Documenting the Difficulties of Modern Campaigning (Knock Down the House Review)

The 2018 midterm elections were not only successful for Democrats but also a powerful statement against President Donald Trump and the status quo in Washington DC which frustrated people into voting for him in the first place.

Many women and people of color ran for office and their victories gave Democrats the House that year. Beyond increased race and gender diversity in people who ran for federal office, there was also a notable change in ideological diversity.

Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee (PAC) and caucus started by leaders from Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and online political commentators, and Netflix helped document how a new generation of leftists fought to have a voice in Congress.

Poster of the Knock Down the House documentary courtesy of IMDB.

The documentary follows the stories of four women who were motivated to unseat Democrats whom they viewed as a DC swamp who favored the interests of large corporations over the everyday people who live in their districts. As an audience, we learn about the difficulties that not only women but people with regular jobs face when wanting to seek office. The halls of power are less attainable given the gender dynamics, lack of media coverage, and fundraiser hurdles that they have to push through.

Being able to see these campaigns is an important lesson in civics and political communication. Young people today are organizing in large numbers and their growing frustrations are motivating some of them to run for office. Knock Down the House shows what grassroots relations and legal processes you have to go through when campaigning. With the candidates the documentary highlights we can see the charisma and gravitas it takes to build a coalition and bring people into a movement.

The most famous progressive figure to come out of the 2018 midterm elections was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running for New York’s 14th congressional district. Of the four campaigns we were shown, she was the only person who won her primary. Her victory was impressive because she took on Joe Crowley, who was the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and she is now seen as the successor to Senator Sanders as the leader of the progressive movement in America.

Ocasio-Cortez was born into a low-income income Puerto Rican family who left New York City to move to Yorktown so that she could receive a better education. Her mother was a housecleaner and her father died from lung cancer. After studying international relations at Boston University she moved back to the city and after struggling to find employment she became a bartender. She had also worked as an activist and political aid at a non-profit but this was not enough to keep up with family expenses.

Voters do not always have time to research the niches of public policy positions but in light of this, they value a person’s personal story and lived experience when considering to support someone.

AOC’s story made her seem more relatable to voters than Joe Crowley who was only seen in his district during election time and lived in Virginia. Beyond having a story that more people could relate to, she made sure to use her lived life experience to explain why she fights for progressive policy changes.

She supports abolishing ICE because she works with undocumented people at her bar. AOC believes in Medicare for All because she thinks it could have saved her father’s life and her family from financial ruin when paying for his treatment.

The young congresswoman’s campaign also demonstrates that no platform is too small when running for a seat in the House of Representatives.

She held town halls in apartment units and attended “debates” where Crowley could only send a surrogate but AOC never backed down from these events because any spotlight can be used to bring people over to your camp.

Even though you might be the one running for Congress, people do not only care about your brands but also the brands you choose to associate with. Ocasio-Cortez was seen marching with Pan-African groups, Latino advocacy groups, and at a pride parade. Speaking at these events allows you to bring existing blocs into your political coalition. She might not have a direct tie with all of these groups but visibly supporting their causes will make you more credible to them. This also leads to more endorsements that you can put on your mailers and posters.

Even though AOC was the only candidate who won in this documentary, this does not mean that we have nothing to learn from the other three women who ran.

Cori Bush is a registered nurse and pastor who was seeking the Democratic nomination for Missouri’s first congressional district and trying to oust 20-year incumbent Lacy Clay. She ran a powerful campaign but her main flaw in my opinion was that she told people who to vote against but nothing to vote for.

Ousting an incumbent is not enough of a reason for many to come out and cast their ballot. One of Bush’s motivating factors for running was the outrage her community felt after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. It is hard to keep the fire alive behind an activist call for over four years and she did not clearly outline how she would prevent future incidents like these from happening again.

Knock Down the House came out in 2019 and was not able to capture her 2020 run for Congress but this was successful. Bush is now a member of the “Squad” a coalition of progressive members in the House.

Paula Jean Swearengin was the only woman who ran against a member of the Senate in Joe Manchin. The main reason behind launching her campaign was feeling like West Virginia was left behind by Washington and being taken advantage of by the coal industry.

The Rust Belt state is known for being conservative but she proved that a progressive could get noticed here. Swearengin did lose in the primary but obtained over a third of the vote. She chose against running as an independent in the general because of the fear of Republicans winning and her political career being over as a result. The progressive knew when to concede and used her campaign as a statement to warrant meeting with Senator Manchin and having her voice heard.

In the end, this Netflix documentary is an inspiration to many young progressives thinking about running for office or restoring their faith in grassroots organizing. Hopefully, more streaming services will be inclined to document races at different levels of government to show that change can be made at the local level too but showing the drama behind federal races is a great way to start bringing people in.