Former Democratic Nationwide Committee chair Jaime Harrison is stepping again into the political enviornment with a brand new podcast as he — and his get together — look to bounce again from shedding the White Home final yr.
In a wide-ranging dialog with NBC Information forward of the launch of the podcast, Harrison framed himself as unshackled from the “straitjacket” of the sensitivities of main the nationwide get together and argued that a method Democrats can rebuild belief with Individuals is by embracing their extra genuine selves.
“We want extra voices which might be anchored within the Democratic Get together, as a result of a number of the podcasts which might be on the market are extra typically criticizing the Democratic Get together as a substitute of actually selling the property and the leaders that we’ve got,” he stated.
The early episodes of “At Our Desk” function interviews with three well-known get together leaders: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn. However the roster of Harrison’s first visitors additionally consists of Hunter Biden — the son of President Joe Biden whose enterprise dealings, drug dependancy and authorized woes have been a part of the political assaults on the previous president. The then-president’s choice to pardon his son after he was discovered responsible on three felony gun prices additionally drew condemnation throughout the political spectrum.
Requested why he wished to interview Biden, who many Democrats noticed as a political vulnerability for the then-president and his get together, Harrison informed NBC Information that he wished to push again on the “caricature” of the ex-president’s son. The episode will come out subsequent week.
“Once I have a look at Hunter and the conversations I’ve had with him over the past 4 years, this man is admittedly vibrant, he’s good, he’s very passionate concerning the issues about service and serving to individuals,” Harrison stated. “However you understand, I solely received an opportunity to see it due to my interactions with him. If you ask most individuals, they don’t have any clue. All they know is what [Georgia GOP Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Inexperienced would say about Hunter or or what both his political allies or his political opponents would say.”
“He’s been made into most likely one of many largest caricatures in politics as we speak,” Harrison continued. “And I believed it’d be attention-grabbing for people to get an actual understanding of who Hunter Biden is, or what makes him tick.”
Whereas Harrison stated he was happy with his work main the nationwide get together, he hopes that he can be “a good higher post-chair than I used to be chair.”
“When President Carter handed away, you do numerous reflecting, and the one factor that I realized from his years is that I feel he noticed himself as a greater post-president than he was a president,” he stated.
“And as I mirror on my time as chair, I hope I will be a good higher post-chair than I used to be chair, and to actually do the issues that I am very enthusiastic about, which is to see a reemergence of a brand new South, to see the Democratic Get together reinstitute its foothold within the southern states,” Harrison continued.
A technique Harrison plans to work towards that purpose is thru jumpstarting the efforts of his Dust Street Democrats PAC, his political group that also retains the fundraising record that powered his 2020 Senate bid, which set fundraising data on the time.
Loyalty to Biden
The choice to host Hunter Biden on one in every of his inaugural podcast episodes speaks to the loyalty Harrison continues to indicate towards the previous president. In an excerpt from Hunter Biden’s interview, he tells Harrison that Democrats “misplaced the [2024] election as a result of we didn’t stay loyal to the chief of the get together.”
Requested whether or not he agreed with Biden’s son, Harrison criticized Democrats for being so fast to kick the then-president to the curb after his broadly panned debate efficiency final June, evaluating them to how Republicans continued to rally round President Donald Trump even when he was convicted on felony prices.
“If the waters get a bit of uneven a number of the people in our get together are the quickest to desert ship, get off in a rush after which torch the rattling ship once they get off,” Harrison stated.
“To not say that it’s at all times the suitable factor that Republicans have accomplished however generally Democrats want to take a seat again and pause and take into consideration the long-term ramifications of that early abandonment as a result of I can let you know, it didn’t sit properly with the bottom of the get together, significantly Black voters,” Harrison continued. “I bear in mind a rally in Georgia proper after the talk and folks have been pissed off. These are middle-aged, older Black women and men who have been so upset the get together was nearly shivving Joe Biden, stabbing him within the again.”
Harrison didn’t instantly say whether or not he agreed with Hunter Biden that Democrats misplaced “as a result of” of the shortage of loyalty to Biden. However as he repeatedly praised former Vice President Kamala Harris each as a candidate (evaluating her to basketball megastar Michael Jordan) and a loyal vice chairman, he additionally gave a passionate protection of Biden’s legacy amid the choice by many high Democrats to name for him to step apart.
“We noticed most likely the best legislative president we had since LBJ, and that’s simply objectively talking,” Harrison stated, including that Biden was extra targeted on “rebuilding the Democratic Get together” than any president in a “very long time.”
He added: “There was a motive that we would have liked to be loyal to the president. Certain, was he previous? Hell yeah, he was previous, and he knew he was previous like all of us knew he was previous. However you don’t elect a president as a result of they’re younger or they appear good in a go well with or what have you ever. You have chose them to get shit accomplished.”
The state of the get together
Harrison is among the many Democratic politicians who’ve began podcasts within the wake of the 2024 election, at a time when the get together’s picture has dropped to a historic low and when Democrats have lamented their get together’s incapacity to achieve traction within the podcast sphere, significantly younger males.
Harrison informed NBC Information that he believes the get together wants extra voices in new media areas “anchored within the Democratic Get together as a result of a number of the podcasts which might be on the market are extra typically criticizing the Democratic Get together as a substitute of actually selling the property and the leaders we’ve got.”
However he additionally admitted that the Democratic Get together will be overly reliant on “speaking factors that are not grounded in any emotion,” a technique that may result in voters feeling disconnected from them.
He linked that dialogue to his “frustration” with Harris’ marketing campaign’s media technique, framing the choice to not have her sit for extra interviews within the early weeks of her presidential candidacy as “political malpractice” and lamenting the choice to place “handcuffs” on Walz after he joined the ticket.
“We’re so afraid of our shadows generally in our get together that we lose that, we get into our personal heads, we get so tutorial and cerebral,” Harrison stated, arguing Democrats ought to attempt to stage with voters and be “actual.”
“That makes you extra relatable in areas that you could be not have been relatable to, proper? As a result of individuals see a facet of you that they usually do not get a possibility to see. They see your ardour, they see the issues that provide you with pleasure, they see the issues that frustrate you. And that is actually necessary, that you just aren’t just a few caricature.”
