In This Issue —

Events:

• Young Dems Meet-Up – Tuesday!
• Experienced Dems Meet-Up 
• Pride Parade in Vienna 
• Fourth of July Party  
• Global Pride Fundraiser in Amsterdam 
• Oktoberfest in Munich 

Issues & Actions:

• Why We Can’t Stop Mass Shootings
• Meet DA Austria’s Youth Caucus Coordinator

Midterm Election News:

• Austria calling campaign concludes
• Battleground States Call Campaigns – Phonebank!
• Your Vote is Your Voice
• Voter Registration Tables

Reviews:

• DA’s Annual Global Meeting

Our Executive Committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month. However, our next meeting will be held online on: Thursday, June 23, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. Members are welcome to join us at the meetings. Please contact Richard at [email protected] to join.

DAA is making a strong effort to include in our monthly newsletter all the information you need to stay up to date. By sending you fewer emails, we hope you will read those you receive. Thanks for reading!

Message from the Chair 

Everything is on the line: that’s the slogan we came up with for our June newletter. During 2020, we knew Trump was a threat to our democracy. But the threat is as real as ever.

At our DA Global Annual General meeting last month, guest speaker Senator Cory Booker of NJ spoke of a “real crisis in our country.”

“We are seeing the rolling back of rights, from voting rights to the sanctity of the dominion over your own body. We see threats to our democracy in ways we have not seen,” Sen. Booker said.

He told the story of driving out into Hurricane Sandy in 2012 when he was mayor of Newark. An elderly man in a rain slicker was standing out in the storm with a flood light alterting traffic to avoid downed powerlines. Booker rolled down his window and asked the man what he was doing out in the storm, and he replied, “I’m standing out here to make sure no one gets hurt.” 

Booker said he has spoken both to the president and governor that night, “but the greatness I saw best exhibited that night was the man on a hill, in dark of night, in a savage storm, looking out for other people.” Then, addressing members of DA, he said, “And in many way I see you all out there in that same spirit, and what you are doing here, standing on hill in a storm, standing together to defend and protect, and it means a lot and it makes a difference.”

Let us all do our part in these next months to not only retain Congress, but increase our majority. Let’s believe it is possible. You can do so by making sure you and every overseas American you know requests their ballot to vote. Indeed, everything is on the line. 

–Richard Miller, Chair, DA Austria 

Events:

Austria Youth Caucus Pizza and Drinks

When: Tuesday, June 7 

Time: 6:00pm CEST

Where: Pizza Bussi Ciao, Piaristengasse 15, Vienna 1080, Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Experienced Dems Meet-Up

When: Thursday, June 9, 2022 

Time: 6:00pm CEST

Where: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, Vienna 1010, Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Pride Parade in Vienna

When: Saturday, June 11, 2022 

Meet: 12:30pm CEST

Meeting Point: Steps of the University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, Vienna 1010 , Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Celebrate Independence Day with Democrats Abroad

When: Saturday, July 2, 2022 

Time: 12:00 – 4:00 pm CEST

Where: Meierei im Prater Hauptallee 3, Vienna 1020 , Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Pride Parade in Amsterdam with the DA Global LGBTQ+ Caucus

When: Friday, August 05, 2022 at 06:00 PM through August 08, 2022 at 6:00pm

What: Canal Parade on a Parade Boat, Cocktail Party with Special Guests, Walking Tour, Mimosa Brunch, and more!

Where: Various locations in Amsterdam, Netherlands

RSVP to attend in person

Get in Shape for the Midterms — Get Training!

When: Multiple dates through 2022 

Where: Online RSVP for Zoom link 

Oktoberfest in Munich with Democrats Abroad Global

When: Sunday, October 2, 2022 from 11:00am – 2:15pm

What: A fun weekend with othe DA members in Munich!

Where: Festhalle Schottenhammel, Munich, Germany

RSVP to attend in person

Issues & Actions:

Why We Haven’t Stopped Mass Shootings

Frustrated that legislation to stem America’s gun epidemic is going nowhere? How could Democrats fail so miserably despite the momentum gathered after school shootings in the 2010s?

Solidarity Sundays probed this Gordian knot in the wake of January 6, 2021. Frank Smyth, award-winning investigative journalist and author of “The NRA:  The Unauthorized History,” explained a year ago that gun control advocates misunderstand their opponents and what motivates America’s gun rights movement. What’s stopping reform at this point “is neither the gun lobby’s nor the gun industry’s money. It’s the ideology, stupid” – and it’s high time for progressives to challenge it.

