Our Next Democratic Leader In The House?

With the elimination of Ward Armstrong's district likely, and his statewide ambitions already having been shown, House Democrats will finally get a new leader soon.

There are a few names being thrown around, but I've got an early favorite.

Delegate David Englin of Alexandria would be my choice to be the next Democratic House Leader.

Even if we got fair lines drawn in this redistricting, House Democrats would lose some seats in this election because of the areas growing in Virginia versus the ones that are stagnant.  The math favors Republicans for now.

Which means we need to think long term about rebuilding the party.

There are very few legislators on the Democratic side who seem to understand or care about the most important piece of policy- i.e. winning elections in order to make that policy.

Of those few legislators that care about elections, there are even fewer that understand anything about winning them.

Englin isn't perfect, there are some areas where we disagree- such as his vote for this redistricting plan last week.  But given how new some of the other caucus talent is to Richmond (freshman Patrick Hope and Scott Surovell jump to mind) there really isn't another progressive better positioned than Englin right now to take over the long term role of trying to lead Democrats out of the wilderness in the House.

We need to stop looking for the perfect leader and pick the best one we have right now.

I think that person is David Englin.  Hopefully the House Democrats will agree.

Comments

[paul vogel]

David Englin is da man!

[SE VA MWC Alum]

You dont think Armstrong gives it a go against Merricks?

[NotAndySere]

Of course Armstrong is running against Merricks. I think Ben is just utilizing his keen political insights to determine the outcome of that race!!

[James Young]

Just what Democrats need to rebuild themselves statewide: an Alexandria Democrat!

[houdon]

Maybe it's my bias, but the pickings are pretty slim. I'd go with McClellan. She's gotten much more aggressive with the opposition in recent weeks. I'd say she's positioning herself nicely to take her leadership position up a notch.

[Not Dick Saslaw]

Mark Sickles?

[truthteller]

James, Alexandria is as much a part of the Commonwealth as Prince William, Fauquier, Galax, Halifax or Suffolk. Persecute NOVA residents as fake Virginians at your own peril. George Allen and Nancy Pfotenhauer learned that the hard way!

[truthteller]

David Englin is a rising star and would be a sensational leader.

But it is still premature to know exactly how redistricting is going to play out. My bet is that if the Dems don't get their way on the Senate map, the GOP won't get its way on the Delegates' map either....

[Mr Bubbles]

While scott is a freshman lawmaker, I think his time and record as FCDC chairman would make him the perfect choice to lead the caucus. Englin is a decent choice too but Ben's argument reminds me too much of Hillary's arguments against Obama in 2008.

Also, I wonder where James Young thinks the commonwealth gets the money to fund the schools his children (and most of red VA) attend or the roads he drives on. With the way Corey Stewart et al have run PWC into the ground, Im pretty sure most of the money came from taxes raised in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Bubbles, Caucus Chair is different from Democratic Leader, so we are talking about two different things. Scott would be a great caucus chair- not sure he has the votes in the caucus after 1 term.

[Steve Vaughan]

Houdon,
I'd agree with you, both that the pickings are slim and that McClelland would be a good choice.

[Mr Bubbles]

Dem Leader, thats what i meant...

I think Scott is known enough (especially among the NOVA) delegates that he would have a good chance. LBJ became senate majority leader in one term. Obama became president after only 4 years in the senate. So i wouldnt rule it out just because he's frosh.

That being said, Im sure Boss Moran and others would have an opinion on who should be leader...

[A Voter]

I think a rabid liberal like Englin is an excellent example of what Democrats represent!

[Michael]

What's your take on David Toscano (our delegate here in Charlottesville)?

Smart, very well-spoken, and bordering on socialist to boot! ;-) Seems like he would do well in Dem leadership. What are your thoughts?

[Bwana]

Does anyone else find humor at the top of this page that on the left we have a piece praising Dave Englin, and on the right we have a "DavidEnglin WAAAAAH-lert" (Clean up on Row 2)?

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Bwana, I caught that too (LOL).

And thank you truthteller for calling out James Young for the remark about Alexandria Democrats.

The truth is that Northern Virginia pays more in taxes to the state and gets less of it back. We are not illegitimate Virginians. And disagreeing with conservative Republicans doesn't invalidate our citizenship and rights in this commonwealth.

