Opinion | The Alabama Democratic Party is exhausting

I am tired of the Alabama Democratic Party. 

So tired. 

I’m tired of writing about the absurd things that party leadership does. I’m tired of hearing about goofy, petty fights. I’m tired of watching grown people argue over who gets to captain a ship that sank long ago and is now burrowing into the muck at the bottom of the ocean. 

I’m tired of the insane headlines. I’m tired of the ridiculous press releases. I’m tired of the never-ending stream of letters back and forth between the party and the Democratic National Convention. 

Tired of it all. 

The infighting within this dumpster fire of a party has been going on now for more than a decade, with the worst of it coming over the past five years. And all of it is absurd. And unhelpful. And embarrassing. 

The past week has been a microcosm of the whole mess. 

It started with a challenge from chairman Randy Kelley to the DNC over the selection of delegates from Alabama. It was a worthless letter, which of course contained a threat. Kelley said he would be taking a second slate of delegates to the convention next week in Chicago to “challenge” the slate selected by the Harris campaign. 

I don’t know what this “challenge” would entail – maybe a Jets and Sharks street fight on the convention floor – but rest assured that the threat of it is as patently goofy as anything you’ve ever heard. 

But then, that’s the way this party has been operating – as goofy as possible. 

Because the leadership, with Kelley at the helm and vice chair of minority affairs Joe Reed pulling the strings, is constantly aggrieved. There is constantly a plot to undermine them. There is constantly a secret vendetta playing out, perpetrated by white people, to wrongfully wrestle control of the party away from their capable hands. 

It’s ludicrous. 

How far has it gone? Consider this: During a phone interview with me, Kelley called former Sen. Doug Jones a “confederate Democrat,” and then stood by it when I asked if he could repeat what he said. Then he called DNC chair Jamie Harrison “a token Black,” who is “afraid for his position,” so instead of doing the right things, Harrison instead “does what he’s told by the whites.” 

Kelley said all of this after I said his claims of racism – which he made in his letter to Harrison and others at the DNC – rang a bit hollow, considering he was complaining to the Black head of the party about selections made by the campaign of a Black woman. 

That’s how we got to this messy point, after all. The Biden campaign originally – and the Harris campaign since – denied several delegates put up by the state party and instead selected their own slate of Alabama delegates. To do so, the Biden/Harris campaign turned to Jones, Rep. Terri Sewell and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin. 

To hear Kelley and Reed tell it, the whole thing was a sinister plot by a bunch of white dudes to undermine the Black folks of Alabama. It’s a story that might ring true if you forget that everyone involved, except Jones – the guy who prosecuted the KKK for the Birmingham church bombing – is Black. 

But the reality is much harder to take for ADP leadership. Because the reality is actions have consequences, and these are ADP’s coming home to roost. 

Reed has for years now thumbed his nose at DNC brass, bucked the status quo and did what he felt was best for him and the group of people loyal to him. I get it, and on some level, it is almost admirable to watch a guy so brazenly go against the grain and pick Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in 2008 and Michael Bloomberg over Joe Biden in 2020.

But such decisions carry political consequences. As do decisions to essentially flip the middle finger to the DNC on the whole bylaws issue, while simultaneously trying to eliminate the voting rights within the party of several minority caucuses. 

The consequences of doing such things means you don’t get the trust of the folks at the top of the ticket. And if they can’t trust you, they can’t trust your delegates. It’s really that simple. 

But never mind all of that reality. Instead, we have to get another embarrassing show from ADP. Another chance to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Another chance to call each other names and denigrate people who are pulling in the same direction. 

In the meantime, the Democratic Party in this state does not appear to be any closer to picking up meaningful offices in this state. Which is a shame, considering there are numerous issues right now in which the party holds positions that are most favorable with large numbers of Alabama voters. We could be talking about the amazing gains ADP is making among suburban women and working-class white guys and young people.  

Instead, the Alabama Democratic Party is making headlines for fighting with … other Democrats. 

It. Is. Exhausting.