What Suffolk Democrats revealed Tuesday night

I went to the Suffolk County Democratic Committee convention in Melville Tuesday expecting to watch a contest for party chairman. By about 8 p.m., Rich Schaffer had built a substantial lead, and I was ready to leave.

I couldn't. While the outcome seemed increasingly clear, the process itself had become too compelling to walk away from.

The meeting started at 6 p.m. and would stretch close to four hours. More than a thousand committee members were there, with names called one by one in a weighted roll-call vote. It was tedious at times, but also fascinating to watch. Considering the size of the gathering and the intensity surrounding the race, the convention was remarkably orderly.

I was not a committee member and did not have a vote. I served on the committee previously, and have known Schaffer for many years as both a friend and colleague. Had I been eligible to vote, I would have supported him. But not having a vote gave me the opportunity to step back and watch something larger than a contest between two people.

Schaffer won another term as chairman, defeating Southold Democratic chair Kathryn Casey Quigley by 113,010 weighted votes to 84,234, roughly 57%-43%. It was a decisive victory, but not a result that permits anyone to dismiss the challenge or the people behind it.

Casey Quigley's campaign brought new committee members into the process, prompted primary contests for committee seats, and energized Democrats who believe the party needs to operate differently. Some came from the progressive wing. Others were motivated by concerns about transparency, cross-endorsements, patronage or simply a belief that, after 26 years under one chairman, the party needed a serious internal debate.

That debate mattered.

After the vote, Schaffer thanked Casey Quigley for what he called a "spirited, hard-fought challenge" and said she had made him "a better person." He also said the energy she brought to the party was something Democrats needed to "bottle."

I was glad to hear Schaffer say that. Anyone who has spent 26 years doing anything can fall into routines. Institutions can, too. A challenge can be uncomfortable, messy and deeply personal. It can also force people to hear voices they may not have been hearing clearly enough.

I saw some of that years ago while working in the administration of Gov. Mario Cuomo. He was closely identified with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, but he also understood politics as the work of holding together people who did not always agree. Coalitions are rarely tidy. They endure because people with different views continue to see a reason to remain engaged.

Tuesday night showed just how broad and restless the Suffolk Democratic coalition has become. Casey Quigley did not win, but support amounting to nearly 43% of the weighted vote is hardly fringe. Her backers represented several strains of dissatisfaction, reform and renewed activism.

By the end of the night, both candidates were talking about what comes next. Schaffer called for unity ahead of November. Casey Quigley said she believed the challenge had left the party stronger and pledged to continue working within it.

The vote settled who will chair the Suffolk Democratic Party for the next two years.

What it did not settle is how the party will absorb the energy, frustration and new participation that produced this challenge in the first place.

That is what made me stay until the end.

This guest essay reflects the views of Mark J. Grossman, a public relations and government relations consultant and an adjunct professor at Nassau and Suffolk community colleges.