DNC Officer Electionz – Update #10.1 – See you in Atlanta!

Updates: See DNC Winter Meeting details below for latest information on this week’s meeting, including agendas and meeting locations, and here’s the link to sign up to attend Saturday’s General  II (elections); chair candidate updates; and here are my endorsements.  I’ll be tweeting @Demrulz.

DNC Winter Meeting – Atlanta, Feb. 23-25, 2017 – Westin Peachtree Plaza, 210 Peachtree St., Atlanta GA 30303 –

• Updated DNC Meeting Schedule with meeting room information
• Resolutions Committee Packet
• Agendas for all Caucus and Council Meetings
• Agendas for General Session I & General Session II

Here’s information about the new DNC leadership – I’ll be updating as I get more details and please let me know your thoughts.   The Democratic National Committee will meet in Atlanta on February 23-25, 2017 to  elect a new Chairperson, a Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration, and three additional Vice Chairpersons, a National Finance Chair, a Treasurer, and a Secretary.  (Note the Chair of the Association of Democratic Chairs also serves as Vice Chair but is elected by the ASDC).  The DNC will be holding one more candidate forum:  February 11th in Baltimore, MD – you can see it (and the prior three forums) live streamed here.

Pursuant to the DNC Charter the seven officers (excluding the Chair and Vice Chair/ASDC Chair) must be balanced by gender (3 male-4 female or 4 female-3 male).  The officer elections will be held for Treasurer, Secretary, National Finance Chair, and Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration, without regard to gender.  Then the three other Vice Chairs will be elected so that gender balance is achieved.  The three vice chairs other than the Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration do not have specific duties.

Chair Candidates:  (Interim Chair Donna Brazile is not seeking election)

• Pete Buttigieg is the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
• Sally Boynton Brown is the Executive Director of the Idaho Democratic Party and the President of the Association of State Democratic Executive Directors. See her Blueprint for the Future  here
• Keith Ellison – Keith is a leading progressive Congressman (from Minnesota), who has indicated he will work full time if elected.  Here’s a link to Keith’s Platform.
• Jehmu Greene, Fox News Political Analyst
• Jamie Harrison – Jamie is the very impressive Chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party.  Here’s Jamie’s Plan.
• Peter Peckarsky – attorney and long time Democratic progressive activist, from Wisconsin.
• Tom Perez – Tom (Maryland) is completing his term as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor, having previously served as Obama’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.  Virginia Democrats will remember his fiery 2016 DPVA JJ Dinner speech. Here’s his Vision.
• Sam Ronin – is a young veteran and activist.
• Withdrawn:
  • Robert Vinson Brannum, DC Democratic activist and supporter of DC Statehood
  • Ray Buckley – Ray is the Chair of the Association of State Democratic Chairs and has taken the lead in implementing the State Party Partnership Program (the successor program to the 50 State Strategy), and is also the NH State Chair.  He  has done a terrific job with the ASDC.  Here’s Ray’s Plan.

Vice Chair for Community Engagement and Voter Participation Candidates:

• Karen Carter Peterson, Louisiana Democratic Party Chair, State Senator
• Melissa Fazli, Executive Board Member and Delegate for the California Democratic Party for Assembly District 5
• Chris Reeves, DNC member from Kansas
• Yasmine Taeb – Virginia’s own DNC member, Yasmine is a human rights and civil liberties advocate who currently works at the Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Donna Brazile had been Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration before she became Interim Chair (the Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration position remained vacant); she is not seeking an office.

Vice Chair Candidates: 

• Melissa Byrne is an organizer who most recently worked on the Sanders National Digital campaign and MoveOn.org in Pa and NH in 2016.
• Michael Blake of New York – Michael is a member of the New York General Assembly and has managed campaigns and worked in the White House.
• Mitch Ceasar of Florida – a longtime DNC member and Broward County Democratic Chair
• Maria Elena Durazo — an incumbent, is Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and Chair of the National AFL-CIO Immigration Committee
• Elizabeth Jaff, Head of Business Development and Campaigns for Crowdpac, Inc.; more info
• Latoia Jones, Assistant Director of Human Rights, American Federation of Teachers and Co-Founder of Black & Engaged
• Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) is running for re-election as vice chair.  She has served in Congress since 2013 and was elected to the DNC vice chair position in July, 2016.
• Rick Palacio, Colorado State Party Chair
• Adam Parkhomenko – Adam is well known to Virginians as a tireless grass-roots organizer, recently serving as National Field Director for the DNC during the 2016 Hillary campaign..
• Incumbents are Grace Meng and Maria Elena Durazo; Mayor RT Ryback is not running for re-election; and one seat was vacant.

National Finance Chair Candidates:

• Incumbent Henry Munoz of Texas is seeking re-election.  He has worked as a full-time finance chair and has raised money for the party while reaching out to new constituencies.

Treasurer Candidates:  (Incumbent Andrew Tobias is not seeking reelection)

• Joyce Amico, President of JPCM Incorporated
• William Derrough, Managing Director of Moelis & Company
• Lorna M. Johnson, Honorary Consul for Jamaica in Los Angeles

Secretary Candidates: 

• Ana Cuprill is the Chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party
• Roberta Lange is the Chair of the Nevada Democratic Party
• Jason Rae of Wisconsin is the Chair of the DNC Youth Council and I have served with him on the DNC Credentials Committee – he’s a great guy.
• Incumbent Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former Mayor of Baltimore, is seeking reelection

The process:

• Start with the New DNC Officer Elections Page 
• DNC – the Most Open and Transparent Process
• DNC Elections FAQs
• DNC December 2016 Executive Committee Report
• Description of all National Offices
• Updated Officer Election Memo (1/19/2017)

•   DNC Charter 8.28.2015 (201.2 KiB, 1,884 hits)

•   DNC Officer Election Materials 2017 (4.6 MiB, 2,120 hits)

•   DNC Elections Slideshow (61.2 KiB, 1,243 hits)

• NOTE:  According to the Rules, the Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Registration (Vice Chair CEVR) position will be elected first (regardless of gender), and then the other three in a way that will provide a 4-3 or 3-4 gender balance among the officers (excluding the DNC Chair and Vice Chair/ASDC Chair).  All unsuccessful candidates for Vice Chair CEVR will be considered for the remaining three vice chair positions).  It doesn’t appear to me that any of the current candidates have expressed a specific interest in the  Vice Chair CEVR position.
• Here are some thoughts on the process from one of the candidates, Liz Jaff.
• Here is a video of my Network for Progress meetup talk

My thoughts:

• What I am looking for in a DNC Chair
• Endorsements

Prior events:

• Watch the archived Future Forums here:  DNC Future Forum: Phoenix, AZ, January 14th, 2017; Houston, TX,  January 28th; Detroit, MI, February 4th, 2017; Baltimore, MD, February 11th, 2017
• Watch highlights of the HuffPost Chair Debate here.
• NWDC Forum:  Washington DC, Feb. 15 – here.