NOTE: If you believe in miracles, there’s some small chance that an angel may come and save DFA, in which case this is premature. It would be astonishing, but I’d love to be wrong. The story has hit the media, so I thought I’d weigh in.
Democracy for America, my employer for the past 8 years, has shut down after over 18 years as progressive political organization. Fundraising has been down, and one of its principle methods of communicating with its members, email, has gotten increasingly difficult as orgs and political campaigns have flooded the field, creating a tragedy of the commons.
My personal history with DFA dates back before my employment… prior even to the founding of the organization… back to 2003 when DFA stood for “Dean for America” and I was a local volunteer organizer for that campaign here in Santa Rosa. DFA, at that time, was an innovator in the use of the Internet to fundraise and organize. It was revolutionary in empowering local leaders to emerge and volunteers to step up and build community, both online and offline. It modeled Howard Dean’s catchphrase to his supporters, “You Have the Power!”
After the Dean campaign crashed and burned in Iowa, this community wanted to continue… and Democracy for America was born. This was the first instance of a campaign transforming into an ongoing organization… a template followed by subsequent campaigns who spun off Organizing for America, Our Revolution, and Warren Democrats - among others. Which also leads to a fracturing of the movement, so… that turned out to be a mixed blessing.
DFA was instrumental in the grassroots campaign to lobby the Democratic National Committee members to appoint Dean as DNC Chair. I was part of a contingent who descended upon a DNC regional meeting in Sacramento to address delegates on Dean’s behalf, and we were successful… in turn, Gov. Dean pursued his “50 State Strategy” of building party infrastructure *everywhere* rather than the norm of just focusing on “winnable districts” (this was also a North Star for DFA). That strategy led to a string of unexpected victories in the 2006 midterms and the Democrats shocking the media by recapturing both the House and the Senate. This was a time when George W. Bush had been riding high in the polls as a “wartime president” with the media talking about the GOP holding “lasting majorities” well into the future.
The DNC chair race was also an example of DFA pursuing a two-pronged Inside/Outside strategy with respect to the Democratic Party: organizing to get progressives involved to have a stronger presence inside of the party, but also organizing from the outside to be a critical and independent voice for our values.
DFA was a small and scrappy organization, and was directed by the consensus of its members. It had always gravitated well to the left of its founder, Gov. Howard Dean, who left the operation of DFA to his brother Jim when he became chair of the DNC. In 2015 Gov. Dean made an early endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President, but our members overwhelmingly (88%!) preferred Bernie Sanders… causing our founder and our org to part ways. DFA became an early and enthusiastic endorser of Sanders’ candidacy - by making a strong affirmative case for Bernie, and without tearing down Hillary.
DFA, despite its modest size, has always punched well above its weight class. It endorsed and supported candidates in local races, encouraging people to run for office and providing training (both online and regionally) for them, their staff, and their supporters. And, of course, directing attention and funds to their campaigns… in the service of building up local field capacity and a deep bench of progressive voices everywhere: town councils, library boards, transit boards… as well as the congressional and presidential races that otherwise get all the attention.
DFA was an early sponsor of Netroots Nation and ran a scholarship program to send scores and scores of deserving volunteers, community organizers, and candidates to attend. DFA supported Barack Obama when he ran for US Senate in Illinois, was the first endorser of Stacey Abrams on the day she announced her race for governor in 2018. I believe DFA was the _only_ national organization to endorse all of the members of The Squad in their first congressional races.
Guided by our local members, we rigorously vetted hundreds of candidates every election cycle to ensure that they were pro-choice, friends of the LGBTQ+ community, friends of labor… the kinds of people who would fight for progressive values when elected. As a result, a DFA endorsement had real clout. And we worked especially hard to build a truly reflective democracy that would be as diverse as the people in our communities.
I can’t overstate DFA’s impact on my life: so many of my friends - online and IRL - I met through DFA. I cut my teeth community organizing as a local DFA group president - and overcame my fear of public speaking. It gave me the encouragement and tools to run to become a delegate to the California Democratic Party and a member of the Sonoma County Democratic Committee. My career as a web developer took a sharp turn by focusing on developing sites and tools for political campaigns, progressive advocacy orgs, and labor groups. All of which culminated in me being hired 8 years ago by the national org as their web developer.
And made me what I am today: unemployed.
But also enriched by the experience of working with successive waves of incredible people, many of whom went on to take critical roles at other progressive orgs. And that’s another thing about DFA: it was an incubator for extraordinary talent. So I have a high degree of confidence that my colleagues will land on their feet, because whoever hires them will be extremely fortunate to have them.
Indulge me a moment to salute a partial list of my former DFA comrades in arms: Aaron Lipman, Alejandro Chavez, Alex Showerman, Amanda Ford, Amanda Lynn, Andy Kelley, Annie Weinberg, Anoa Changa, Ben Hudson, Brieanna Fischer, Carson Malbrough, Chaka Powell, Charlie Chamberlain, Chris Li Scott, Christine Seneno, Conner Wood, Connor Stewart, Dee Pha, Eden James, Emma Interlandi, Franco Caliz, Hannah Riddle, Jackie Mitchell, Jase Roberts, Jay Henderson, Jessica Carter, Jim Dean, Kait Sweeney, Kaitlin Clark, Karli Wallace Thompson, the late Kelley Jackson, Kristina Powell, Laurie Childers, Madison White, Mari Schimmer, Max Stahl, Mia Moore, Molly Goldberg, Mayor Mondale Robinson, Monique Teal, Neil Sroka, Nellie Marvel, Nelson Pierce, Robert Cruickshank, Ruby Reid, Tre Graves, Veronica Grenier, and Vivek Kembaiyan
