The silence speaks to the problems and the issues of the Alabama Democratic Party. That is, in a sense, the way Randy Kelley described it.

Kelley is a pastor of a small Methodist church in Huntsville and, most recently, tasked with perhaps the most daunting challenge in Alabama politics: Bring relevance back to the Democratic Party. Kelley in August was elected chair of the Democratic Party and has called for party leaders to conference Oct. 14-15 in Montgomery.

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It’s a first-step effort to restore the voice of the party, one that’s remained muted despite seemingly silver-platter-presented issues recently for Democrats to speak out against Republicans. One such issue has been the ongoing speculation about the health of Gov. Kay Ivey and her absence from public appearances for almost two weeks in August. Another is John Wahl, Kelley’s counterpart as head of the GOP, using a self-made photo ID to vote in violation of state law, according to Secretary of State John Merrill.

Not a word from Alabama Democrats on either Ivey or Wahl.

“We have some housecleaning to do in the Democratic Party,” Kelley said. “We’ve got to sweep around our own door. And we need to start there because I see a lot of our candidates or officers that get elected to these positions walk a tightrope between particularly Black popularity and big business money. So, we’ve got to keep them accountable and responsible to the community which they were elected to serve.

“And you have a situation where the Republican Party ignores us. But you’ve got another situation where Democratic candidates take us for granted.”

And that, in sum, describes the dilemma of the Democratic Party that Kelley is charged with repairing: Ignored by Republicans, unappreciated by Democrats

“I’m just basically pulling the party together,” Kelley said. “My focus is to heal and build upon it. We’ve lost a lot of ground in the last few years. And the main thing is building the party back up.”

To accomplish this, Kelley said he considers himself uniquely qualified. By nature, a pastor’s job is to bring people together. And he’s done it before. The church he pastors in Huntsville, Lakeside United Methodist Church, held a Juneteenth celebration earlier this year that brought together dozens of groups and organizations – from the NAACP Alabama State Conference to the Hispanic Latino Advisory Council to Huntsville Utilities and the Missile Defense Agency.

Kelley has also not only lived through the Civil Rights movement but took an active role. The wall of his church office is adorned with photos of Kelley with Civil Rights icons such as John Lewis, Jesse Jackson and Fred Shuttlesworth as well as former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Another photo has Kelley alongside Joseph Lowery, who attended Lakeside and whose great grandfather, Kelley said, was a founding member of the church. Lowery helped Martin Luther King Jr. form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor — from Obama in 2008.

“I bring some different gifts, set of skills, to the table that most of my predecessors didn’t have,” Kelley said.

He replaces Chris England, a state lawmaker from Tuscaloosa who did not seek another term leading the party. England and his supporters prevailed in a bitter fight over party leadership in 2019 that left Democrats divided. Kelley, in fact, brought a lawsuit last year against England as well as the Democratic National Committee and Jaime Harrison, the chair of the national party, in the aftermath of that fight over party leadership.

The dispute focused on the national party supporting changes in the state party that led to England becoming the party leader. In June, U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker Jr. granted a motion filed by the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning that the lawsuit cannot be refiled.

The lawsuit perhaps underscores the Democratic Party’s need to, as Kelley put it, “sweep around our own door.”

That’s not to say that Democrats can’t hurl a zinger or two at Alabama Republicans. Kelley spotlighted what he described as the GOP’s “hypocrisy.”

“They didn’t want to wear a mask because they said God will protect them from the COVID,” Kelley said. “But they need these automatic assault military rifles to protect them from everything else. So really, what they say doesn’t make any sense at all.”

For now, though, an occasional zinger is all Alabama Democrats have. No Democrats hold statewide office and there are no indications that will change any time soon. The Democratic nominee for governor, Yolanda Flowers, reported last week her campaign has $46.23 in cash on hand – maybe enough to buy a tank of gas. Ivey, for comparison, has more than $201,000 in cash after having already spent almost $10 million.

In the most recent federal reporting period that ended June 30, Democratic Senate nominee Will Boyd reported having $920 in his campaign account while Republican nominee Katie Britt has almost $2 million.

With each election cycle, Democrats seemingly sink further into irrelevance. For the open north Alabama congressional seat created by the retirement of U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, Democrat Laura Warner-Stanton reported having just $3,633 in her campaign account as of June 30 while Republican Dale Strong has more than $60,000. There is no Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Wendell Major, has just $1,409 in campaign funds.

It’s the same in the Secretary of State race where Democrat Pamela Laffitte has $302 to spend compared to Republican nominee Wes Allen’s $60,000.

“I think we’re going to have to groom candidates,” Kelley said. “And I do see candidates who are running for office who have no political experience, disconnected from the community, and sometimes no leadership experience, don’t have money or message or machine.”

An emphasis on candidate training is one way Kelley sees that Democrats can develop talented candidates and that will be a focus for the party moving forward. Before Democrats can hold Republicans accountable, Kelley said, that accountability needs to be in place for their own candidates and office holders.

“That’s one weak area we have,” Kelley said. “We get people elected and we don’t see them again until they start back running.

“But we’ve got to groom our own candidates, and it’s not going to change overnight. It’s going to take time.”