DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen Here to Support Darcy
Chris Van Hollen, Congressman from Maryland and Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, came into town to share his thoughts on the current political environment and to underscore the DCCC’s support for Darcy.
Van Hollen talked with a roomful of Darcy’s supporters at the Mercer Island Community Center on Monday, Nov. 26th. He said that this race is one of the DCCC’s top priority races in the country. Darcy ran a great campaign in 2006 and will clearly be running an even better one this year. In addition, the 8th CD is a district that is likely to have a significantly higher turnout in a presidential election year, which is highly likely to provide the Democrats up and down the ticket with additional votes.
Comparing His Own Race With Darcy’s Race
Van Hollen, who was elected to Maryland’s 8th CD in 2002, talked about how similar his own race was to Darcy’s race. He ran against a Republican incumbent in a district, like Washington’s 8th, that was actually a Democratic district. He said he found that people were ready for a fresh face in Congress. He also said that it is important to have a strong volunteer base and to start the campaign early, both of which Darcy is currently developing and doing.
He said that there are only eight Congressional seats left where a majority of people voted for a Democratic President but still had a Republican Representative. It’s time, he said, to take Washington’s 8th off that list and Darcy Burner is the person to make that happen.
Acknowledging the Frustration with the Democrats
During the Q&A session, Van Hollen acknowledged the frustration that Democrats have with what has not happened in this Congress, saying that Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be the first to say that she too is frustrated with how little the Democrats have been able to do. Van Hollen said that the Republicans in Congress have been abusing the filibuster process, threatening to filibuster every single bill they don’t want passed.
That is why it is so important that we work hard to get more and better Democrats into Congress. Were we to get a Democratic president but continue to lack a working Democratic majority in Congress, the level of frustration with the Democrats would be off the charts.
To cap it off, he noted that the press only pays attention to the bills that hit the President’s desk and pay no attention to what has happened prior to that. As a result, there is essentially no press about how hard the Democrats have been fighting for the American people.
