It’s easy as we look out on this national political season to feel sidelined if you’re not a resident of one of the six or seven or so battleground states, none of which are in the northwest.
But that doesn’t mean you have to be sidelined as a matter of practice.
Let’s put that to an acid test: Suppose you’re a Democratic woman in Idaho. How much impact can you have?
A surprising amount, if you pay attention and maybe participate in the activities of one of Idaho’s largest and least-heralded political organizations, the Idaho Women for Harris/Walz (formerly, up until a few weeks ago, Biden/Harris).
The group was founded several years ago by a gathering of active Democratic women in Idaho. The most visible of them include Betty Richardson, a former U.S. attorney who for decades has been one of the best political organizers the state has seen. Working as a Democrat in Idaho long has presented big challenges, but the IWHW has demonstrated, and may demonstrate in this year’s election, how to get things done in spite of those challenges.
Outside of its membership, the organization has mostly flown under the radar up to now, but that may be changing. Based largely on a Facebook group, but also using an e-mail list, it has brought together a large number of like-minded women, many of whom are oriented toward activism. (Not all of the members are Idahoans, but most are, and the minority of outsiders generally have a strong connection to Idaho.)
During the Democratic National Convention, they distributed a press release saying the organization now has more than 12,000 members, most of whom are widely scattered around the state, in large communities and small, many in places where actual Democratic presence often is rendered invisible.
The release said “IW4HW is one of the largest all-volunteer groups of Idahoans ever organized around a presidential campaign, and is one of the biggest such groups per capita in the nation. The grassroots group formed in July of 2020 and was previously titled "Idaho Women for Biden/Harris." After President Biden announced his decision to end his bid for re-election and endorsed Vice President Harris, the group changed its name.”
Don’t expect, though, that involvement in the presidential contest is the limit of its interest or activities.
The release added: “The group has members from all 44 Idaho counties, from north and south, from big cities and small towns, from political newbies to seasoned hands. Its members are Democrats, Republicans and Independents, and include several past and present elected officials.”
Richardson said during the Democratic convention that the group had grown by more than 1,000 members just in the previous month.
Okay, it’s a lot of people, but what can it do?
Quite a lot, both in-state and out.
Within the state, there are this year an unusually large number of Democratic candidates running for the state legislature, and those who are active candidates desperately need local people to help. A group of this size and spread could provide critical help (not just money, but labor as well) to many of them.
All of that applies when it comes to ballot issues, too.
Nationally, they can matter too. The political game this year is voter turnout, and communication with erratic or uncertain voters will be critical to winning the presidency and in states where key congressional races are taking place. People living in Idaho can’t easily be on the scene in those places, but they can communicate by phone, by electronic communications and by print mail to inform and urge them to get their ballots cast (which starts happening in only a couple of weeks). A group of 12,000 can provide an enormous amount of critical leverage.
Numbers are power in politics, and this Idaho group’s numbers are enough to matter.
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