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Hello good people!
Welcome to the new California Democratic Party—committed to making our entire organization more inclusive, diverse, transparent, and responsive to the needs of our delegates and other stakeholders across the state.
These are interesting times for the CDP. On the one hand, California Democrats are on a roll: We hold every statewide elected office and retain a supermajority in our Legislature. Last year, we flipped several Orange County congressional districts blue to strengthen the party’s overall position in California.
On the other hand, like many other major institutions, for years, the California Democratic Party has failed to fully value and leverage the experiences, energy, skills and relationships of all our constituents, including people of color, young activists, rural voters, seniors, veterans, women, immigrants, and those who may be participating in politics for the first time.
We can do better, and we will. Under the leadership of our new party chairman, Rusty Hicks, the CDP has put in place groundbreaking policies to ensure that our boards and committees more accurately reflect the diversity of our party.
We’re also committed to better meeting our constituents’ needs, both during election season and in between cycles. In direct response to your requests, the party has launched a bold, new initiative to help train fellow Democrats, cultivate emerging leaders, and build our capacity to reach voters and win elections up and down California.
As part of this initiative, I am honored to join the California Democratic Party team in the newly-created role of Training and Development Director. I bring to this role decades of experience organizing California Democrats, including senior roles on both Obama campaigns, as well as my background advising some of our most progressive elected voices at all levels of government.
Over the last few weeks, I have crisscrossed the state on a listening tour to hear directly from you: What do you need as organizers to sharpen your skills, elevate your game, and deepen your engagement with voters on the ground? How can the CDP help you scale up to support Democratic candidates in local, state, and federal races?
We are determined to seize this opportunity to ramp up across the state, recruiting top tier trainers and deploying them to educate and inspire a whole new generation of Democratic Party activists.
I look forward to working with each of you to build an organizing program that respects, empowers and includes everyone, while drawing upon our unique strengths as Californians, setting the pace for the nation.
You’ll be hearing more from me soon. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out and share your thoughts.
With hope,
Peggy |
