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Deval Patrick Joins 2020 Presidential Race: ‘We Will Build as We Climb’ With Bare-Bones Campaign, Deval Patrick Makes a ‘Hail Mary’ Bid for 2020
(about 3 hours later)
CONCORD, N.H. — Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts officially entered the presidential race on Thursday, adding an 18th candidate and a new twist to a turbulent Democratic primary with less than three months to go before the Iowa caucuses. CONCORD, N.H. — There is almost no campaign staff or ground operation. Some volunteers mobilized on one day’s notice. The announcement video was not finished until the middle of the night, and an email with instructions for Day 1 was sent to a small inner circle at 2:48 a.m.
Mr. Patrick, who had signaled his intent earlier this week, released a video announcing his campaign early Thursday morning. He then traveled to New Hampshire, where he filed paperwork for the first-in-the-nation primary there. It may not have been pretty, but former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts began a self-acknowledged long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, filing paperwork for the primary here less than three months before the votes will be cast.
He said in the video that he was running for people who “feel left out” and want a future “not built by somebody better than you, not built for you, but built with you.” “I recognize running for president is a Hail Mary under any circumstances,” Mr. Patrick told reporters at the New Hampshire state house. “This is a Hail Mary from two stadiums over.”
“I admire and respect the candidates in the Democratic field,” Mr. Patrick said. “They bring a richness of ideas and experience and a depth of character that makes me proud to be a Democrat. But if the character of the candidates is an issue in every election, this time is about the character of the country.” Mr. Patrick’s entry comes as former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is also poised to join the field, developments that have jolted the race and highlighted the growing anxiety among some Democrats that the 18-person field is more rich in quantity than quality.
Mr. Patrick, 63, who served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, and is one of the highest-profile black leaders in the Democratic Party, also appeared on “CBS This Morning” on Thursday and offered his rationale for joining the race, after having passed on a White House bid a year ago. In different ways, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Bloomberg pose a threat to Joseph R. Biden Jr., challenging the former vice president for the moderate path to the nomination. Mr. Biden continues to lead in most national polling, but his status is less clear in early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, which has inspired restlessness among centrists desperate to thwart the progressive candidacies of Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“You can’t know if you can break through if you don’t get out there and try,” he said. All factions in the Democratic Party are united in the desire to defeat President Trump, but there remains little consensus on what ideology and strategy are best suited to accomplish that. Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders have promised policy-driven, transformational movements. Mr. Patrick positioned himself in a more traditional mold, a moderate espousing the rhetoric of unity who would reach out to Republicans.
Asked about a number of policy issues that have divided the Democratic candidates, he outlined a set of positions that, taken together, place him closer to the ideological center than the left. “I think that there is a once-in-lifetime appetite to bring solutions big enough for the challenges we face,” he said, “but more than that, we must use those solutions to heal.”
He said that he did not support “Medicare for all,” but did support a so-called public option; that he was in favor of eliminating or vastly reducing student debt but believed there were “other strategies than we’ve heard about” to do that; and that a wealth tax on the richest Americans “makes a lot of sense directionally” but that he would push for “a much, much simpler tax system for everyone.” Mr. Patrick sought to portray himself as an alternative to the leading candidates from both wings of the party. Of Mr. Biden, he said, “The instinct that his campaign seems to have, that if we just get rid of the incumbent we can go back to normal — that misses the moment.”
Mr. Patrick said Ms. Warren was running the “best” and “most disciplined” campaign of the 2020 presidential candidates, but he predicted she would struggle to get her agenda enacted if elected — and that voters were looking for an alternative.
Staking out more moderate positions, he said that he did not support “Medicare for all,” but did back a so-called public option; that he was in favor of eliminating or vastly reducing student debt but said that there were “other strategies than we’ve heard about” to do that.
He distanced himself from a wealth tax on the richest Americans, a focal point of Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders candidacies.
“I don’t think that wealth is the problem — I think greed is the problem,” he said, adding that “taxes should go up on the most prosperous and the most fortunate,” but “not as a penalty.”“I don’t think that wealth is the problem — I think greed is the problem,” he said, adding that “taxes should go up on the most prosperous and the most fortunate,” but “not as a penalty.”
In the interview, Mr. Patrick sought to draw contrasts with some of the leading candidates, indirectly taking aim at former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont by echoing critiques of their approaches that other candidates have been voicing for weeks, if not months. He also noted that Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and Senators Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey have the “right message” but have not gained traction with voters. “I have a record of delivering,” he said.
“We seem to be migrating to, on the one camp, sort of nostalgia — let’s just get rid, if you will, of the incumbent president and we can go back to doing what we used to do,” he said, an implicit shot at Mr. Biden’s call for a return to normalcy. “Or, it’s our way, our big idea, or no way,” he continued, taking up a criticism that Mr. Biden has leveled at Ms. Warren in recent days. Skeptics said their campaigns should be a warning to Mr. Patrick. Ms. Harris and Mr. Booker have not yet broken through to black voters with an Obama-esque message of unity, even after months of campaigning and several nationally televised presidential debates.