Further, for Democrats, it's voter rich Northern Virginia that provides the margin of victory for most statewide races. I don't think picking a leader from there to lead the Democrats is such a stupid thing.

In fact, I'd say for any number of reasons, Democrats need to stop being deluded into thinking that if only they moved even more to the right, picked leaders from the most conservative areas of the state and country, and ran from their base, people wouldn't notice they are Democrats and they'd win elections.

Instead, it might be that if they behaved more like Republicans do, and catered to their base and ran as proud Democrats who offered real progressive ideas and showed how those ideas would benefit people, they'd have a better chance of actually winning elections.

It worked for us in 2006 and 2008. Why did we retreat?

[Mr Bubbles]

With all do respect, the rest of the state does matter. NoVa accounts for only 40% of the state's population and in a good year only 60-65% of that will vote democratic. You could easily point to democrats winning important jurisdictions in Hampton Roads and out performing in areas like Southside for victories in 2006 and 2008.

The question shouldnt be whether or not they are significantly liberal (at least have the guts to call yourself one) rather its who has a clear vision of the future to look and how to achieve it. How exactly was Deeds and other Dems not progressive enough?

It's easy for Dems to retreat to fortress NoVa and complain about how backward the rest of the state is, however that is not going to get us anywhere. People in the rest of the state are smarter than people like Anon give them credit for. The problem is democrats didnt bother to compete for votes most of the time and when they did they did a horrible job of listening to their complaints/issues or explaining how their policies would benefit them. Yes, NoVa is the engine that drives much of our economy and funds most of our state government but being pretentious and self-absorbed is going to get you nowhere.

[change]

Englin may be a nice guy but , even though he might do a good job there is little chance he will be democratic leader. My guess is that it might be someone from the black caucus.

[Mr Bubbles]

rascist...

[martinlomasney]

Ken Plum is the leader of the caucus and will b4e re-elected.

He's your minority leader, if he wants it and he wants it.

Next question.

[Wow]

I guess candidate recruitment and challenge in r districts this election will tell whether or not who should be up
for current caucus leadership,, just saying

[change]

I agree with martin, “if he wants it” it is his.

booblahead,
Does that “racist” statement have any backup? Or are you just being your typical obnoxious self, searching for a fight?

You really do prove yourself to be an idiot so often that one would think you might get embarrassed (or at least tired).

[TGEoA]

Alexandria Democrats > Arlington Socialists

[Mr Bubbles]

SexChange, I thought it was pretty obvious it was a joke. Apparently I misoverestimated your intelligence once again. Do yourself a favor and grow a thicker skin.

[change]

Babbles taking lessons from liberal comics, when you are caught in the wrong, say it was a joke.

Usually, those who are attempting humor without attempting to be obnoxious put a (lol or : )) after their “joke”.
No “thin skin” I just tire of your comments without facts.

In reality the black caucus has some fine candidates for the position with much more time in the legislature (which seems to account for a lot in Richmond).

Those are just the facts…

[alnm02]

Agree with Michael--David Toscano would be great.

[Sense]

Courts will be drawing House and Senate districts. Who whats a seat?!!

[Mr Bubbles]

change,

http://www.thewambulance.com/

... that is all

[Tdankmyer]

"How exactly was Deeds and other Dems not progressive enough? " - Mr Bubbles

Uh, Deeds didn't run a campaign in Northern Virginia. It wasn't because he was or wasn't progressive (although he is fairly conservative), he never really won Northern Virginia over. He ran some BS campaign down south close to his home county to get those voters, and it failed miserably. One of the worst run campaigns ever. Compare Warner, Kaine, and Deeds campaigns in Northern Virginia and it's real easy to see why Deeds lost - just sheer numbers. Blue Virginia posted something right after Deeds lost, with tons of facts, county by county, district by district, showing the huge gap in votes Deeds didn't get up north, that Kaine and Warner did. Every campaign at every level always campaigns hard and focuses on their strongholds. The Democratic strongholds in Virginia are the heavily populated areas. That means: Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area especially, and Richmond as well.

So, while it's not all about Northern Virginia, a large chunk of it IS about NoVa.

[Tdankmyer]

And since this blog post is about Englin, I fully support him for becoming our new leader. Or Scott Surovell. Both are great.