Coalesce support behind Heath Howard’s campaign
Sarah Chadzynski recently argued that Democratic voters looking for an alternative to the party establishment should begin consolidating behind a single candidate. She is right.
The question is: behind whom?
Public polling is imperfect, but at this stage it’s the only objective measure available to compare electoral strength. If the time’s come to consolidate, then polling necessarily matters.
Those numbers tell a clear story. Heath Howard has consistently separated himself from the rest of the anti-establishment field, joining Stefany Shaheen and Maura Sullivan as the only candidates to demonstrate measurable support outside the margin of error.
Meanwhile, Christian Urrutia has spent nearly $1 million without sustaining that support, and Chadzynski herself has consistently remained at the back of the field. Carleigh Beriont deserves credit for building a genuine volunteer organization, but that has yet to translate into comparable public polling.
Howard’s position is even more striking because he’s achieved it with only a fraction of the financial resources available to his competitors.
Candidates are free to remain in the race for any reason. But if consolidation is truly the goal, it should occur around the candidate with the strongest evidence of viability.
By Chadzynski’s own reasoning, that candidate is Heath Howard. If she believes the anti-establishment lane should unite behind a single campaign, the most consistent course would be to step aside and endorse him.