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After Bob Duffy left Rochester in order to save it (he was only thinking of us), the county’s Democratic Party establishment put the fix in for its favorite former energy CEO, Tom Richards.
They got him the party’s official backing, and all its organizing and fundraising clout. They gave him the endorsement of every one of the city’s elected Democrats. They even pushed for an early, “special,” election to make sure Richards wouldn’t face a primary and opposition didn’t have time to crystallize.
It worked, but just barely. Richards won by a plurality, unable to get a majority of votes in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
Afterwards, I wrote that by pulling out all the stops for Richards the county’s Democratic establishment had visibly broken faith with the city’s Democratic voters, and that his poor showing at the ballot box represented a sea change in city politics.
In last week’s Democratic primaries, the first since the mayoral election, the tide started to come in.
Both party-backed candidates for county Legislature seats in the city lost their primary. Party-backed school board candidates had a mixed bag. The only party-endorsed candidates who did well in the Democratic primaries in the city were candidates who already had strong connections with voters, candidates who didn’t need the party anyway.
The bottom line: After having the city’s Democratic elites shove a mayor down their throats, a significant number of city’s Democratic voters no longer trust the Democratic Party to pick candidates for them.
This strikes me as entirely rational of them — and it means Sandra Frankel is in trouble.
A suburban politician with no direct connection to Rochester City voters, she’s depending on the Democratic Party there to deliver the high turnout she needs to be competitive in the county executive’s race. Frankel can’t win with the city alone, but she also can’t win without an overwhelming victory there.
The county’s Democratic Party can no longer deliver city votes in bulk.
Frankel’s (yawn) campaign thus far has focused on improving the ethical standards of county government. This is a crucial issue, and one I’ve been making noise about for years, but as I’ve said before, it’s clearly not one that generates any excitement across the county.
I suspect it will play even worse among traditional Democratic voters in the city.
After Bob Duffy left Rochester in order to save it (he was only thinking of us), the county’s Democratic Party establishment put the fix in for its favorite former energy CEO, Tom Richards.
They got him the party’s official backing, and all its organizing and fundraising clout. They gave him the endorsement of every one of the city’s elected Democrats. They even pushed for an early, “special,” election to make sure Richards wouldn’t face a primary and opposition didn’t have time to crystallize.
It worked, but just barely. Richards won by a plurality, unable to get a majority of votes in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
Afterwards, I wrote that by pulling out all the stops for Richards the county’s Democratic establishment had visibly broken faith with the city’s Democratic voters, and that his poor showing at the ballot box represented a sea change in city politics.
In last week’s Democratic primaries, the first since the mayoral election, the tide started to come in.
Both party-backed candidates for county Legislature seats in the city lost their primary. Party-backed school board candidates had a mixed bag. The only party-endorsed candidates who did well in the Democratic primaries in the city were candidates who already had strong connections with voters, candidates who didn’t need the party anyway.
The bottom line: After having the city’s Democratic elites shove a mayor down their throats, a significant number of city’s Democratic voters no longer trust the Democratic Party to pick candidates for them.
This strikes me as entirely rational of them — and it means Sandra Frankel is in trouble.
A suburban politician with no direct connection to Rochester City voters, she’s depending on the Democratic Party there to deliver the high turnout she needs to be competitive in the county executive’s race. Frankel can’t win with the city alone, but she also can’t win without an overwhelming victory there.
The county’s Democratic Party can no longer deliver city votes in bulk.
Frankel’s (yawn) campaign thus far has focused on improving the ethical standards of county government. This is a crucial issue, and one I’ve been making noise about for years, but as I’ve said before, it’s clearly not one that generates any excitement across the county.
I suspect it will play even worse among traditional Democratic voters in the city.
If Frankel has to win these voters, instead of just taking them for granted because she has a “D” after her name, then she needs to get on message fast. She needs to show Rochester that she isn’t one more Democratic politician who expects city votes for nothing.
The city’s political landscape is open in a way in hasn’t been for decades — and that means the county’s is too. A major realignment isn’t going to happen fast — I’d expect everybody to reinforce their foxholes for next year’s presidential race — but it is beginning to happen.
Benjamin Wachs writes for Messenger Post Media, and is the editor of Fiction365.com. Email him at Benjamin@Fiction365.com.
