When Debbie Wasseman Schultz was elected as chair of the DNC, her remarks showed how she intends to chair the DNC. When she was 25 years old, she ran for the Florida House of Representatives. Many persons in the party felt she had not paid her dues to run for the seat. She was outspent by her opponents. But she had one thing they did not. She used her brain power to outwork and outsmart her opponents. She knocked on 25, 000 doors in her district leaving no stone unturned. And her district rewarded her by electing her with 53% of the vote in the primary. She never took no for an answer. At the age of 26, she became the youngest person ever to win a seat to the Florida House of Representatives.
She will bring that same work ethic and energy to the DNC. She vowed that she will “work every single day like I did in that first race to reelect our President, win back the House, hold the Senate and elect Democrats up and down the ballot. On my watch we will not be outworked.”
Schultz will also bring her brand of messaging. She has been known for being able to communicate well with voters and on TV. That will be a needed asset for the DNC as messaging had not been a strong suit for Democrats. Getting heard above the nonsense has been difficult. It will be interesting to see how she will get a clearer message out in the coming weeks and months.
She stated her priorities as chair will be to protect the successes of the Obama administration and to trumpet those successes “from the roof tops”; invest in the strongest and best organizing ever to give President Obama a second term; support the Democratic candidates and hold the Republicans accountable.
One thing is for sure. There’s a new sheriff in town and she has come to kick some butt.
Debbie Hines is a trial lawyer and legal and political commentator. She also contributes to the Huffington Post. She addresses issues on race and women in the media. She holds a juris Doctorate from George Washington University Law School and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.