters.
But the National Republican Congressional Committee expects state redistricting will result in the GOP net gain of eight to 10 Republican leaning congressional seats.
"We're going to be in a good position to increase our majority," said NRCC spokesman Steven Schmidt.
Nevada's Herrera
Meanwhile, running as a moderate suits the four NDN candidates just fine. Nevada's Herrera is currently Clark County Commissioner, and is running in a newly created seat that is about evenly divided between Democrat and Republican voters. Herrera is expected to face off against Republican State Sen. Jon Porter, who challenged Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and lost last year.
The district, which includes Las Vegas's downtown strip area and the southern suburbs, is not considered a high-tech area, but Herrera said he is spending time with New Democrats to help augment his economic platform and discuss how to promote high-tech growth in the region. For example, he would like to find ways to expand biotech businesses, which have been sprouting up around the city's local university.
Herrera also may be looking to expand his fundraising momentum. In his last campaign finance disclosure, his campaign said he raised $300,000 outpacing Porter, who has raised about $100,000. Most local political analysts, however, expect the race to attract a lot of political party soft money as the Republicans and Democrats seek to increase their numbers in the House.
Herrera has gotten support from the traditional Democrats as well. In March, House Democrat leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., welcomed Herrera to Washington and later addressed the Hispanic Caucus, which has endorsed Herrera's election.
DuVal Aims For Education
Also seeking more financial and policy support is DuVal, who left Washington, D.C., last month after spending the past eight years working for the Clinton administration in posts such as deputy director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House and deputy chief of protocol at the State Department. DuVal said Arizona has made investments in higher education and provides a quality of life that would be attractive to high-tech companies.
Arizona has yet to complete its redistricting work, so the lines of the district DuVal would be running in is not clear, but it is likely to be in a suburb of Tucson or Phoenix. One of DuVal's goals, if he wins, is to work on improving Arizona and the nation's education system.
Pryor Talks Privacy
Also joining the weekend events was Pryor, who is currently Arkansas's attorney general. He said one of his motivations for attending the retreat was to learn more about privacy policy. Spurring his interest in his issue is Acxiom, an Arkansas-based company that has compiled a database of personal information on credit-card holders.
Pryor said he gets daily calls from constituents worried about losing privacy, but he and his staff have to determine if there should be state legislation regulating privacy or whether that is an issue for Congress to regulate.
Pryor, the son of former Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson, whose voting record shows he is the most conservative member of the Senate in 2000, according to National Journal.
Cheuvront too came to the weekend because of his general interest in e-commerce issues. Since he is still a sitting state Assembly in Arizona, Cheuvront has yet to declare his candidacy, but he is likely to run for one of the two new Arizona seats yet to be created. At the Democratic Leadership Council's "national conversation" held in mid-July, Cheuvront, who is minority leader in Arizona's state house, led a panel discussion on e-commerce. Cheuvront, a general contractor, argued that Democrats must "level the playing field" between the virtually unregulated e-commerce sector and the bricks-and-mortar retail world.
All candidates are likely to tap into NDN's political funds. NDN has pledged to raise $10 million in this election cycle to help New Democrat candidates win their races. One of the keys of NDN has been its ability to gain financial support from the business community that spans from high-tech to the financial services industry.
Profile In Congress
That, in turn, has raised the profile of New Democrats in Congress, who have voted with Republicans on key issues like permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with China last year. The group still does not hold a position in congressional leadership, which remains dominated by liberal Democrats.
Dooley, who has run for leadership posts and lost, admits that the New Democrats have not gotten the leadership positions the would like, but says the group has been successful in pushing Democrats as a whole to consider the importance of general economic and high-tech issues. Gephardt, for example, under pressure from the high-tech sector and other business groups, did not actively campaign in opposition for last year's PNTR vote, though he publicly opposed it.
"We are doing everything we can to position the New Democrats to have more influence in the caucus and by building our group to 72 members and getting out in front on issues we have demonstrated we can have a lot of influence even without having leadership in the caucus," said Rosenberg. "So you could argue that getting leadership would be gravy at this point, but we will continue to stay focused on that."
NDN is continuing to look for candidates in Vermont, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina, where there are likely to be competitive congressional races.
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