“Neither of those, it seems to me, seizes the moment to pull the nation together and bring some humility,” Mr. Patrick said. Mr. Patrick and former President Barack Obama have been political allies for more than a decade and have remained friendly. In recent weeks, Mr. Obama has told people he thinks highly of Mr. Patrick but that his entry into the race came “very late,” according to two people who have spoken with the former president. Mr. Obama sees building a strong organization, especially in Iowa, as a kind of compulsory exercise for a serious candidate, these people said.
Later, speaking with reporters at New Hampshire’s State House, he was more direct. Discussing the race with Mr. Patrick, the former president covered the same talking points he had in his conversations with other candidates who have sought his counsel, according to a person with knowledge of their interaction: Campaign outside your political base, stay true to your beliefs and keep beating Mr. Trump in front of mind.
He praised Mr. Biden, but said, “the instinct that his campaign seems to have, that if we just get rid of the incumbent we can go back to normal — that misses the moment.” “He didn’t ask for anybody’s blessing,” said Valerie Jarrett, the former senior adviser to Mr. Obama, referring to Mr. Patrick. Ms. Jarrett, who is friends with Mr. Patrick and publicly urged him to run last year, praised him as an “outstanding leader” but stopped short of offering an endorsement — taking care to note that he is entering “an already strong Democratic field.”
Mr. Patrick said he had had a “hard conversation” the previous evening with Ms. Warren, the other front-runner in the race and his longtime ally. He said she was running the “best” and “most disciplined” campaign of all the candidates but predicted she would struggle to get her agenda enacted if elected. Mr. Patrick’s entry — and his targeting of Mr. Biden — will nevertheless surely test allies of Mr. Obama, as both candidates will claim to be an extension of the former president’s legacy. Mr. Obama, a person close to him said, has spent more time offering assistance to Mr. Biden and his staff than other campaigns, but that was less as a sign of a preference for Mr. Biden’s candidacy than his desire to offer personal support for a man he views with affection.
“The business of advancing an agenda once elected is a different undertaking,” he said. Still, Mr. Patrick, who considered joining the race last winter before deciding against it, faces daunting challenges. He must hire staff, build a fund-raising operation, meet the polling and donor thresholds necessary to make presidential debates and grow his name recognition in a few short months time — at a time when impeachment is dominating the news cycle.
Mr. Patrick positioned himself as a more formidable version of several candidates who were already in the race, the rightful standard-bearer for the hope and change wing of the Democratic Party and an heir to President Barack Obama’s legacy. Mr. Patrick only began changing his mind about running in the last week, according to Democrats familiar with his thinking. At least one person close to him did not know until last weekend when Mr. Patrick had summoned some of his advisers to a meeting at the home of his longtime adviser, former Senator Mo Cowan.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., has also cast himself in this mold. Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the race’s two other black candidates, “had the right message,” Mr. Patrick said. All have struggled to wrest black voters from Mr. Biden and only Mr. Buttigieg had caught significant traction in Iowa. The former governor began piecing together his own staff, which includes a strategist who worked for Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, Abe Rakov, who will be his campaign manager, and Rosy Gonzalez Speers, a former aide, who will serve in a senior capacity.
“I have a record of delivering,” Mr. Patrick said. The bare-bones operation hastily put together his announcement video and in the early morning, just a few hours before the video would go live, Ms. Gonzalez Speers emailed a small group of her fellow Patrick alums.
He introduced himself to patrons at a New Hampshire diner and students on a college bus tour, one of whom mistook him for Mr. Booker. “I know some of you are fielding a lot of incoming from people who want to help,” she wrote, before promising that talking points were on the way and asking them to donate to the nascent campaign. “Any amount helps,” she wrote.
Mr. Patrick plans to travel to California, Nevada, Iowa and South Carolina in the coming days, according to a Democrat familiar with his plans. The electoral map provides some hope for Mr. Patrick. New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, is next door to the state he previously governed; in South Carolina, the fourth voting state, black voters are expected to make up a majority of the primary electorate.
His late entry will present Mr. Patrick with an uphill climb to the nomination. He will start with zero campaign cash, little organization and none of the polling numbers he needs to qualify for a debate. However, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders also have New England ties. And as the third black candidate in the race, Mr. Patrick will also have to prove he can cut into Mr. Biden’s sizable advantage with black voters, something Mr. Booker and Ms. Harris have not been able to accomplish even after getting to know voters over 10 months of campaigning. Conversely, Mr. Patrick begins the race with scant name identification.
Mr. Patrick said he understood the long-shot nature of a presidential candidacy announced just months before the Iowa caucuses, but he remained confident that Democrats were yearning for an additional voice. “Nobody has a lock on black voters,” said Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a state lawmaker in South Carolina. “But you need boots on the ground, some get-out-the-vote operation. So it’ll depend on what he actually puts in place.”
