DNC Winter Meeting: Day Three - Officer Elections

Democratic National Committee
Maryland
02/01/2025 at 10:00AM

The Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting is taking place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.

Proxy form for General Session and Party Officer Elections.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee previously met and adopted rules of procedure for the officer elections to recommend to the full assembly for adoption at the General Session on January 31, consistent with the DNC bylaws, which state that the DNC is responsible for:

“providing for the election or appointment of a Chairperson, five Vice Chairpersons, one of whom shall be the President of the Association of State Democratic Committees and one of whom shall be the Vice Chairperson for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation, a Treasurer, a Secretary, and a National Finance Chair, who, with the exception of the Chairperson, shall be as equally divided as practicable according to gender at the quadrennial election, as defined in the Democratic National Committee Charter, Article Nine, Section 16 [Ed.: should be 15]”

The rules were not fully consistent with the bylaws, as they state:

In the election of the three remaining Vice Chairpersons, provision will be made to elect the appropriate number of persons of each gender to ensure that, with the exception of the National Chairperson and the President of the Association of State Democratic Committees (“ASDC”), the officers shall be as equally divided as practicable according to gender in accordance with Article 3, Section 1(e) of the Charter. [Ed.: emphasis added]

The rules of procedure remove the ASDC President from the gender balance rules, in apparent violation of the bylaws.

The rules were adopted without amendment at the Friday session. The order of elections, according to the rules of procedure, is:

  • Chair
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary
  • National Finance Chair
  • Vice Chairperson for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation
  • and the three other Vice Chairpersons

The DNC charter requires the eight officers other than the Chair to be balanced by gender, which is done by restricting the candidates for the last three Vice Chairs if necessary. As only seven are elected at the Winter Meeting (the eighth is the to-be-elected president of the Association of State Democratic Committees), the balance will be off by one (unless an officer is non-binary).

January 29January 30January 31February 1
timeeventlocation
8:00am - 11:00am DNC Registration Maryland Ballroom Foyer
10:00am - 9:00pm Party Officer Candidate Elections Maryland Ballroom A-D

Qualified Candidates

(updated: bold indicates the winner)

For Chair:

  • Quintessa Hathaway
  • Ken Martin
  • Martin O’Malley
  • Jason Paul
  • Faiz Shakir
  • Nate Snyder
  • Ben Wikler
  • Marianne Williamson

For Treasurer:

  • Merika Coleman
  • Matt Hughes
  • Virginia McGregor (i)

For Secretary:

  • Marilyn Davis
  • Jason Rae (i)

For National Finance Chair:

  • Chris Korge (i)
  • Tim Lim

Candidates for Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation:

  • Joyce Beatty
  • Michael Blake
  • Josh Burstein
  • Jim McBride
  • Sheikh Rahman
  • Rosarie Tucci
  • Reyna Walters-Morgan
  • Nikema Williams

Candidates for Vice Chair

  • Joe Barbuto
  • Troy Blackwell
  • Artie Blanco
  • Waikinya Clanton
  • Shasti Conrad
  • Michelle Deatrick
  • Aisha Dew
  • Kalyn Free
  • Adam Frisch
  • David Hogg
  • Chris Jones
  • Malcolm Kenyatta
  • Joe Paolino
  • Jeanna Repass
  • Robert Stephens
  • James Zogby

Full proposed agenda:

  1. Call to Order
  2. Presentation of the Colors
  3. Pledge of Allegiance
  4. Land Acknowledgement
  5. Invocation
  6. Determination of a Quorum
  7. Welcome Congressman Glenn Ivey
  8. Election of Party Officers
    1. National Chair
    2. Treasurer
    3. Secretary
    4. National Finance Chair
    5. Vice Chair of Civic Engagement & Voter Participation
    6. Vice Chairs
  9. Closing Remarks
  10. Announcements
  11. Benediction
  12. Adjournment

Chair Harrison calls the meeting to order.

Presentation of colors by members of Calvin Coolidge High School Junior ROTC.

The chair led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rev. Dexter Udell Nutall offered the Invocation.

The Secretary reported a quorum of 354 members checked in by 10:23 am.

Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland addressed the assembly.

The chair reminded the assembly of the Democrats Care project. After an interruption from invited guests, the chair reminded all attendees of the expected decorum, and issued a stern rebuke of intimidation tactics in the chair election, including but not limited to “donors threatening to pull funding.”

The chair continued his discussion of Democrats Care, which is raising funds for support of the Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association.

The chair explained the voting process - distribution of ballots and proxy ballots, then a two-minute window for voting. The procedure: Clearly sign ballot, affix a personalized sticker (not mandatory), vote.

