Superdelegate and former South Dakota U.S. Senator Tom Daschle once again attending Democratic National Convention
Tom Daschle ran his last race for public office two decades ago, but politics is still a major part of his life.
That’s why Daschle (seen above in a public domain 2013 photo posted on wikimedia commons) will be in Chicago this week for the 2024 Democratic National Convention. He hasn’t missed one since 1980, when he was a first-term congressman representing South Dakota’s 1st Congressional District.
“I attended my first convention in 1980,” Daschle said in an email exchange with The South Dakota Standard. “I have attended all of them since except for 2020, when our convention was virtual due to Covid.”
He has been a key figure at several Democratic gatherings.
“I have spoken at several conventions when I was in the Senate and once afterward in 2008,” he said.
Daschle said he was “very flattered” when Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen asked him to deliver a second to his acceptance speech for the 1988 vice presidential nomination.
“The last thing we need in the prairie is another dried-up old Bush,” he said in his address to the delegates. “We need change. We need Michael Dukakis. And we need Lloyd Bentsen.”
He said Bentsen stood with the common people and his goals matched theirs.
“He is the son of our heritage,” Daschle said. “He is our friend.”
Dukakis and Bentsen left the convention with a 17-point lead in the polls, but Vice President George H.W. Bush and his running mate, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, rallied Republican voters. Dukakis stumbled and fumbled through the fall, erasing his advantage.
Democrats hope to run a more effective campaign this year. They will surely keep their nominee, Kamala Harris, out of tanks.
Daschle said he has enjoyed meeting with his fellow Democrats.
“All of the conventions I attended were very joyous occasions, although I cut my time short in Boston in 2004 due to my own re-election that year,” he said.
That’s the year he was targeted by the George W. Bush administration — the son of the man Daschle mocked in 1988 ended up winning two terms as president. Republicans ignored traditions to not campaign against congressional leaders, and Daschle, the Senate majority leader, was in for a high-profile contest to remain in the Senate.
He lost a close, hard-fought contest two decades ago to former Congressman John Thune, who has gone on to do what George McGovern, Daschle and Larry Pressler failed to do — win a fourth term, ending the mythical “Curse of Karl,” since only longtime Republican politician Karl Mundt had been elected to four Senate terms representing South Dakota.
Four years later, Daschle spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, drawing a warm round of applause. The man elected to Congress shortly before turning 31 in 1978 had matured into the role of an elder statesman.
Daschle, 76, said he will be busy in Chicago doing more than listening to speeches and attending party events.
“I chair the National Democratic Institute. It was created by Congress 40 years ago to promote democracy abroad,” he said. “We are in 57 countries with 1,300 people. We host an International Leaders Forum in conjunction with the convention every four years. This year we expect nearly 300 foreign dignitaries from over 50 countries.”
There has been a change in his status. He and his wife Linda Hall Daschle have relocated and he will not be part of the South Dakota delegation.
“This year I am still a superdelegate from South Carolina, since that has now been our official residence for a few years,” Daschle said.
He also has duties away from the convention floor.
“As the chair of the National Democratic Institute, I am also the Chair of the International Leaders Forum which is held in association with the convention,” Daschle said. “This year we expect nearly 300 foreign dignitaries from over 50 countries.”
Daschle said he respects President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign.
Biden announced in July that he would not be the Democratic presidential candidate this year. In a televised address to the nation, Biden, who had been under a great deal of pressure to withdraw after a poor performance in a June 27 debate, said he stepped aside for the good of the nation.
“I revere this office, but I love my country more. The defense of democracy is more important than any title,” said Biden, who will turn 82 in November. “I draw strength and find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures. It’s about ‘We the People.’”
Daschle and Biden have known each other for a long time, Daschle said.
“Joe is a friend of over 40 years. We traveled the world together on congressional delegation trips (CODELS),” he said. “I worked closely with him when he served as chair of both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees. He was always very supportive of my leadership even though he supported someone else initially when I ran for leader the first time.”
