Michigan Democrats held their party convention in Detroit over the weekend.
Their mission was to choose their top leader and to figure out how to win come Election Day 2016.
The first order of business was easy: Chairman Lon Johnson had no competition for the top leadership spot.
The second order of business, however, was a bit more involved.
Johnson joined us today to talk about the Democratic Party’s plan to move forward as it strives to rebound from its losses in 2014.
“As a party, and our candidates, we need to recognize that we need to show the people of Michigan precisely how we’re going to create a state where they can stay and succeed,” Johnson said. “That means bold ideas, but it also mean ideas that are spelled out in detail to them, again — precisely how they can stay here and succeed.”
The chairman distinguished generally between the Republican and Democratic parties, saying that Democrats believe in protecting “our people, our land, our Great Lakes” while Republicans tend to believe that “if you just invest in business, everything will take care of itself.”
“We think we have the better way forward,” he said.
The battle plan? Johnson first said the party plans on building teams to determine 2-3 “major, bold” policy initiatives in each of five main areas – education, economics, infrastructure, natural resources and equality.
Johnson says continuing to build up the party's numbers is critical. And he says the Democratic Party plans to “get local.”
“We’ve got to do a better job of understanding locally and we need to show them what the Democratic position would be," Johnson said.
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