My Choices To Answer the Call.

Today I’ve been writing about the window we have before the new Congress gets sworn in.

I’ve written about how the leaders get picked in back rooms, weeks before anybody raises a hand to take the oath. And I’ve said that we, the people, have a right to make our case before those doors close. Today I’m going to do more than talk about it. I’m going to name names.

I’ve thought hard about this, and I’ve done my homework. I looked at the polls, the records and the people who are already in those rooms. I didn’t pick the loudest voices or the famous faces from the cable shows. I picked two people who, as far as I can tell, have shown the thing this moment needs most. They’ve shown they’ll stand up when it counts.

For the House, my name is Jamie Raskin of Maryland. For the Senate, my name is Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Those are my candidates. I want to tell you why, and then I want to ask you to do something about it.

let me be honest with you. Neither of these men has said he’s running for leader. As far as I know, neither has asked for the job. So this isn’t me telling you what’s already happening. It’s me telling you what I think ought to happen, and asking them to step up.

There’s an old word for that. It’s called a draft. The people pick the name, and the person answers the call. It has happened before in this country, more than once. When enough folks say a name loud enough and long enough, the man hears it. And when he hears it as the voice of the people, and not as one writer’s opinion, saying no gets a lot harder.

Let me start with the House and with Jamie Raskin.

Raskin is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. That’s the committee that deals with the law, the courts and the Constitution. It’s the place where hard questions get asked under oath. If the Democrats hold the House, he’s in line to chair it. Folks who follow these things have said the House Democrats put their trust in him when it comes to presidential power and the rule of law.

He was on the committee that looked into what happened on January sixth. He sat through the hearings, he asked the questions, and he didn’t flinch. He saw firsthand what happens when nobody is held to account. I think a man who has seen that up close understands why accountability isn’t something you set on a back shelf.

Here’s something else I like about him. A couple of years ago, he looked at the way things had always been done and decided it wasn’t good enough. In that building, seniority usually decides who sits in the big chair. The man who has been there longest gets the gavel, and that’s that. Raskin stood up anyway and went after the top Democratic seat on Judiciary. He got it.

That tells me something about the man. He doesn’t just wait his turn and hope. He’s willing to break an old habit when the old habit isn’t serving the people. That’s exactly what I’ve been asking for all week. The habit of slow, the habit of waiting and the habit of letting the next man in line move up just because he’s next.

Now, some folks will tell me Raskin is more valuable right where he sits. If he chairs Judiciary, he can run the hearings, issue the subpoenas and put people under oath. That’s a fair point, and I’ve thought about it. A strong committee chair can do a lot of good. But a committee chair can’t control what comes to the floor. The Speaker does that. Hearings that lead nowhere are just talk with good lighting.

I’d rather have a man who believes in accountability holding the gavel for the whole House. Then the hearings aren’t a side show. They become the main business of the place. If he chooses to stay where he is, I’ll respect that, but I want him to hear that the people asked.

Now let me turn to the Senate and to Chris Murphy.

Murphy has served Connecticut in the Senate for more than a decade. That matters, because the Senate is a place that cares about time served. A newcomer, no matter how talented, has a hard road to the top job over there. Murphy has the years. He knows the rules and the people. He knows where the votes are and how to count them.

But years alone don’t make a leader. Plenty of men have served a long time and never once stood up when it mattered. What sets Murphy apart is what he’s done with his time lately. He’s part of a group of senators who call themselves a fight club. They’ve pushed their own leadership to take a harder line, to fight instead of fold and to stop giving ground for nothing.

Here’s something I noticed, and you may have noticed it too. Earlier this year he went on one of the big Sunday news shows. The host asked him straight out whether he’d vote to keep the current Senate leader in his job. She asked him three times. Three times, he didn’t say yes. The host even pointed it out on the air. That’s not a yes, she told him.

Now, I’ll be fair about that. Not saying yes isn’t the same as saying no. He was careful. He talked about keeping the party united before the election, and that’s a reasonable thing for a senator to say. But I’ve lived long enough to know that when a man won’t say yes three times in a row on national television, he’s telling you something without saying it.

There have also been reports that he’s been in the room where the hard conversations happen. He’s been counting heads and asking whether the votes are there for a change. A man who’s counting votes is a man who’s thinking about it. I’m asking him to stop thinking and start moving.

Now let me tell you why I didn’t pick a few other names you might have expected.

There’s a well-known senator from California who’s done fine work holding people to account in his time. But he’s only been in the Senate a short while. Senators almost never hand the top job to someone so new. He also has an investigation hanging over him from the other side. Reports say prosecutors haven’t found enough to charge him, and he denies any wrongdoing. But his opponents would use it every single day. I think he’s more useful right where he is, asking the hard questions from his seat.

There’s another senator, also named Chris, from Maryland, whose name has come up a good deal. Some of the new senators coming in have named him as their choice. He’s a good man with a solid record. If the people rally behind him instead, I won’t fight it. What matters most is that the people pick, and that we don’t split our voices so badly that nothing changes at all.

I most want you to understand. The polls I looked at tell a clear story about the Senate. Most Democratic voters have said, again and again, that they want new leadership there. That isn’t my opinion. It’s what the numbers show, poll after poll. The people have already said “not him.” What nobody has done is ask the people “then who.” So I’m asking. And I’m giving you my answer to get the conversation started.

The House is different, and I’ll be honest about that too. The numbers for the current House leader are better than the numbers for the Senate leader. A lot of Democratic voters still think well of him. A lot of others say they don’t know much about him at all. My own opinion is that he’s too soft for this moment, and his talk of taking it slow this week didn’t change my mind. But I want you to know the polls are mixed there, so you can weigh it for yourself.

Now, what do I want you to do?

Here’s the most important thing to remember. You and I don’t vote for party leaders. Our members do. Your own congressman and your own senators are the ones who walk into those private rooms and cast those votes. And they vote by secret ballot, so nobody outside has to know which way they went. That makes it all the more important that they hear from you before they walk in.

So write to them. Keep it short and keep it respectful. Tell them you’d like to see Jamie Raskin lead the House and Chris Murphy lead the Senate. Or name the people you’d choose, if you see it differently than I do. Tell them why in a sentence or two. Then ask them a fair question: who will you support, and why? Ask them to answer you in writing.

Then write to Raskin and Murphy themselves. Tell them the people are calling their names. Tell them you’re asking them to step forward. A man who never hears that he’s wanted will never know the door is open. Let’s make sure they know.

Share this, or say it in your own words, whichever you’re more comfortable with. One letter is a voice. A thousand letters is a chorus. Ten thousand is a draft. That’s how this works. It always has.

And if they say no? Then they say no, and we’ll respect it. But at least we asked. At least we did more than sit at home and grumble at the television. At least we made our case in the open, with our names attached, the way free people are supposed to.

I’m not asking for the moon here. I’m asking for leaders who will put accountability on the calendar and in writing, with dates attached. I’m asking for leaders who will tell us who they’re meeting with and who’s calling them. I’m asking for leaders who will listen to the people who sent them, and not just the people who pay for the ads. I believe these two men can be those leaders. I’d like to see them try.

So here it is, plain as I can say it. Jamie Raskin for the House. Chris Murphy for the Senate.

Gentlemen, the people are calling. Answer the call.

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This post was drafted with AI governed assistance and reviewed and directed by Michael S. Faust Sr. before publication.

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