A little over three weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its Summer Meeting in National Harbor, MD. In an effort to be more transparent about the DNC we wanted to share everything that happened, next steps, and how you can get involved!

Good afternoon Young Dems,

 

A little over three weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its Summer Meeting in National Harbor, MD. In an effort to be more transparent about the DNC we wanted to share everything that happened, next steps, and how you can get involved! 

 

Here are some of the top line items from the proper DNC meeting: 

  • Adoption of the Report from the DNC Resolutions Committee - During the General Session, the membership adopted the Report of the Resolutions Committee, which included adoption of 44 resolutions here (including a resolution condemning the use of “dark money” in Democratic politics as well as a resolution honoring the life and legacy of one of our very own - Zahra Abbas). 

  • Adoption of the Report from the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee - The DNC also adopted the Rules and Bylaws Committee Report presented by Co-Chairs Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt, Jr. The report included adoption of the 2024 Delegate Selection Rules, the 2024 Call for Convention, and a package of amendments to the Charter and Bylaws. 

    • We urge you to take a look at the Delegate Selection Rules and learn the guidelines so we can work with our parties to ensure that young people are fairly represented at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. 

  • Elections to Fill Vacancies - The DNC elected Barry Goodman, Rachana Desai Martin, and Fred Redmond as three new at-large members to fill DNC member vacancies. The DNC elected Henry Muñoz to serve as a DNC Vice Chair and elected Chair Mike Schmuhl to fill the at-large vacancy to the Executive Committee. 

  • Standing Committee Appointments - Additionally, the DNC approved the Chair’s recommendations to appoint Wisconsin Vice Chair Felesia Martin to serve on the Budget and Finance Committee, Chuck Degnan and State Senator Sarah McBride to serve on the Credentials Committee, and Rachana Desai Martin and Senator Shevrin Jones to serve on the Rules and Bylaws Committee. 

    • Shout out to State Senator Sarah McBride who joined us as a virtual speaker at the LGBTQ+ Caucus meeting at our 2021 Convention in Cincinnati, OH and who is fired up to see so many young people doing work across the nation! 

  • DNC Finance Chair and Treasurer Update - National Finance Chair Chris Korge and Treasurer Virginia McGregor provided an update during the General Session on the party’s finances. The DNC has raised $271 million so far this cycle, with 98% of donations this year being $200 or less. 

  • Executive Committee - The DNC Executive Committee met on Friday afternoon and heard a welcome from Aruna Miller, the Democratic nominee for Maryland’s lieutenant governor, updates from DNC Officers, a conversation between Congressman Cedric Richmond and Rob Flaherty, and approved the Chair’s appointments to serve on the DNC Executive Committee’s Ombudsman Committee.

  • Caucus and Council Meetings - Throughout the DNC Meeting, each of our Regional Caucuses, as well as our Constituency Caucuses and Councils, held engaging and interactive meetings to discuss the work they are doing to elect Democrats up and down the ballot and organize within their communities.

    • The Women’s Caucus had an incredible presentation by the pollster Celinda Lake about abortion messaging. These slides are helpful in terms of framing the narrative and I encourage you to take a look here and share this with your members. Chair Harrison also gave us a catchy term heading into our midterms - #ROEvember. 

    • The Black Caucus heard from National Education Association President Becky Pringle and listened to a presentation from the NAACP on polling they did within the Black Community (you can find the presenation in this slide deck here). The DNC Black Caucus will be holding four regional leadership summits and you can find more infromation about those summits here. 

Your three representatives, along with YDA Chief of Staff Josh Coleman and LGBTQ+ Caucus Chair Matt Hughes, all participated in the Youth Council meeting - where we said goodbye to one of the founders of the Council Jason Rae, who ages out this year. Congratulations to Chair Andre Treiber (TX), Candice Kerestan (Democrats Abroad), and newly elected Secretary Matt Hughes on a successful meeting. Special shoutout to Ariel Garayer who is the Youth Liaison at the DNC on all her hard work and for always being accessible to us! Lastly, we elected our Youth Council At Large members and I’m thrilled to say that the majority of our new At Large members are YDA folks! Join me in congratulating: 

  • Jovan C. Richards (NY) 

  • Lucy Frank (OH)

  • Scott Urbanowski (MI)

  • James Parker (AL)

  • Katherine Jeanes (NC) 

  • Nathaniel Block (WA)

  • Kati Durkin (WA) 

We also had an incredibly successful Youth Reception on Thursday night after President Biden’s remarks where we welcomed folks of all ages to get to know the young people in the DNC and hear more about what YDA is doing. We were especially thrilled because we hard launched our rebrand and the swag looked pretty great. Pick up your own merch here.

Friday evening the cities competing to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention hosted receptions for DNC members. We had the opportunity to experience the following: Chicago- joined by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and Common. Atlanta: Joined by Congresswoman Nikema Williams. New York: Joined by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul, DJ Nice, and Dougie Fresh. Houston: Joined by several Texas party leaders. The site of The 2024 convention will be decided at a later date. It’s a little different from YDA because DNC staff decide the two finalists and the options are presented to President Biden, who makes the final decision. Personally, I’m personally rooting for New York City. 

To close out the Summer 2022 meeting of the DNC we were joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, who gave us the rallying call we needed to continue the important work! You can view her speech here. 

As extracurriculars we were also able to connect with SwingLeft, Nextgen, the High School Dems, the National Federation of Democratic Women, and DNC members from North Dakota and the US Virgin Islands to help establish chapters in these areas! 

TRAINING, ENGAGEMENT, AND PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITIES

 

Rural Strong Training Series
The DNC is excited to launch the Rural Strong Campaign! The Rural Strong training series will cover Messaging, Grassroots Organizing, GOTV, and Organizing Tools throughout the five-part training series.
 October 1: Organizing Tools - Sign Up Here
 October 15: GOTV Part One - Sign Up Here
 October 29: GOTV Part Two - Sign Up Here 

Weekly Phonebanks & Textbanks
If you have some spare time and would like to text or phone bank from anywhere in the country, sign up with the DNC to make calls or text (in English AND Spanish) here. 

Stay tuned for more trainings, opportunities, and information and as always, please let us know if you have any questions! 

 

Sincerely,

 

Steph Campanha Wheaton 

she/her/ela

 

The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is the official youth wing of the Democratic Party of the United States and the oldest partisan youth organization in the country. To help us mobilize the next generation of Democrats, donate anything you can afford right now to YDA.

 
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