A new report alleges that members of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party are sounding the alarm about their organization ahead of the 2024 presidential election, claiming it is a “f–king disaster,” and “amateur hour.”
The report from Politico began with an image of a party in a horrible situation across the state, saying, “With a little more than a year to go until the 2024 election, the state Democratic Party is reeling from financial problems and a lack of trust across the party, according to interviews with 20 Democratic officials and operatives throughout Pennsylvania.”
The story cited several officials, writing, “‘It’s amateur hour,’ said a state committee member who, along with other Democrats, was granted anonymity to speak truthfully about a sensitive matter. ‘It’s a f–king disaster,’ said a former state party staffer.”
The article reported that the state’s party went through a series of layoffs in July, with one of its political action committees having less than $8,000 in its account. Members have “questions” about the “competency of its leadership, including state party chair Sharif Street.”
Politico stated, “The prevailing fear is that the party will not be in the strongest shape possible ahead of the presidential election and a key Senate race next year. A state Supreme Court contest, where Democrats are making abortion front and center, is on the ballot this November.”
“It’s concerning that the state party is laying people off as we’re heading into a really important Supreme Court race, which then leads into the presidential year,” Democratic consultant Mike Mikus said, adding, “They’re going to have to figure out a path forward to build their own fundraising operation, and it sounds like there’s a lot of building to be done right now.”
Another anonymous senior Democratic official in the state noted that the trouble facing the party in its current state is becoming unbearable.
“Pennsylvania is the single biggest battleground state in the country in the presidential election, and we have a total incompetent, lazy guy who has no clue what he’s doing running the state party,” they said.
Street, the party chair, has denied that there are financial issues with the party, claiming that the party was given a “$700,000 grant earlier this year” by “DemocracyFIRST,” money which has allowed the party to hire 20 new organizers.
Additionally, Street claimed that the state party’s “federal PAC had $200,000 on hand as of its latest filing,” the outlet wrote, and had a response to the layoffs, stating, “he had to carry them out in response to worries from national donors” that the party had too much staff carried over from the midterms.
Politico, nevertheless, noted that “the highest levels of the Democratic Party have expressed anxiety about the state committee. … People who have talked to Biden officials have come away with the impression that they are concerned about it, according to three people familiar with those conversations.”
Additionally, there have been disagreements with the state party and President Biden’s fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund, as well as the DNC and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over “basic contracts that are essential to raise money and coordinate.” Pennsylvania was a key state flipped back to Democrats by Biden after former President Donald Trump won the state in 2016.
However, a DNC spokesperson assured the outlet that “the DNC and Biden for President will continue investing heavily in the Keystone State and organizing Pennsylvania voters to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
Politico reported that Street’s belief was that the conflicts between himself and national Democrats was a “byproduct of him taking a different approach to leading the party.”
He claimed, “We’ve done things a little differently, and I know that may have ruffled some feathers with sort of the national chatterbox class. They weren’t exactly excited about my candidacy for chair for a lot of reasons.”
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