Message from DAF Chair & Vice-Chair
Winning an election is one of the most elating sensations you can have, whether you’re involved in politics, or simply a casually interested follower who has likes and dislikes.
On the other hand, losing an election is downright depressing. But, losing an election should lead to reflection and introspection on how to win the next one. This is where the Democratic Party is today.
Think of the effort that you – our members, our volunteers and our leaders and donors - put into this election and be thankful for all the work you did: phone-banking, organizing voter stands, helping study abroad programs, answering questions on our help sites, putting out social media and helping us pay for the digital ads that brought new members and paid for the phone calls we made. And of course voting! We all worked our hearts out.
Our International Chair, Katie Solon, reports:
We helped over 150,000 overseas voters vote through our online tool - votefromabroad.org, made more than 125,000 calls to voters and helped more than 30,000 voters through our online help desk. Our numbers from our own efforts are up almost 85% from 2012, and we expect that numbers for the global overseas vote may have doubled since 2012.
We did not prevail in the Presidential election but our votes have made a difference in tight races down ticket, and we've proven the strength of the overseas vote through our efforts.
Our presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, is ahead in the popular vote count by more than 2 million votes and the recounts are only starting! We gained new seats in the US House and Senate. But this isn’t the result we hoped for.
The Democratic National Committee has outlined the job ahead in some specific terms. Here are some of them:
- Fight to win our runoff races
- Complete the recounts in contested states
- Amplify our Party’s platform, the most progressive in history
- And, critically, elect a new Chair of the Democratic National Committee to carry our fight forward.
Acrimony and recrimination must be avoided as they profit only our ill wishers. We came up short but we did not lose.
Rather, what we must do now is not agonize, but organize and ACT.
We must be sure that our progressive values are protected and heard. But above all, we must remember who we are and what we believe in and never let our Democratic values be taken away from us. When we focus on our common values, the values of every day folks – the extraordinarily diverse and vibrant American people – we win.
So now is the time to be re-energized and not demoralized.
Join us in the effort the lies ahead!
Joe Smallhoover Chair DAF
Connie Borde, Executive Vice Chair, DNC member 2016-2020