The Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee met on Saturday, December 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico — a site chosen to call attention to the continuing needs as Puerto Rico continues rebuilding from its hurricane disaster. The Committee issued this statement: “We stand with Puerto Ricans and will always help in the fight to ensure that they have the resources they need and equality they deserve.”
Chair Tom Perez provided remarks about the recent successes during the midterm elections. He talked about his philosophy on planning, executing and reflecting. This meeting was an opportunity to reflect, as our Chair said – we’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go.
A post-election presentation was led by Guy Cecil, Chair of Priorities USA Action. He shared with DNC members a number of important data points related to the midterms and 2020. Among the highlights are:
- Democrats made big gains across the board, and especially with non-college white voters.
- Democrats should continue to capitalize on President Trump’s weakness on key economic issues, which includes the cost of health care.
- As we look towards 2020, there are two groups that he views as key to success – new Democratic voters (Mobilization Targets) and Midwest Trump to Democratic voters (Persuasion Targets).
Following that report, DNC CEO Seema Nanda led a panel on the DNC’s investments in state parties this cycle. Panelists included Minnesota Democratic-Farmer Labor Party Chair and DNC Vice Chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Martha Laning and Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Alana Mounce. These panelists spoke about how the DNC’s investments in state parties, made through the State Party Partnership, the State Party Innovation Fund grants, and other organizing investments, led to tremendous success. This cycle, the DNC provided more than $30 million to state parties.
AFSCME President Lee Saunders and AFT President Randi Weingarten who are also DNC Members, shared their thoughts on the election and how we can support our brothers and sisters in the labor movement.
DNC Deputy CTO Lindsey Schuh Cortes provided a DNC Tech update. She highlighted the tech goals for 2018, which include expanding infrastructure support and service for end users, enabling data-driven campaigns, improving the cybersecurity of the Democratic Party, and serving the internal needs of the DNC. She shared some of the investments that were made, including the 110 million cell phone numbers added to the voter file.
DNC Vice Chair and Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson provided a report on behalf of all the DNC officers about their activity this cycle. Over the past six months, the officers traveled to over 25 states to support events for the party and candidates at every level.
The final item of business was a budget and finance update presented by Treasurer Bill Derrough and Assistant Treasurer Lorna Johnson. At the end of last year, nearly $100 million will have been raised in support of the DNC.
If Coconino County Precinct Committee people have thoughts or comments on DNC priorities or strategies, please share them with Doug Ballard, who is our local member of the DNC.
Following the Executive Committee meeting in Puerto Rico, the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee met to finalize and adopt the regulations that help implement the 2020 Delegate Selection Rules and the Call to the Convention. It was already determined last summer that Super Delegates will not be allowed to vote on the first ballot at the 2020 convention and steps were taken to encourage state parties to use primaries rather than caucuses to select delegates and to make voting easier in those primaries.
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