Peter Corroon's "A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: 50-STATE STRATEGY/ 29-COUNTY STRATEGY"

A Guest Take On How Democrats Should Court Voters in 2026 By Howard Dean's Cousin, Plus DOGE Cut Updates (Happy Easter & Passover Everyone!)

A Quick DOGE Cuts List:

AmeriCorps disaster worker layoffs

Wildland firefighters laid off

More OSHA workers fired

Medicare offices for the elderly, minorities, and those on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program gutted

Black lung disease & mine safety protections for coal miners repealed

Low-income housing inspection contracts terminated by DOGE

The National Firefighter Cancer Registry established by Trump 1.0 shut down by Trump 2.0

North Carolina flood recovery efforts stalled due to DOGE interference

Funding to NASA’s Mars expedition slashed

Funding for youth & reading services carved out from states like Michigan

Even state humanity councils funding for America’s 250th Anniversary cut

And even cuts to programs that assist teens with disabilities (people like myself)

And a toast to the first guest post of The Political Pulse & The Salzillo Report on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn; brought to you by an Autistic blogger-so much for RFK Jr.’s doomsday predictions.

The Great Salt Lake in Utah

As the former Salt Lake County Mayor, the former Utah Democratic Party Chair, and cousin to Howard Dean (former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee Chair), I am a believer in the political “long-game”. You don’t win over people’s hearts and minds overnight, you win them over time by showing you care year in and year out. You have to invest over years to see political success, not just one political cycle.

I saw this strategy play out on the federal and state levels during my political career.

On the federal level, Howard Dean served as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair from 2005-2009. Dean had his 50-State Strategy. Dean believed that the DNC should put resources in heavily Republican states knowing that Democrats had little chance of winning federal races in those states. However, he knew that left-leaning candidates could still win local races and that if you put resources into Republican states, it would help down-ballot state and municipal candidates win more elections over time. 

Eventually, as Democratic state or municipal officials became known in their communities, they could win higher offices. Those city council members or city mayors would become state representatives and future congressional or statewide candidates. By the end of Dean’s term as DNC Chair, Obama was elected President and Democrats controlled both the House and Senate by wide margins.

The Republicans eventually took back federal government control by also playing the long game. Led by former Republican National Committee Chair Ed Gillespie and Utah’s own Karl Rove, the Republicans created the Redistricting Majority Project in 2008. In 2010, they used negative ads against Democratic candidates in over 100 state legislative races. They won many of them. 

Then in 2011, when it was time to redistrict congressional maps, the Republican-led state legislatures used sophisticated mapping technology to gerrymander many congressional districts. The results worked in the 2012 elections when although Democratic congressional candidates obtained 1.4 million more votes nationwide, Republicans retained a strong majority in Congress. Since Congressional maps are only redrawn every 10 years after the census, the Republicans were able to lock in these Congressional maps for a decade.

As the Utah Democratic Party Chair from 2014-2017, I supported a 29-County plan for Utah’s 29 counties. Knowing we would not win many rural state races, we still spent time in each of the 29 counties and provided resources and training. Our goal was to never give up. Democrats needed to visit Republican areas and define who we were and what we believed in. Otherwise, our political opponents would tell citizens who they believed we were. And it would not be flattering! I always believed that most Utahns were Democrats, they just didn’t know it yet! We had to travel the state and talk about our plans for good education, a strong healthcare system for all, good jobs and supporting local businesses. Which is what Utahns support.

Of course, the long-term 50-state/29-county strategies are easier in concept than in practice.  Political parties work on limited funds and limited personnel. We rely on donors and volunteers.  People want to support winners and don’t want to put money into areas that have little chance of success. Some argued that if we spent money in heavily Republican areas, we would lose close races in other areas.   

So, should Democrats play the short-game or the long-game?

At the end of the day, Democrats need both a short-term strategy and long-term plan to win in Republican districts. We cannot abandon Republican-leaning districts and states.  We must chip away at them year after year after year.