That was in 1994, when Daschle edged Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd by a single vote to become the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
He said Biden has carved out an impressive legacy.
“He has accomplished a great deal as president and will be treated very kindly in history,” Daschle said. “He lived up to his promise to be a ‘bridge’ to a newer generation of political leadership. I can only imagine how difficult a decision it must have been to terminate his candidacy for a second term.”
Daschle is less familiar with Vice President Harris, who will accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday.
“I don’t know her well but have crossed paths a few times,” he said. “Very enthusiastic!”
That energy is exciting millions of voters, who are thrilled with Harris in her first few days as the party’s choice to take on former President Donald Trump. The election will likely come down to seven swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — and Harris is now either leading, tied or competitive in all of them.
Democrats, once despairing that Trump would return to the White House, are now increasingly optimistic that they will defeat him again and possibly end his grip on the GOP. However, he is all but certain to win South Dakota for a third time.
The state that elected George McGovern, James Abourezk, Tom Daschle, Tim Johnson and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has become one of the reddest on the political map. It wasn’t that way a half a century ago when Daschle’s political career was launched.
Daschle is an Aberdeen native. He graduated from Aberdeen Central High School, then attended South Dakota State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. While working as an intelligence officer in the Air Force Strategic Air Command, he volunteered for McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign.
After leaving the Air Force, Daschle worked as an aide to Abourezk, a fiery Democrat who served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives and one term in the Senate.
Daschle made his first bid for office in 1978, defeating Republican and former Vietnam prisoner of war Leo Thorsness by 139 votes. Daschle served four terms in the House before setting his sights on the Senate. In 1986, he defeated Sen. James Abdnor, a mild-mannered conservative Republican who had knocked off McGovern in 1980.
Daschle won two more Senate terms and rose to lead Democrats in the Senate for a decade, serving as both majority and minority leader. He served as Senate minority leader from 1995 to 2001 and from 2003-05, and as the majority leader from 2001-03.
After his 2004 loss, Daschle never sought public office again. He considered seeking the Democratic nomination for president in both 2004 and 2008 but both times chose not to enter the race.
In his farewell speech on the Senate floor, Daschle urged his colleagues to strive to work together.
“If I could leave this body with one wish, it would be that we never give up that search for common ground,” he said. “The politics of common ground will not be found on the far right or on the far left. That is not where most Americans live. We will only find it in the firm middle ground of common sense and shared values.”
In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama, who has listened and learned from Daschle over the years, hired several of Daschle’s staff members after the South Dakotan’s loss in 2004.
Obama nominated him to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services. After questions were raised about his use of a car and driver, and fees he had earned as a consultant, Daschle paid $140,167 in back taxes.
When that did not end the uproar, he withdrew his name from consideration, although he continued to advise Obama during his presidency.
Daschle has worked as a “special policy advisor,” a consultant and finally as a lobbyist. He leads The Daschle Group, a Public Policy Advisory of Baker Donelson, a prominent law firm and lobbying group.
Daschle also has authored books, including “Like No Other Time: The 107th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever,” written op-eds and served on several governing and advisory boards, including the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and the LBJ Foundation, the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Council of Foreign Relations and other organizations.
In 2007, he joined with former Majority Leaders George Mitchell, a Democrat, and Republicans Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on pressing public policy challenges.
He also serves on the advisory board for Northern Swan Holdings Inc., which describes itself as “multinational operator in the federally legal cannabis industry with an emphasis on sustainable, low-cost, large-scale cultivation.”
Daschle endorsed a 2020 South Dakota ballot measure calling for legal cannabis for recreational use.
While he never returned to live or work in South Dakota after his 2004 defeat, he has been a frequent visitor. He has remained in contact with the South Dakota Democratic Party, endorsing its candidates and supporting its efforts.
Daschle will join with the South Dakota delegation this week as Democrats strive to appear unified in their goal to win this election. It’s politics at its highest form, and Tom Daschle is back in the game once again.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Republish with permission.
