Good Afternoon Young Democrats,

A little over a week ago, Democratic National Committee held their winter meeting in Philadelphia, PA. As your representatives to this body, we are committed to keeping you updated on what happened during the meeting and how you can get involved!

TOP LINES:

  • Talk to your State Party Chair about getting added to the affirmative action committee for your delegate selection plans. The deadline to join is March 1st so make sure to reach out ASAP to be added. Please see the notes on the Youth Council meeting (below) for more info.

  • Shout out to the Pennsylvania Young Democrats for throwing a fundraising reception during the meeting! It was a wonderful time that highlighted the wins from the past cycle and all the work they have coming up in the next cycle! Thank you to David, Alex, Lia, Hans, and all the folks who worked hard to make it happen!

  • The next general meeting of the DNC will be held in St. Louis, MO in October.

  • Many of us were able to participate in the “head on” when President Biden and Vice President Harris gave their remarks and check out this awesome photo of two of our very own in the New York Times:

Kati Durkin (WA) and Aliah Rowe (AR/CDA)

DNC BUSINESS:

  • Elections to Fill Vacancies - The DNC elected Diane Robertson of North Carolina, Janni Lehrer-Stein of California, Brian Renfroe of Washington, DC, and Greg Kelley of Illinois as four new at-large members to fill DNC member vacancies.

  • Standing Committee Appointments - Additionally, the DNC approved the Chair’s recommendations to appoint Otto Lee of California, Bryanta Maxwell of South Carolina, and Javier Valdez of Washington to serve on the Credentials Committee.

  • Adoption of the Report from the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee - The DNC also adopted the Rules and Bylaws Committee Report presented by Co-Chair James Roosevelt, Jr. The report included a package of five proposed waivers to Rule 12A, which establishes waivers for state-run primaries in five states: South Carolina on February 3, 2024, New Hampshire and Nevada on February 6, Georgia on February 13, and Michigan on February 27. South Carolina, Nevada, and Michigan all completed their waiver requirements to the satisfaction of the Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC). In its meeting on January 25, the RBC extended the waiver deadlines for meeting the stipulations expressed in the waivers for Georgia and New Hampshire until June 3, 2023. The adoption of the RBC Report was a momentous occasion where the DNC executed on the vision of the President by adopting a calendar that expands the number of voices in the early window, and elevates diverse communities that are at the core of the Democratic Party.

  • Adoption of the Report from the DNC Resolutions Committee - During the General Session, the membership adopted the Report of the Resolutions Committee presented by Co-Chair Rich Fitzgerald, which included adoption of 40 resolutions, a combination of messaging and commemorative statements. You can find the finalized resolutions packet here.

  • Finance & Treasurer Updates - National Finance Chair Chris Korge and Treasurer Virginia McGregor provided an update during both the Executive Committee meeting and the General Session on the party’s finances. Last cycle, the DNC raised $100 million in major donor money and $170 million from grassroots supporters, with over 900,000 individual donors. That is more than twice as much as we've ever raised in a midterm cycle and grassroots supporters made up more than 60% of total DNC fundraising.

  • Executive Committee Recap - The DNC Executive Committee met and heard a welcome from Mayor Jim Kenney, a recap of the Pennsylvania midterm elections from Dana Fritz of Governor Shapiro’s campaign and Brendan McPhillips of Senator Fetterman’s campaign, updates from DNC officers, a polling presentation from Terrance Woodbury of HIT Strategies on “Black Voters: 2022 Midterm Performance,” and a presentation from John Della Volpe of Social Sphere on “The Gen Z Vote.”

CAUCUS/COMMITTEE NOTES:

Please keep in mind that these were written in real time and are incredibly subjective.

Labor Caucus:

  • Chaired by Stu Appelbaum

  • Talked about the need for labor unions to support the BLM movement and the need to rein in PDs (as they are also unions but abusing the power)

  • Visited by a few Congressmembers via Zoom who talked about their work on the Congressional Labor Caucus

  • Panel on Labor turnout including representation from several unions (SEIU, UFCW)

Eastern Region:

  • Great successes in most states and amplifying the need to elect BIPOC - especially women.

    • Except NY which lost 5 congressional seats.

  • Basically everything was a state brag.

Youth Caucus

  • Chaired by André Treiber and Vice Chair Candice Kerestan

  • Chair Harrison started with a message on how the most influential person in a young persons life is a fellow young person

  • Introduced Damon Ngo, the new DNC Coalitions Associate member managing the YC

  • Moved to create a committee to review YC rules/bylaws and have this project completed by the DNC Convention

  • Presentation on Gen Z turnout by John Della Volpe (Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics)

    • The study found that youth turnout is at an all time high and 7/10 18 year olds have values more closely aligned with Democrats but a lot of people distrust the Dem Party as a whole

    • Polling shared that young people are mostly concerned with clean air/water, abortion, and mental health

    • Per this study, the majority of young Americans do not identify as socialists but do not like capitalism.

