Hey all, well, I’m home. Whew! What a week, in Atlanta. In fact, I have to say, what a fantastic series of weeks we have had all over the country. I have seen several items written regarding the outcomes in Atlanta, but I think we should provide perspective on the races, especially the races we are not talking about.
I want to begin by noting that all of these meetings, from Houston, Detroit, Baltimore, Wyoming and Atlanta were informative, thoughtful attempts to reach out and make changes to the party. There are always complications and issues, but there are also accomplishments. We have to work for more accomplishments than setbacks, but often the struggle defines us.
Let’s dispel some myths.
Before I even begin, there are several myths that have floated around the Internet, and it is time those myths be dismissed, entirely.
The vote for all races is public. It is made available to any Democrat who wants to see how your member voted. Period.
That said, we ran into a few different problems. The first was that during earlier forums, we looked for a way to have the voting live & available online. Due to the location and technical issues, this did not work out.
Upon the day of the election, we tested electronic clickers in the morning. The room we were in, due to the amount of media, had at least 12 mobile Wi-Fi spots, the hotel Wi-Fi and more. In other words, it turned into a giant disaster where Wi-Fi pressure on all public Wi-Fi points ended up nearly shutting the network down. It also created difficulty with the clicker system we were going to use to record our vote.
In order to make sure that transparency was maintained, acting chair Donna Brazille motioned that we use paper ballots. Paper ballots mean they will be preserved, forever, and they require our signature, noting how we voted. There are perks to this; no one can deny how they voted, or claim any electronic error.
There is also a hitch: paper ballots are difficult to scan, organize, and sort by members, so people can see how you voted. We were told the process of getting that arranged might take a day or two, as they would do that when they returned to the offices in DC, rather than try and do massive web updates, scanning and sorting in a hotel.
People have offered rumors that the votes would not be labeled. This is not true. Our votes are public. In order to make that clear, if anyone here asks for my vote in any race, I will answer as a statement of transparency.
Why Did I Run?
When I decided to run for VC of Civic Engagement, I knew that my race was to make a point. New members and people from the Midwest have structural problems with entering into major posts. There are good reasons for the first problem (being new), but the second one is the reason why I ran.
The DNC as a body has members from all over the country. But the largest concentration of members lies in Washington DC, for at large, and the coasts. In other words, there simply are not blocks of votes in the Midwest.
What there are, however, are US Senators. And no matter the population disparity, each state will have 2 senators. So, these smaller population states grow in number and grow in importance as our attention to them dwindles. Seeing that no one from the Midwest was running, I wanted to have someone from our region as a voice of what our outreach looks like.
I took the time to talk to many members, and worked to build a case for attention to the Midwest. In the end, the campaign I ran was conducted with a good mix of tongue-in-cheek and seriousness that reflected both my hopes for discussion and the realities of the office.
A run for this office is expensive, and, admittedly, I made an effort to not raise money, instead, I spent my time making calls and contacting people to invest into Daily Kos fundraising effort for Jon Osoff in Georgia 6th. I realize now, looking at my personal checking account, I probably should have made an effort to raise some money to cover my expenses.
For those that do not know, these are not paid posts, the travel, the hotels, the time off work, are paid by members.
I do, however, wish I had not edited two emails on my I Pad, but, you know, that happens.
Let’s talk about the votes.
There is a lot of discussion about the votes themselves. I want to start with resolutions. Christine Pelosi and others advanced a resolution about removing corporate donors from the DNC. I stood in favor of this resolution, and I stood to stop the shutdown of debate.
The resolution itself was not perfect, but was stated in a way I found perfectly clear. The proposal was to put back President Obama’s ban on corporate giving. This would ONLY impact the DNC, it would not impact DCCC, DSCC, State Parties, County Parties, DGA, etc.
Due to confusion over how this was phrased, it was sent back to the author — Pelosi — and I expect a slightly revised version to be introduced at the summer meeting.