He waited so long to enter the race that nine other Democratic hopefuls have already come and gone, part of the biggest presidential field in modern political history. He will have much less time to work with than did Mr. Obama, a close friend, in his first presidential campaign, when he started his run 11 months before the Iowa caucuses. Mr. Patrick, 63, served two terms as Massachusetts’s first black governor, from 2007 to 2015. He grew up poor on Chicago’s South Side, went to Harvard for undergraduate studies and law school and then worked for the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
And yet, Mr. Patrick may not be the last person to enter the contest; Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, has also taken steps toward entering the Democratic primary after initially ruling it out. After leaving office in 2015, he joined Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Mitt Romney, who preceded Mr. Patrick as governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Patrick’s association with Bain has started to draw fire from some liberal critics — and from the Republican National Committee, which called him “Mr. Bain” in an email Thursday, despite the fact that Mr. Romney was the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.
The moves by both men reflect unease among some Democrats around the current state of the race and underscore the fact that no candidate has yet emerged as a dominant force. Mr. Biden has been a mainstay at or near the top of the polls but has not pulled away from leading progressives like Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, or more moderate alternatives such as Mr. Buttigieg. Mr. Patrick told The Boston Globe on Wednesday night that he had resigned from the company, effective that day. He defended the company after a question from reporters on Thursday.
Still, polls have shown that Democratic voters are mostly satisfied with their options in the field. “When I was co-chair of the Obama-Biden campaign in 2012, and there were all the attacks on Bain Capital on account of Mitt Romney,” he said, “I didn’t buy it then, and I don’t buy it now.” Mr. Patrick’s gubernatorial record will also likely come under scrutiny. As governor, he lost some progressive support for his repeated willingness to compromise, and he faced criticism that he was slow to respond to the opioid crisis.
In recent days, as Mr. Patrick has begun to disclose his plans, he has told advisers that he hopes to appeal to a wide swath of voters, bridging ideological and demographic divisions that have cleaved the party in the primary campaign. His political barriers can also not be overstated. He has missed key filing deadlines in Alabama, Arkansas and Michigan, which could cost him critical delegates even if he catches fire among voters. There are also the debate thresholds outlined by the Democratic National Committee, standards that require hundreds of thousands of grass-roots donors and polls showing some national support. He would not make next week’s debate, and qualifying for the December debate will be difficult.
Mr. Patrick grew up poor on Chicago’s South Side, went to Harvard for undergraduate studies and law school and then worked for the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund. While there, he sued Bill Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, in a voting case. He later worked for President Clinton’s Justice Department. On Thursday, he formally filed for a spot on the New Hampshire primary ballot — one day before the deadline. His campaign announced upcoming stops in California, Nevada, Iowa and South Carolina.
He then turned his career to the private sector, working as general counsel at Texaco and later taking a top position at Coca-Cola. He won the governorship in 2006 as a political outsider with grass-roots support from progressives. Yet national recognition will be a problem. A touring student who saw Mr. Patrick leave the New Hampshire State House Thursday mistook him for Mr. Booker.
After leaving office in 2015, he joined Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Mitt Romney, who preceded Mr. Patrick as governor of Massachusetts and is currently a senator representing Utah. Mr. Patrick’s association with Bain has started to draw fire from some liberal critics — and from the Republican National Committee, which called him “Mr. Bain” in an email Thursday, despite the fact that Mr. Romney was the party’s 2012 presidential nominee. Astead W. Herndon reported from Concord; Jonathan Martin from Bossier City, La.; and Matt Stevens from New York. Glenn Thrush contributed reporting from Washington.
Mr. Patrick told The Boston Globe on Wednesday night that he had resigned from the company, effective that day. He also said he had spoken with Mr. Obama on Wednesday and that the former president had offered him advice.
Abe Rakov, who recently worked for former Representative Beto O’Rourke’s now-defunct presidential campaign, will be Mr. Patrick’s campaign manager.
Last year, when deciding to forgo a presidential run, Mr. Patrick blamed what he said was the “cruelty of our elections process,” and noted that his wife, Diane, had recently been given a cancer diagnosis.
She is now healthy, and Mr. Patrick seemed to suggest in his interview with The Globe that her recovery helped open the door to a new campaign. “I wanted to run from the start,” he said.
“I recognize running for president is a Hail Mary under any circumstances,” he added. “This is a Hail Mary from two stadiums over.”
In his announcement video, he offered a hint of what he hoped would be a unifying message in the months ahead.
“We will build as we climb, to welcome other teachers and learners, other seekers of a better way and builders of a better future,” he said. “This won’t be easy, and it shouldn’t be.”
Astead W. Herndon reported from Concord, N.H., Matt Stevens from New York, and Jonathan Martin from Bossier City, La.