A slide from a presentation at the event.

By Hannah Reale

Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represents much of the Upper West Side, rallied Upper West Siders to get involved in swinging Congress back to the left at an event last week.

“We have to get people and energy from here to help in other districts,” Nadler said in front of a packed house at Symphony Space. “I think the West Side has been ready to get to work since November 9th.”

Thank u @RepJerryNadler for hosting town hall, taking so many questions & your relentless support for gun sense laws. #StopCCR @MomsDemand pic.twitter.com/uHAS4TRLEf

— NYCDiane (@dianeri5) August 2, 2017

According to Nadler’s office, nearly 550 community members came and heard ways to start getting involved in 2018’s midterm elections.

The crowd at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. 

Nadler also welcomed representatives from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Swing Left, and NY Indivisible. Each speaker emphasized that, when looking towards 2018, the best bet for a Democratic take-back is the House of Representatives rather than the Senate.

Applause filled the room when the representatives spoke particularly well, while loud hissing and boos drowned out onstage voices when a picture of President Trump appeared on the projector screen. When Nadler suggested that taking back the House was more realistic than taking back the Senate, an audience member yelled “Both of them!”

From left to right: NY Indivisible’s Michael Vignetti, Swing Left’s Adrienne Lever, DCCC’s Steve Sisneros, and Congressman Jerry Nadler.

DCCC’s Steve Sisneros, who is the director of campaigns and voter contact, kicked off the organizations’ presentations, sharing historical context and recent data that the DCCC has collected that give concrete evidence for Democratic optimism. For example, he showed statistics in various districts that showed new opportunities for Democratic elected officials—even if they were “Solidly Republican” in the past, multiple have recently shifted to “Likely Republican”. He also emphasized that, beyond fighting to flip districts, Democrats need to be making sure that they’re protecting their officials in undecided districts. The bottom line, he said, was that “not only do we feel that the House is in play and that we believe that based on the data… but other professionals in this field who do this work are also seeing the same thing.”

Swing Left’s campaign director Adrienne Lever educated the audience on her organization’s mission and methods. Her presentation, which was more informal than the other speakers’, focused on effective ways that everyday citizens can do to aid and support candidates. She cracked jokes and told anecdotes about her own experience in politically oriented activism, beginning with campaigning for Obama in Nevada back in 2007. “There were about 300 people [in Goldfield, Nevada], so I made it my mission of talking to every single person in that town. And I did. And when the primaries rolled around, we won that town. We won Goldfield, Nevada. This tiny, tiny little town in the middle of the desert voted for the first black president.”

Her story served largely to underscore the power of going door-to-door. Although Upper West Siders overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic candidate, there are nearby districts like NY-11 (Staten Island) that lean Republican. Taking a day or just a few hours and going to Staten Island to knock on doors, she said, can have a real impact on the people that you speak with.

In addition to discussing the details of the upcoming election, Lever touched on a specific tactic Swing Left uses: collecting Commit-To-Vote cards. She emphasized that every vote really counts in midterm elections. “In 2014, we had 36 percent turnout. 36 percent…. This is winnable. This is totally doable. We can win these elections just by going and paying attention to them.” Getting a citizen’s signature on a Commit-To-Vote card—which they see in a reminder that Swing Left sends out right before the election—can motivate them to show up at the polls.

Although Swing Left specifically focuses on getting liberal candidates elected, NY Indivisible’s goal is to ensure that all candidates and elected officials are held to a high standard. As NY Indivisible’s Michael Vignetti said, “We’re defenders of the Constitution…. We’re not another Democratic club. We’re a group of constituents.”

He also noted specific ways that people can work through NY Indivisible: with phone-call “relays,” in which volunteers sign up for shifts so that representatives are getting calls from constituents for the whole day; with letters, which are more personalized than petitions; and town halls with members of the Independent Democratic Conference—also known as the IDC, which is a group of New York State Senators that are allied with Republican senators and give the Republican Party the majority.

After each presentation, the floor opened up to questions from the community. Many expressed concerns that the Democratic establishment was too preoccupied with getting candidates rather than assessing their quality and preening then accordingly. Nadler responded that it is up to the voters to choose their representatives; organizations like the DCCC simply recruit candidates and help them become better politicians.

Other community members shared their frustration with the “Better Deal”, which House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer announced on July 5th. Although everyone agreed with the platform, many believed that it had not done enough to unify the party, noting that it had not included anything about reproductive rights or gun safety. Nadler suggested that it was merely a fundamental set of values, a “lowest common denominator” that all Democrats can agree upon. He emphasized that each candidate must have their own individual platform, which most seemed to reluctantly accept.

When a constituent expressed disappointment in the party’s platform not being more progressive overall, Lever noted, “We have primary elections to make sure that we put progressive Democrats in office who we like. That’s what they’re there for…. Once that Democrat has won that nomination, we do also have to recognize that there are places in this country where it is going to be a choice between a sort-of blue Democrat or a Republican…. We have to summit issues, whether it’s about gun regulation or it’s about women’s health, there are issues that are very, very viscerally important to us and we do not want to walk away from them, but we are also not the voters in those districts….”

One memorable attendee asked what she could do, as a minor, to get involved, noting that she was not able to vote and had a lot of homework that occupied her free time. In response, Nadler said, “There are things you can do. When I was your age, I was canvassing door-to-door in New York… It’s important. You make time for what’s important.”

Community members going around tables set up by various groups, such as Swing Left and Democratic clubs. 

Despite obvious anger with the current administration, the tone in the room was decidedly optimistic. In addition to being an educational event, the town hall functioned as a rally for community members to get energized and start acting early.

Lever and Vignetti ended their presentations in similar ways, urging community members to step up and push themselves. Lever said, “I know that, for many of you, going out and talking to voters is not the most natural thing, it’s not the most easy first step into activism. But this is not a moment for easy, this is a moment for making a difference.” And Vignetti later commented, “I just ask you to try and take a little more risk. If you can do a little bit more than what you’re already doing, I think it would mean a great deal. And our freedom really depends on it.”