Note: The rules of procedure state that the elections “will be conducted by roll call.” The elections were conducted by signed ballot taken by tellers, a permissible variant of roll-call voting (which should have been indicated in the rules or adopted by a motion).

Note: Within 24 hours of the election, a list of proxy voters was distributed to candidates, but not who held the proxies. At that time, there were 73 proxies.

Mary Elizabeth Dorsey of Missouri moved to amend the previous adopted rules to modify the time of candidate speeches to one minute per candidate.

The parliamentarian incorrectly stated the motion would require a two-thirds vote of those present in the affirmative, whereas a majority of the entire body (223 votes) would be sufficient.

The proceedings were briefly interrupted by a protester.

After Dorsey spoke in favor of her motion, Samantha Hope Herring of Florida spoke in opposition, noting that many members of her delegation were newly elected.

The motion failed.

The chair moved to the election of candidates for chair.

Chair

Nominating Speeches:

  • Martin O’Malley, nominated by Wendy Davis of Georgia, Yvette Lewis of Maryland, and Marcia Fudge of Ohio
  • Ben Wikler, nominated by Lavora Barnes of Michigan, Luis Herera of Arizona, and Anderson Clayton of North Carolina
  • Ken Martin, nominated by Sandra Lee Williams of Georgia, Hilda Solis of California, and Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota
  • Marianne Williamson, nominated by Mark Van Landuyt of California
  • Jason Paul
  • Dr. Quintessa Hathaway
  • Nate Snyder withdraws and endorses Ken Martin
  • Faiz Shakir

Voting commenced.

Donna Brazile sought the floor and reiterated Chair Harrison’s admonition against intimidation or retaliation for one’s vote in this election.

Voting closed.

Jackson Brossy delivered a land acknowledgment.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland addressed the assembly.

A video address from President Joe Biden played.

A video address from Vice President Kamala Harris played.

FIRST BALLOT:

Before announcing the results of the ballot, the chair addressed the assembly in opposition to voter intimidation, stating that he would publicly name anyone using such tactics, even if they are a senator, congressman, or governor.

  • 428 votes cast (after Democrats Abroad ballots are weighted down to 1/2 votes and abstentions and invalid ballots removed)
  • 214.5 majority
  • 246.5 Ken Martin, elected chair
  • 134.5 Ben Wikler
  • 44 Martin O’Malley
  • 4 Abstain
  • 2 Faiz Shakir
  • 1 Jason Paul
  • 0 Hathaway, Snyder, Williamson

Treasurer

  • 394 votes
  • 197.5 majority
  • 291 Virginia McGregor, elected treasurer
  • 58 Merika Coleman
  • 45 Matt Hughes
  • 5 Abstain

Secretary

During the counting of ballots, State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-N.Y.), chair of the DLCC, addressed the assembly.

  • 408 votes
  • 204.5 majority
  • 338.5 Jason Rae, elected Secretary
  • 68.5 Marilyn Davis
  • 4 Abstain

National Finance Chair

André Treiber of Texas and Bel Leong-Hong of Maryland nominated Tim Lim for National Finance Chair. In his speech, Lim touted the endorsement of the leadership of NEA, AFSCME, SEIU, AFT, UAW, College Democrats, High School Democrats, and DAGA.

Nikki Fried of Florida, Keisha Lance-Bottoms of Georgia, and Susan Swecker of Virginia nominated Chris Korge. Korge did not speak.

  • 414 votes
  • 207.5 majority
  • 284 Chris Korge, elected National Finance Chair
  • 129 Tim Lim
  • 3 Abstain

Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation

During the counting of the ballots, Massachusetts treasurer Deb Goldberg, Illinois treasurer Mike Frerichs, and Rhode Island treasurer James Diossa addressed the assembly. A video commemorating Democrats who died in the previous year played.

FIRST BALLOT:

  • 408 votes
  • 204.5 for majority
  • 120 Michael Blake
  • 113 Reyna Walters-Morgan
  • 105.5 Rep. Joyce Beatty
  • 62.5 Rep. Nikema Williams
  • 6 Josh Burstein
  • 2 Sheikh Rahman
  • 0 McBride, Tucci

Josh Burstein endorsed Reyna Walters-Morgan.

SECOND BALLOT:

  • 410 votes
  • 205.5 majority
  • 164.5 Reyna Walters-Morgan
  • 118.5 Michael Blake
  • 102 Joyce Beatty
  • 25 Nikema Williams

Sheikh Rahman was eliminated with zero votes.

