Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, speaking Saturday night at the Arkansas Democratic Party's Clinton Dinner in Little Rock, weighed the wisdom of the party focusing on turning out its base at the exclusion of converting Trump voters. He lamented that party "soul searching."
"Why ... can't we do both?" Bullock said.
He said one-fourth of the voters who re-elected him governor in 2016 also voted for President Donald Trump.
Former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel introduced Bullock, referring to a recent poll that lists the two-term governor as one of the most viable Democrats for the 2020 presidential nomination.
Also in Little Rock last week was Georgian Stacey Abrams, a progressive seeking to become the nation's first female black governor. She spoke at a party event Thursday night.
Together, Abrams and Bullock exemplify two wings of the Democratic Party as it seeks to regain power in Arkansas and across the nation.
Abrams has already gained national attention for her platform in conservative Georgia. This month, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
In their respective speeches, Abrams and Bullock presented slightly different road maps for winning back voters in conservative areas. Both, however, lauded Arkansas' expansion of Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and said Democrats should appeal to voters who need an economic "hand-up."
"We are not a red state, we are just blue and confused," Abrams said of Georgia.
Speaking more broadly on the approach Democrats should take in November, Abrams said, "We lost our country by 70,000 votes. But there were millions of people who didn't bother to show up [at the polls]. Not because they were apathetic, but because we didn't trust them enough to give them a reason to go."
At the state party convention earlier Saturday, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng of New York, the vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the national party is focused on more presence in races across the country.
"We are not ceding any territory," Meng said. "We are the new party that is focused on every ZIP code. We want to make sure that people know that we are for the people and that we are working on, whether it's messaging or legislation, policies that are more inclusive every single day and make access to whatever -- justice, education, retirement, livable wages -- equal for every single person regardless of their background and regardless of where they are in the country."
Democrats in Arkansas are hoping to erase the super-majorities that Republicans hold in the state Legislature.
Two years ago, state Democrats fielded a single candidate for the state's four U.S. congressional races. This year, there are candidates in all four district races.
Saturday night was the second time since 2010 that the state party's annual fundraiser was headlined by a Montanan. Brian Schweitzer, that state's governor from 2005-13, spoke at the dinner in 2011.
Last year, the speaker was another Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana. The year before that former U.S. President and former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton spoke.
About 1,000 people attended Saturday night's Clinton Dinner at Little Rock's Statehouse Convention Center, according to the party. Tickets for the dinner, the party's largest fundraiser of the year, cost $100 per plate.
Information for this article was contributed by Frank Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 08/05/2018