      • Based on a question asked by a CDA member

    • This information can be found in his book “Fight - How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America”

  • Jason Rae - Delegate Selection Process

    • March 1st

    • Ensuring that it is open to all who wish to participate and that our Convention looks like America

    • 5000 delegates to the national convention

    • Ensure state parties have robust plans for inclusion and representation

    • In September we voted on delegate selection rules to convention

    • Plans lay out every step of how to be delegate including dates and where to file

    • Each state party must appoint a state affirmative action committee by March 1st

      • Reach out to your state party chair or executive director and say you’re interested in being on the committee.

      • Volunteer to lead or be part of that process.

      • Committee is responsible for drafting affirmative action rules. 2008 was the first time the goal to get enough youth was included.

      • Talking about financial hardship plans to help delegates

    • Affirmative Action committee doesn’t have to be approved by anybody or any group so it’s up to your state party Chair and they have to submit the plan to the DNC (who is on the committee and information about the committee)

      • Rules and bylaws committee looks very closely at the numbers/makeup of the affirmative action and inclusion committee

  • Reyna - Voter Protection Briefing

    • College & Youth Vote Challenges - young people are one of the main demos targeted for voter suppression

      • Residency- you can vote at home or at your dorm (Wisconsin & NH make it very difficult for youth to vote)

      • Voter ID laws- student ID not eligible to vote in 7 states (AZ, IA, ND, OH, SC, TN, and TX)

        • Some states have tougher requirements (GA: only public schools, IN: must have exp date, WI: lord almighty are y’all ok?)

      • Access to Mail Ballots

        • 7/10 best system for young turnout had either all mail voting or a permanent absentee list

    • Opportunities

      • Become a poll worker

        • Ensure elections are administered equitably and fairly

      • Be a Voter Protection Volunteer

        • You don’t have to be a lawyer

        • Hotlines, poll observers

    • Go to committee/council meetings to advocate for polling sites close to campus/transportation

  • Update from HSDA:

    • Expanded into 7 new states

    • Youth summit in June at American University

    • Resolution to get HSDA into Exec Committee

  • Update from CDA:

    • Rebuilding & restructuring CDA to make it more inclusive

    • Expanding their fundraising plans and making endorsements in 2023

    • Endorsing Anderson Clayton for NC State Party Chair

  • Update from YDA:

    • Digital trainings in the next few months - getting young people elected in local rolls & local office

    • National convention in Vegas in June

Rules & Bylaws Committee

  • DNC Chair makes all appointments to the committee

    • Traditionally the Secretary is always on Rules and ASDC Chair has recently been included

  • Ombudsman Subcommittee

    • Created to review allegations of violations of the charter or bylaws by elected or appointed officers of the DNC

    • Rules were adopted & will be on the website

  • Proposed amendment to the DNC Bylaws which would provide seats for the Rural Committee Chair and one other member of a different gender.

    • Member from VA does not think it’s the right path forward

    • Would be the only council with a dedicated seat and motion was made & seconded to table discussion

Women’s Caucus

  • Chair Harrison gave remarks and said he wants to start town halls in every state to talk to women about getting them elected and training the bench

  • Joined by Congressmembers Kelly (IL), Dingell (MI), and Waters (CA)

  • Presentation from Emerge National Director Ashanti

    • Presented the 2035 Plan

      • Expanding their reach

      • Lifting as they climb

      • Reposed political structures

    • Recruiting -> Training -> Campaign Building -> Candidate Funding -> Policymaking

    • Overview on Emerge Trainings

    • 71% win rate of Emerge alums

  • Message from Emily’s List Training Director Nancy Leon

    • Starting in person trainings back up in 2023

  • Regina Wallace-Jones - President & CEO of ActBlue (first Black person to lead the company)

General Session - Saturday, February 4th

  • resolutions report

    • Someone from Michigan rose to talk about how young progressives are leaving the party because they do not feel welcome. Urging discussion on the reso to ban dark money in primaries

  • Finance & Treasury Report

    • Set out to institutionalize the DNC so people don’t get laid off every cycle

    • Raised $170 million in grassroots support with over 9k individual donors (more than twice as much as we’ve ever raised in a midterm cycle)

    • Encouraging all DNC members to be members to the DNC

  • Rules & Bylaws

    • Meetings are available virtually (also up on YouTube)

    • 5 proposed waivers to 12A. In 2028, the order will be revised

      • SC February 3

      • NV and NH February 6

      • GA February 13

      • MI February 27

      • Iowa & NH out here fighting for their lives: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2023/01/31/national-dems-ready-to-ok-new-2024-primary-voting-calendar-despite-uncertainty-in-two-states/

    • Does not recommend the resolution for the inclusion of a rural committee chair as a DNC member if they are not already one


Democratically Yours,

Steph Campanha Wheaton
Democratic National Committee Representative
Young Democrats of America

 

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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