Welcome To The Roadmap

Winning Strategies & Solutions from Beyond the Beltway

The November elections set off a myriad of debates within the Democratic Party.

What does our party stand for in the post-Biden era?

How do we win back non-college educated voters?  

Should Democrats focus on opposing Trump or putting forth an agenda of their own (spoiler alert on that one: we need to do both).

How can we better listen to, learn from, and connect with people across geography and demography with whom lost ground this election cycle? 

What’s the big idea?

After the elections, the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders) – a vibrant network of carefully chosen, pragmatic, results-oriented state and local leaders who are running and governing successfully in red, purple, and blue areas across the country – offered our initial thoughts in this post-election takeaways memo. 
Our memo uplifted the voices and perspectives of NewDEAL Leaders from key states and included important lessons from candidates like NewDEALer Kristen McDonald Rivet who ran nearly 8 points ahead of the national ticket in her swing Michigan Congressional District.

But such a painful and consequential defeat – not to mention what’s at stake if we don’t reverse the trends – will require sustained introspection and conversation.  

And the most critical voices in these conversations are leaders from outside Washington, DC. These are state and local leaders on the frontlines of governing in these unprecedented times and who bring unique insights, perspectives, and solutions – offering a roadmap to the way out of the wilderness. 

In the coming weeks and months, we will give those leaders a platform here to share what they are seeing and doing on the ground.  We will be hearing directly from NewDEAL Leaders about:

·  The real world impacts Trump Administration and how they are responding;

·  What it will take for Democrats to win (back) their districts and states;

·  Their big ideas to make government work and deliver results

That last question is important because at the end of the day, the best politics is the best governance. After all, what are campaigns and elections if not a contest of ideas?

I learned early in my career at the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), that the best ideas usually come from outside Washington, DC. That has remained true since then-DLC Chair Governor Bill Clinton went on a national tour to find the ideas that would make up a winning agenda – ideas like community policing, charter schools, welfare reform, and national service. 

Now, there is no shortage of great ideas being championed by pragmatic Democratic leaders around the country that are solving today’s big problems, tangibly helping people, and transforming communities for the better. Those ideas can show the majority of Americans that we get it – and that we are delivering results that make people’s lives better.

As an opening gambit, here are five ideas that I’ve got my eyes on:

1. “Responsibility to Shelter”

NewDEAL Leader San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is pursuing a bold new strategy to address homelessness in his city by building significantly more shelter beds and tiny homes, and making it a trespassing violation if someone is offered and refuses shelter three times. As he wrote in a medium piece earlier this year, “We will invest in providing basic, dignified, and personalized shelter, and services for those on our streets and, when it is available, we will require that – at a minimum – people come indoors so we can stop…the impacts of long-term encampments that harm our collective safety and quality of life.”

2. Eliminate Degree Requirements 

On his first day in office, NewDEAL Alum Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order, announcing that effective immediately, 92 percent of state government jobs – about 65,000 positions – would not require a four-year college degree. As part of that announcement, Governor Shapiro said, “Today, we are making sure Pennsylvanians know that the doors of opportunity are wide open to those who want to serve our Commonwealth, regardless of whether or not they have a degree.”

3. Build Housing on Public Land

There is no way out of our current housing affordability crisis that does not involve creating more housing supply. Several NewDEAL Leaders, including County Supervisors James Walkinshaw (Fairfax, VA) and Laura Capps (Santa Barbara, CA) are leading the charge to find underutilized county land that can be used for housing, including parking lots and shuttered buildings. Elsewhere, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is turning to his city’s own land and resources to create new development opportunities, launching a new non-profit corporation, the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation (AUD), to attract private financing and expertise. The result has been a surge of development – 40 public land projects are under way, with 10,000 new affordable housing units finished or under construction.

4. Streamline Permitting for Smarter Growth 

Across the country, policymakers are accelerating development of clean energy and housing projects by implementing fair, transparent procedures with strict timelines and cutting red tape. In Michigan, Representative Ranjeev Puri led legislation empowering the state regulator to approve large-scale renewable energy projects through a clear, statewide process to better navigate fragmented local processes. On housing, Delaware, Governor Matt Meyer moved quickly to identify and champion reforms to streamline approvals and reform local zoning to cut the cost and time to develop new units. Additional jurisdictions are expanding by-right permitting, where development proposals will be automatically approved as long as they meet all zoning laws and building codes and other criteria.

5. Vastly Expand Service Opportunities

Few programs have as many benefits as creating opportunities for service. From giving young people jobs to helping make college more affordable and rebuilding community in this polarized time, community service is a powerful tool. Under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom and NewDEAL Alum Josh Fryday in California, more people are now serving through the Youth Jobs Corps, College Corps and Climate Action Corps, than are in the Peace Corps. And Maryland Governor Wes Moore launched a first-in-the-nation public service year program for high school graduates. 

Join us.

These are just a few of the ideas and leaders that make me hopeful for the future and point the way forward. The way back for Democrats and our country will not be easy, but the roadmap exists: listening to and learning from leaders outside Washington, DC, who are campaigning and governing successfully. 

We look forward to bringing you their stories.