Williams dropped out and endorsed Beatty.

THIRD BALLOT:

  • 409 votes
  • 205 majority
  • 210 Reyna Walters-Morgan, elected Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation
  • 107 Michael Blake
  • 92 Joyce Beatty
  • 4 Abstain
  • 5 Rejected

Vice Chair, Multiple Seats

The balloting procedure that was shared with candidates before the meeting was that of a two-seat ballot for the first two offices of vice chair, with the third seat restricted for gender balance if necessary.

Other than the chair, two male and two female officers had been elected at this point. According to the rules of procedure, the three remaining vice chair seats needed to include one male, one female, and one person of any gender (including non-binary).

Before the balloting, Chair Harrison stated that criticisms of the two-vote ballot were raised by the LGBTQ Caucus. (Presumably, that as one of the candidates for vice chair, Troy Blackwell, was non-binary, members would interpret the two-vote balloting to be for a male and female officer, putting Blackwell at a disadvantage.)

The chair announced all ballots would be single-candidate ballots, with the first seat would be for the person of any gender. If the non-binary candidate won the first seat, then the second seat either the male or female and the third seat for whatever gender remained eligible. If the non-binary candidate did not win the first seat, the second office would then be considered for the person of any gender, and so on.

FIRST BALLOT (PICK ONE OF ANY GENDER):

  • 412 votes
  • 206.5 threshold for victory
  • 117 Artie Blanco
  • 61 David Hogg
  • 54 Malcolm Kenyatta
  • 24 Kalyn Free
  • 22 Joe Paolino
  • 21 Shasti Conrad
  • 21 Jeanna Repass
  • 18 Michael Blake
  • 17 Jim Zogby
  • 15 Waikinya Clanton
  • 13 Joe Barbuto
  • 12 Chris Jones
  • 8 Michelle Deatrick
  • 5 Adam Frisch
  • 3 Aisha Dew
  • 1 Robert Stephens
  • 1 Abstain
  • 0 Blackwell, Rahman, McBride

Blackwell, Rahman, McBride eliminated.

With the elimination of the non-binary candidate, the chair announced that the single-candidate ballots were no longer needed, and the balloting process would change again, to two-candidate ballots, which would allow for between zero to two winners on each round of balloting.

Michael Blake withdrew. Adam Frisch withdrew and endorsed Joe Barbuto.

SECOND BALLOT (PICK TWO OF ANY GENDER):

During the counting of the ballots, Nikki Fried made a motion to drop all candidates receiving 0 votes as well as the 6 bottom-performing (3 men, 3 women). After informal interventions by Christine Pelosi and Brad Townley of Utah, a parliamentarian, the motion was amended to drop all candidates receiving 0 votes as well as the 4 bottom-performing (2 men, 2 women), up to a maximum of 6 removals. The motion passed as amended.

  • 799 votes
  • 201 threshold
  • 223 Artie Blanco, elected DNC vice chair
  • 150 David Hogg
  • 135 Malcolm Kenyatta
  • 74.5 Shasti Conrad
  • 54.5 Kalyn Free
  • 48 Jeanna Repass
  • 25 Joe Paolino
  • 22 Joe Barbuto
  • 19 Michelle Deatrick
  • 19 Jim Zogby
  • 12 Waikinya Clanton
  • 10 Chris Jones
  • 2 Aisha Dew
  • 1 Robert Stephens
  • 21 rejected votes

Automatically dropped from the next ballot:

  • Aisha Dew
  • Chris Jones
  • Waikinya Clanton
  • Robert Stephens

The chair entertained a motion that anyone dropped off a ballot previously cannot be added to the next ballot for a new election of vice chairs, in order to move a continuous election. Adopted by voice vote.

Jim Zogby withdrew and endorsed Kalyn Free.

Coby Owens from Delaware moves to suspend the rules to allow the automatically dropped candidates to each speak for 30 seconds. Chair rules the motion fails on a voice vote. Call for division. Chair clarifies that the motion would give a total of two minutes for the four candidates to speak. Motion easily passes by division.

The four automatically withdrawn candidates address the assembly.

Joe Paolino and Joe Barbuto both withdrew and endorsed Jeanna Repass.

THIRD BALLOT (PICK TWO, ONE MALE AND ONE OF ANY GENDER):

  • Votes cast: 817
  • 205 majority needed
  • 298 Malcolm Kenyatta, elected vice chair
  • 214.5 David Hogg, elected vice chair
  • 112 Jeanna Repass
  • 96 Kalyn Free
  • 91.5 Shasti Conrad

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