OBSERVER Photo Basil A. Smikle Jr., state Democratic Party executive director, stands with Norm Green, right in this 2017 photo.

It is not about the politics, it is about the policies. That’s the message Basil A. Smikle Jr. gave county Democrats during the party’s annual banquet on Thursday in the Gov. Reuben Fenton Historical Society in Jamestown.

Smikle, executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, also made a stop in Dunkirk during the morning to discuss his party’s agenda.

He admitted there are plenty of concerns regarding President Donald Trump and the plans to repeal health care across upstate.

“Our message is that we will address (constituents) economic anxiety, their political anxiety and help push back on what we’re seeing coming out of Washington,” he said during a meeting in the OBSERVER offices.

Smikle said it was his second trip to Chautauqua County. He was here in 2000 when he was a senior aide to Hillary Clinton who would win election as U.S. senator for New York.

“Who’s in office matters,” he said. “You may not like politics but it really matters who’s actually occupying those legislative seats, the governor’s seat and the president of the United States.”

Trump’s policies and actions have not sat well with all of America, especially many on the left. Smikle pointed to the Women’s March on Washington in January, which took place a day after Trump officially took office. “Those people cared enough about policy to be driven to go out and show their support for the policies they care about. It’s important the Democrats captured that energy.”

As for the country, Smikle notes a division. He also sees the upcoming election as an opportunity.

“I do think there’s renewed interest in the Democratic party even though, I think overall, there has been a hit to the brand,” Smikle said. “I think Republicans have as well, but I think we most recently took a hit to our brand.

“Even if I can’t go out and say become a Democrat, I can go out and say we care about the policies you care about and then I hope over time you come to believe it’s the Democrats who care about these policies too.”