Delegates, the Living Soul of the Democratic Party

When you’re involved in party politics, every year is an election year. The average person is putting the 2022 elections behind them and, maybe, thinking about who will run for president in 2024. For others like myself, we are focused on the Assembly Delegate Election Meetings (ADEMS). For the last two years I’ve been an appointed delegate but this year I’m running with the AD 18 Progressive Labor Unity Slate and you can learn more about me individually here. Every odd-numbered year across the 80 Assembly Districts, people hit the campaign trail to get other Democrats to vote for them to represent the district as their delegate. These are typically low-turnout affairs with little fanfare but they can be competitive because these positions are important. For that reason, you should definitely register to vote today! Delegates can shape the trajectory of politics at a local and state level but it’s not as straightforward as that.

It’s a Party

To understand what delegates are we must first explain what the California Democratic Party (CDP) is. Yes it's a political party, however, it might be easier to think of it as a large private membership organization. I explicitly use “private” because unlike public government organizations, we aren’t subject to open meetings or public records laws, you’d be surprised to learn how many people think the Party is like a government agency. So who runs the Party? Does the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, or Senate Pro Temp call the shots? Nope. Neither of them or anyone at the federal level. I can’t begin to count how many times people have blamed state party issues on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or President Biden. When it comes to the day-to-day operations it's the Chair, other officers, and paid staff. These officers are voted on by all of the delegates and the chair especially wields immense power to assign people to committees, agendizing items, direct staff, organize election efforts, etc. At the end of the day, if you want to be a leader of the CDP you will need to go through the delegates.

How the Election Works

Next, we need to talk about the election. These elections are run by the party so you have to register to vote with them. Eligible voters within the Party are registered Democrats so this usually confuses people. It used to be in the past we would all go to a building within the district and vote there but during Shelter in Place, we voted by mail. This year we have both options available. There are 14 positions available in each district that follow the “equal division” rule. Half must be Self-Identified Females (SIF) and the other half must be Other than Self-Identified Females (OSIF). You can find the list of candidates and their candidate statements here. The highest vote-getters win but if people chose to run for executive board as well then the highest vote-getter in the gender category is elected to the executive board. 

The Delegates

There are approximately 3,500 delegates within CDP who approve or disapprove of candidates, resolutions, platform items, or endorsement of the legislation. There are three types of delegates, each split evenly. The Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEMS) are elected by Democratic Voters every two years. These are the most reflective of Direct Democracy. The Central County Committees (your local Democratic Party, which is also different) are elected every four years and are more akin to a representative democracy. Within the county committees, they elect their own delegates. The final categories are the Elected leaders and their appointees. Not every elected official is a delegate so the easiest way to think of it is state and federal offices yes, local no. You can check out the breakdown on the CDP Bylaws starting on page 4. Some folks like the Speaker of the Assembly and President Pro Tempore of the State Senate received a lot more appointments which makes them powerful allies if you need votes within the Party.

Over the last five years I’ve been involved with local and state party politics, it seems that most candidates want to vote on candidate endorsements, legislation, and the platform, in that order of priority. These are some of the more contentious areas. I also found out how competitive the race for chair and officer positions can be. What was also surprising is how much work, negotiating, and fighting goes into resolutions which are typically non-binding but reflect the position of the party. Resolutions can be referenced for endorsements or pulling endorsements.

Let’s say there is an open assembly seat with two Democrats fighting for the Party’s support. First, they would have to go through the regional pre-endorsing conference. If one candidate gets 70% of the vote they can be placed on the “consent” calendar. This means multiple items/ candidates will be voted on together, in one vote. This is reserved for non-contentious or routine items. If this candidate is on consent and the opponent wanted to prevent an endorsement, you’d think they would have to convince the entire body of delegates to vote down the consent calendar. That’s not happening. To actually get around that the opponent would have to rally 20% of the delegates in that assembly district and some outside of it to pull the person from the consent calendar. Candidates not on consent would each be voted on individually. This is important because if this district is more moderate or progressive than the party, there is a chance the candidate could lose the vote.

Delegates are important because of all of these decisions but it’s not all drama and there are a lot of costs associated with the role. There are a few committees to serve on. Not all meet that regularly while others like Resolutions meet multiple times and sometimes for hours at a time. For each convention, you also need to pay your registration fees, dues, travel, and lodging. I’ve seen a lot of folks be delegates and decide it’s not for them either because of the work that’s expected, time commitments, and costs. A lot of the fights are partly whipping votes but all of it also revolves around the bylaws and parliamentary procedure which isn’t everyone's cup of tea. 

Conclusion

Frankly, many people find the work of a delegate too boring to justify the expenses. Still, the work is important and impacts the soul of the party that has a supermajority in the legislature as well as a firm hold on all of the state constitutional offices. Aside from that, I’ve also had a great experience meeting people across the state who are fighting for working-class people, affordable housing, better healthcare, criminal justice reform, and all the things I care about. With that, I urge people to pay attention to these elections so current and future delegates hear from you. If you are interested in serving as a delegate I recommend being a proxy for another delegate or attending a convention and executive board meetings as an observer.