Stephen Handwerk, longest-serving Executive Director for the Louisiana Democratic party (2012 - 2020) and currently the Managing Partner of Garrison Strategies, met with Jan Swift of Discover Lafayette to talk about today's political climate. Taylor Marie Swift, Jan's daughter, also joined in the discussion, bringing the perspective of a young, Independent voter in Louisiana.

During Stephen's tenure at the Louisiana Democratic Party office, the state party more than quadrupled its fundraising totals and vastly expanded its operational staff. Of note, they won two Gubernatorial races with the successful election and re-election of Governor John Bel Edwards.

Stephen brings more than 20 years of experience fighting for Democratic values at the local, state, and national level, including 6 years serving as Co-Chair of the National Stonewall Democrats PAC.

He lives in Lafayette with his husband of two decades and their two Great Danes - Whiskey and Mojito.

We taped this episode a few days after the siege on the U. S. Capitol, something we never would have dreamed possible when we scheduled the interview a month prior.

Stephen Handwerk joined Discover Lafayette's Jan Swift and her daughter, Taylor Marie Swift, speaking of current political events that have shaken our nation.

During this week, President Donald J. Trump was impeached by the U. S. House of Representatives for the second time, something that has never happened in the history of the United States.

Handwerk made no bones about it; he feels that the country will not be able to heal and move on unless Trump is held accountable for his actions in inciting the siege on the U. S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day that Congress met to approve the Electoral College votes confirming the election of Joseph Biden as our next President.

Trump supporters fight security officers at the U. S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Photo by Roberto Schmidt of Getty Images

The repercussions are great as not only are some people blaming Trump for the riot, but Trump staffers are facing the prospect of not getting jobs as they move on from the current administration, and several large corporations have backed off of giving political contributions to the elected officials who opposed the Electoral College vote affirmation.

Past Democratic elections which came up short led the party to research how they could ensure it would not happen again. With COVID, Democrats couldn't go door to door speaking with voters, but Democrats reached out to get more people to register to vote and get involved.

We spoke of the razor-close race between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000 where Gore conceded quickly after he lost his challenge at the Supreme Court hearing. Additionally,Handwerk recalled the gracious concession speeches made by statesmen such as John McCain and Mitt Romney when they lost their Presidential races, "calling to our better angels and holding people accountable for a world where we can look for ways to agree on 'what we agree on.'"

The national Democratic Party has a well-defined platform that helps the average working man and woman: adopting a $15 minimum wage by 2026, addressing climate change, fighting the COVID pandemic, and other issues that impact the day to day lives of the average citizen. In contrast, the national Republican Party did not adopt a national platform in 2020 but fell back upon principles of the 2016 Platform.

Demographics in Louisiana have shifted in voting tendencies in the past few years. While Democrats used to represent the majority of registered voters in Louisiana, they have slipped a bit. Today,