As had been hinted strongly along the party grapevine, the Shelby County Democratic Party named Gabby Salinas its new chair in a Zoom convention on Saturday. Considering that Salinas’ declared rival, former chairman Corey Strong, had conceded before a vote could be held, there was a strong sense of anti-climax to the outcome.
The number of voting participants — comprised of members of the party’s two previously elected bodies, a Grass Roots Council and an executive committee — was announced as 123, and, even as the roll was being called, it was obvious that there was an unusual number of new names among them — many of them reportedly involved by Salinas.
That could be taken as a good omen, and it underscored the organizational skills of the young Bolivian-born cancer survivor, who was treated as a child at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and where now she is a researcher in her own right. As Salinas alluded at one point along the convention format, she had raised formidable amounts of cash — and support — in two strong but losing legislative races.
A factor that didn’t get overt mention during the convention itself nor during the run-up to it, but which may be highly relevant to the SCDP future, is the fact that Salinas’ roots in the Latinx community correlate with census figures showing that group to have the greatest population advances over the past decade, locally as well as nationally. It was clear, too, that her appeal to her fellow Democrats was high among all ethnic groups.
Salinas’ victory, it should be noted, was not over a slouch. Strong had been deemed a strong candidate himself, but he had clearly read the tea leaves, and, though early in the proceedings he had participated in a Q&A forum component moderated by party veteran TaJuan Stout-Mitchell, he would seem in retrospect to have decided, perhaps before the convention even began, to concede to the prevailing mood.
Outgoing party chair Michael Harris touted several of what he considered triumphs during his own two-year tenure — not least of which was a treasury surplus of some $30,000.
On a technical note, those who tuned in to the meeting electronically can boast of having heard what it sounds like when hundreds of voices recite an oath of allegiance all at once. Even in such a melange, specific strong voices can be heard coming through. And there was, one could imagine, an unusual resonance to what the throng sounded like on Saturday.