Updated: I want to add here, I was disappointed with this. I stood in favor of continued debate on the subject. Many members were confused by what determined “corporation” and of course, in a room where some will be opposed, confusion was pretty easy to sow. How do you get around this problem? Frankly, I think right now we will have to work on informing all the fellow members of the end goal and making a clear, campaign style, pitch to them. I think Pelosi’s amendment made sense and I stood in favor. I was disappointed when it was referred back, but it is a setback — not the end of the discussion, we must always remember that.
Most of the other resolutions went fairly quickly, but if you have questions, please ask. We did have fireworks in a few moments, but the meeting moved briskly and was handled in a way I think represented the body.
How did the voting actually go?
Paper ballots are slow. It is slow to get out to people, people have to fill them out, turn them in, they have to be verified, counted, double checked, etc. So, as you can imagine, our morning was LONG. Starting at 9:30, our voting began on the chair’s race late.
The withdraw of Pete Buttigieg was a moment that caught a lot of people off guard, but was handled with such grace that you had to feel good about the way in which the Mayor decided to leave the race and urge us to seek unity.
I could detail the way in which the ballots and voting went, but besides it being long and boring with a few moments of action, you know the results.
There were tears of joy and sadness shared in the room, but the introduction of Keith Ellison as Deputy provided some unity and for those of us who worked to encourage his vote, it was a good sign we had been heard, and we would not be losing Rep. Ellison from congress.
While many focused on the chair race, I obviously put a lot of attention onto the other races. I am proud to say that in every race, we had fantastic candidates who fought for our votes and gave us good reasons to consider them. They made it very tough on us to make decisions.
In the race for secretary, three ballots were needed in order to provide a victory for Jason Rae of Wisconsin. Jason Rae and I have communicated since the beginning of the race and I consider him a friend. His work in this race was phenomenal and he went out and worked hard to get the win. In the first two rounds, I supported Ana Cuprill, the chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party, because of her outlook on rural districts, and I favored elements of her plan. That said, my vote was contested between Jason Rae and Ana Cuprill.
In the third round, I voted for Jason Rae, along with others, and put him “over the top” and put a young person on our executive committee.
We moved to vice chair of civic engagement, where I ran. As I said above, I made my case for the Midwest and outreach. The race, however, was effectively set in stone some time ago, as Karen Carter Peterson, the state chair and state senator of Louisiana, secured the vote on the first ballot.
I had time, repeatedly, to engage with Karen and Yasmine Taeb, who finished second in this race. After all of the elections, Senator Carter-Peterson and I went to dinner and discussed engagement, and food, ok, mostly food — we were starved all day. Keeping those connections alive; however, is important, if we want to build the kind of outreach that can consider.
We chose two female vice chairs, and, even more than our chair’s race, I cared about the outcome of our vice chairs. I put as much effort, as was possible, over the last few weeks, to encourage the vote and to guarantee support for Maria Elena Durazo, to make sure that Labor would have a place on our executive leadership.
Her first ballot win, where she was the top vote getter, really hit me. I had dealt with her staff for weeks to make sure that their narrative and endorsements would make her the only real choice for the post. Her staff was professional, courteous, and great to work with.
Both she and Grace Meng were retained as officers.
In our final race, anyone of either gender could prevail. In that race, both men and women ran for the last seat, and Michael Blake, of New York won. I have spent a lot of time with Michael since Houston, and I hope his fire on the stage continues in this role. I would like to say that I was impressed with numerous candidates, and especially tip my hat to Adam Parkhomenko, who came out and sat with us at a Wyoming State Committee meeting. That is a level of dedication I respect. Thank you.
There are concerns but also opportunities.
There were a few things that happened during the week that did concern me, but they were not primarily the DNC. Too many rumors, even by reported press, floated around which could have been easily checked and determined to be false. As a result, several of us were answering questions that were at times out of line with reality.
We Are OK
If you have friends who are panicked or unhappy, I say to you, we will be OK. Tom Perez presented his goals well, and all of my meetings with him were positive. I did not, at any point, vote for Keith Ellison as a rebuke of Tom Perez.
In fact, I favored Ellison because I thought Tom Perez better option was a run for Governor in Maryland. That, in the end, was the deciding factor for me, more than any other position.
I believe that the combination of Perez and Ellison will provide our party with voices at the table who will advocate changes.
We will be A-OK.