On Jan. 14, President Joe Biden issued a statement naming Jamie Harrison as his choice for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair, shortly after Harrison lost the 2020 Senate election to incumbent Lindsey Graham.
Why are Democrats considering his nomination a win? Harrison’s loss to Lindsay Graham last November was a cause of disappointment for many. Graham, who has held office since 2003, replaced the notorious racist, Strom Thurmond, after Thurmond’s 54-year reign.
Although Graham has not garnered quite the same infamy as his predecessor, his similar longevity and ultra-conservative stance led to some South Carolina Democrats holding out hope when the newcomer proved to be a powerful opponent.
Harrison drew attention at the national level when his campaign’s fundraising grew to record-breaking proportions. According to NBC, Harrison raised over $130 million in his 2020 Senate bid, $57 million of which came during the third quarter, topping any other Senate campaign’s single-quarter records.
Starting out working in education, he was a chief officer for College Summit, a nonprofit organization helping low-income students enroll in college, and taught ninth grade social studies at his high school alma mater. Starting into politics, he was a staffer for House Whip Jim Clyburn, who he now refers to as his “political dad.”
He is no stranger to leadership, and his resume has made him the DNC’s near unanimous pick for several months. Harrison was also executive director for the House Democratic Caucus in 2006, and in 2013, he became the first African-American chair of South Carolina’s DNC in history.
Harrison’s selection follows a trend of Biden seeking highly qualified and experienced candidates to bring in with him. The selections are a refreshing change from Trump’s cronyism back to a hopefully more stable administration.
The party chair serves as the perfect stage for Harrison from which to promote the fundraising committee that he announced in November. The ‘Dirt Road PAC’ is a grassroots organization working to support Democratic platforms in the South and encourage voter registration.
According to Harrison, the committee’s name is inspired by a South Carolina voter who lived on a dirt road, and insisted that they would stay out of politics until a Democrat or a Republican had it paved. Despite his Senate loss, establishing Democrat footholds in the South has already paid dividends during the 2021 Georgia special elections.
As of January 20, after the new Georgia representatives were sworn in, Democrats lead only by a slim margin in the House of Representatives, and are at a stalemate in the Senate. This does not bode well for the midterm elections, a period when the opposition party has predominantly gained seats in the past.
The Dirt Road’s plan to put real challengers into elections in the South is the first of its kind for decades. Since Reconstruction, the Democratic party has given up the majority of Southern ballots as a lost cause and focused their efforts elsewhere. However, in the coming years the new strategy may be integral to a victory in Congress for the Democrats.
Despite the party looking ahead to an uphill battle, Harrison’s leadership of the DNC is a source of hope and could revolutionize American politics.
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