Election 2016: Can a candidate win without using “voter anger?” – a conversation with Sue Savary, candidate for Congress

Pretend, for the moment, that this year’s electioneering could look different than it does.  Imagine that the candidates’ bellowing, and the media hype, about “voter anger” were to be replaced with other messages.  For example:  Perhaps  there could be more meaningful and detailed discussions about policy positions and growth proposals?  Would not that make for more informed voting decisions?  I think most people would answer that last question with a big “YES!”

But, the reality is that “voter anger” – whatever that really means – has been a dominate political theme for most of the last year, and will continue in that way for the rest of 2016.

Leaving aside the presidential aspirants, there must be other candidates – perhaps candidates for Congress – whose message is not dominated by references to voter anger.  Change can be done constructively and without rancor, whether from one side of the political spectrum or the other.  There must be some candidates out there who are brave enough to appeal to voters’ intelligence instead of simply seeking to amplify emotions.

And so I finally wade into the mission of analyzing the issues and candidates of this year’s election by starting locally.  Can I find a local candidate for Congress with a message of constructive change that has little or nothing to do with voter anger?

I found one.

This one is a Democrat.  (Maybe there’s a Republican for another time.)  She is a Democrat who has no trouble embracing ideas that are comfortable for Republicans and other conservatives as well, too.  And she does this in the spirit that “all things are possible;” anger is not needed, nor would it be helpful.

Dr. Suzanne Savary is a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 48^th Congressional District in California.  That area is coastal Orange County – from Seal Beach at its northern end, to Laguna Beach at its southern reach, and a few miles inland.  Its wealth and income levels are above mean and median.  The District is currently represented by 14-term Republican Dana Rohrabacher, who was first voted into Congress in the election of 1988.  The District has a decades’ long record of a Republican voting majority – although it interrupted consistency with a vote for Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election – and Rohrabacher will stand for re-election.  With the additional advantage of incumbency, it would be no surprise if Rohrabacher were confident of victory.

In fact, Savary and Rohrabacher faced off in the last election in 2014.  Rohrabacher, of course, won handily.  So, why would Savary want to try again?

As it turned out, she had several good answers to that question.

2014 was Savary’s first – and, until now, only – try for elective office.  Now, in 2016, that has to count for something in an election year in which voters seem to place a premium on candidates whose careers have been something other than politics.  She seems happy to look at 2014 as a novice’s learning experience, with lessons, and a certain amount of legacy campaign organization, that can help produce a better campaign the second time around.  Also, 2016 could see a larger turnout of Democratic voters than was the case in the last election.

Savary positions herself as the Democrat candidate who is proud of her political affiliation, and at the same time is equally sincere in promoting a pro-business theme.  She sees that as a way of accelerating local economic and employment growth while maintaining a commitment to addressing root causes of income and wealth inequities, including constrained employment and educational opportunities.  She emphasizes small and medium sized businesses as those providing the best fit in the Congressional District’s cities.

There is nothing particularly novel about that message.  It sounds somewhat Clinton-esque, in the sense of the Bill Clinton administrations of the 1990s, although Savary did not try to make that connection.  Instead, she draws on her extensive experience in management consulting and on her time on the faculty of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, where she taught on the subject of management and communications.

And so, there will be a Democratic candidate in the 48^th Congressional District who can make a very convincing case that she can best represent the business development needs of the local cities to the nation’s government in Washington, D.C.  Rohrabacher can disagree with Savary on that, but he could find himself forced into a defensive position because of Savary’s business background and credibility.  She has the ability to occupy space that is traditionally Republican turf.

Savary is challenging the established order of things, but without the need to appeal to voter anger.  She speaks instead in positive and optimistic terms about the boundlessness of America’s future, both locally and nationally.  In her words, now is the “time to accomplish bold things.”  She is eager to present herself to the electorate by saying that “bold things” ought to include policies to stimulate business formation, job creation, empowerment of women and families, enhancement of educational opportunities, rethinking foreign policy, additional space exploration – a full spectrum of things, from the work-a-day needs of employees and business owners, to the wide-open visions of developing and using new technologies.

California’s June 7 primary election will be Savary’s electoral gateway to competing against Congressman Rohrabacher in the November contest.  California runs a jungle primary – only the top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation, advance to November.  She will compete against other Democrats; Rohrabacher is unlikely to face any Republican challengers.

California’s 48CD has a largely conservative and Republican population.  But Savary, as a Democrat, probably has a style that is too conservative for the more liberal type of Democrats who are turning out in relatively large numbers in other parts of the country in voting for Senator Bernie Sanders in the presidential nominating process.  Should Democratic voters in the 48^th follow in that same pattern it could hurt her chances to advance beyond the primary election.

If, however, Savary is one of the two finishers who walk out of the June 7 jungle, then her business-aware approach is likely to serve her well in November.