DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison made Little Rock his first stop on a tour of southern states. Brian Chilson

In a state where Democrats are often the underdogs, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison offered a shot of energy and a message of hope. Harrison kicked off a tour in Little Rock Wednesday, with plans to travel across the South to rally enthusiasm amid the primaries. Harrison said he wants to highlight the solutions Democrats have to offer to Southern and rural voters.

A Southern Christian himself, Harrison emphasized coupling faith with action, and rallying good folks to fight political apathy with work and engagement. Harrison said he’s looking to highlight progressive mayors in the South as examples of how forward-thinking local officials can change lives for the better. 

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Harrison started his Little Rock visit podcasting with political consultant and former state Rep. Charles Blake and Little Rock City Director Antwan Phillips for an episode of “Rock the Culture” before taking some questions. 

What are you doing here in Arkansas? 

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Well, this is part of what I call my New South Tour. Arkansas, just like my home state of South Carolina, is on the cusp. We have seen the emergence of these great strong mayors in rural and urban communities, and I think they are building the bedrock for new leadership in the states. Coupled with that, there’s going to be a very important governor’s race here in Arkansas this year. I often say that the New South is a community that’s bold, it’s inclusive and diverse, and that’s a great description of Arkansas. And what you’re starting to see, just coming off of the plane and touring around in Little Rock, you see what good leadership can do, you see the investments, you see the modifications, you see the change. I believe that the Democratic candidate, whomever that nominee will be for governor, is going to bring that same type of vision for all of Arkansas.

Why the focus on mayors?

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One of the things that’s really important for me at the DNC is to spend as much time as I can with our mayors, because I really do think our mayors are the bench of the party and the heart of the party. I mean, for four years under Donald Trump, and particularly in the Southern states, you’ve had these Republican governors who have been playing more politics than they have been working to actually deliver for the people. It’s been these mayors that have really held things together, making sure that safety is first and foremost, making sure that services continue even when politicians have been playing politics with the dollars. And so I want to spend much more time with our mayors.

The threat to abortion rights is top of mind for a lot of voters. Can you give us a national view of what this means for Democratic campaigns?

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I just spoke to a group of chairs and vice chairs from state parties across the country last week, we were all gathered together in Seattle. I’ve been thinking long and hard about the leaked Roe opinion, but also about things like the banning of books, the voter suppression laws that we’re seeing that are coming up all across the country, the attempts to go after senior programs like Medicare and Social Security. And I told the folks, listen, the greatest threat to democracy, particularly American democracy, isn’t the Republican Party. It’s political apathy. Dr. King, in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” said, We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” And we know through our history, it’s easy to take away the rights of small minority groups, and it becomes a slippery slope. 

So what Roe represents is, you know, it’s huge in terms of the rights of women to control their own bodies. But it’s also huge when we allow, in America, for people to pick and choose who can vote and who can’t. In America, when we pick and choose which book is good and which one is not. These are things all contrary to what America is. We are the shining city on the hill. We are the democracy that many other democracies across the world tried to model, and what we are seeing from the Republican Party is something that I’ve never seen in my lifetime. This party, the party of Ronald Reagan, of the guy who said 35 years ago, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” The guy who was the last Republican president is basically saying, “Mr. Putin, you go ahead, rebuild it.” 

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We’ve got to be cognizant of this and understand that this is a very slippery slope. If we allow women’s rights to be chipped away today, what’s the next step? Do they come after contraceptives? Do they go back at marriage equality? Do they even go back to Brown v. Board? It is a very slippery slope. 

For Democrats in the South who are struggling in the face of mudslinging and negativity, what would be your advice?

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“It’s about hope. In South Carolina our state motto is, “While I breathe, I hope.” I’m a Christian, that’s my faith. One of the things I understand is that hope is not enough, faith is not enough. You know, the good book says, “Faith without works is dead.” And so there’s something that we can do to bring hope back to our communities, because for four years, our communities were devoid of hope. There was a lot of fear, there was a lot of division. But Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and some other Democrats have been able to chip away at that and bring some hope back. I mean, think about this, for the first time in this country’s history, we are about to have an African American woman sit on the Supreme Court. And in those hearings, the forces of division and hatred all tried to tear her down. As my grandma said, “They tried to call her everything but a child of God.” But guess what, in just a few weeks, they’re going to be calling her Madame Justice. Right? And that is hope, formulated into action because 80 million people stepped out and went to vote. So as I’ve told the folks in the Democratic Party, the next few months, our motto is not “While I breathe, I hope,” it’s “While I breathe, I vote.”