Frank advocates for a new approach with former NY Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof on the NYT podcast Sway with host Kara Swisher – here’s the link to the article and podcast episode. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-nicholas-kristof-frank-smyth.html

Meet DA Austria’s Youth Caucus Coordinator

Hi Austrian Democrats Abroad,

Some of you may know me from our last annual meeting - I wanted to take a second to introduce myself! My name is Sarah and I was raised in Vienna as a dual citizen. I’m 30 years old and have been involved with Young Dems Abroad for close to ten years. This year it’s my turn to make an impact as Youth Caucus leader.

So we’re reinstating regular in-person Young Dems meetups after a two-year hiatus, and our first meetup is this Tuesday at Pizza Bussi Ciao, where the vibes are good and the pizza is better. My goal is to build a network of young Americans living in Vienna, and all are welcome to join. 

So if you’d like to connect with like-minded expats, come join us on June 7th at 6pm. A table is reserved under the name “Sarah” :)

See you on Tuesday!

— Sarah Knaus, DA Austria Youth Caucus Coordinator

Midterm Election News:

Austria Calling Campaign Concludes

A big ‘thank you’ to all our phone bankers who made our May calling campaign a success. We called nearly 1,000 of our members in Austria, speaking to 359 (34%) of you, leaving 319 (30%) messages, and sending nearly all of you a text message. Our question: did you request your ballot yet? Many did, but those who had not thanked us for the reminder to go to VoteFromAbroad.org. Thanks to everyone who picked up or called back! If any of you need further support or have a question, please call or text 0676 447 3418 or send an email to [email protected].     

Battleground States Call Campaigns

Austria has finished calling our members living is Austria, but there are still thousands of DA members who vote in critical battleground states to be called. We need your help to reach them! 

You can only vote once, but calling multiplies your vote and amplifies your voice and helps and empowers others to cast their one vote. In 2020, DA callers made over 600,000 calls! And we needed every one to win the House, the Senate and Georgia Runoffs, and the Presidency.

Be part of the team and get started with a phonebank training. Learn more about training dates in June and July at phonebank training or get in touch with us at [email protected]

Your Vote is Your Voice

One of the DA’s core activities is to help Americans to register and return their ballots. The non-partisan Vote from Abroad website has up-to-date information so voters are best informed about their state’s regulations and deadlines. There is also a voter protection team that works with local election officers and state secretarys to solve issues that disenfranchise overseas voters. 

Every election cycle we hear from overseas Americans and dual citizens who say they didn’t know they had the right to vote in federal and even state elections. Help us spread the word among your family, friends, and colleagues. And if there are Americans on your sport’s team, club, school, or place of worship, we’re happy to come by and help get them registered – regardless of their party affiliation. Contact the Vote from Abroad Coordinator at [email protected] 

Voter Registration Tables

Are you part of a group — a baseball team, church group, book club, company  — or network with American members? Many US citizens and dual citizens don’t realize they are able to vote in federal elections and many down ballot state races. Help us spread the word! VFA’s trained nonpartisan voter registration volunteers are happy to come to your event and help people register and request their ballots. Contact us at [email protected]

Reviews: 

Democrats Abroad Holds 2022 Global Annual General Meeting

DA leaders from around the world gathered virtually on the weekend of May 21–22 for our Annual General Meeting, getting inspired and sharing best practices to get out of the vote for the upcoming midterm elections.

As DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison told us, “Eighty-one million of us, domestically and abroad, stood up in the face of hate and bigotry in 2020–now let’s step it up again for the midterms.”

DA Austria has three voting representatives who participated in the meeting: Richard Miller, chair, Faith Herbold, vice-chair, and Marcy Fowler, secretary and DPCA voting representative.

Besides Harrison, we heard from DNC Deputy Executive Director Roger Lau and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. We also gained ideas and inspiration from DA leaders about how they are mobilizing overseas voters. We got a tour of our soon-to-be-launched new DA website (thanks to many generous donations we're just shy of our target) and learned how battleground state teams are working to rally and support Americans abroad. We also welcomed DA Caribbean Islands, as DA’s newest country committee and the first-ever transnational committee!

We passed the following six resolutions:
·         Memorial Resolution Honoring Jim Christiansen of DA France
·         Resolution to Catalogue Our “Standing Resolutions”
·         Resolution on the Climate Emergency
·         Resolution to Establish a Special Committee on Legal Compliance and Implementation

Issues
·         Resolution to Establish a Standing Voter Protection Committee
·         Resolution in Support of Statehood for Washington, D.C.

All in all, it was outstanding to see the commitment and dedication of so many people – all volunteers – making this organization function. At some points, there were about 190 people on the call, some of them waking up in the middle of the night or staying up to the early hours of morning to attend. Next year, the meeting is expected to be in person in Washington, DC.  

–Richard Miller, Chair, DA Austria 

Thank you for reading the June Newsletter!

In This Issue —

Events:

• Experienced Dems Meet-Up – TOMORROW!
• Annual Global Meeting
• Youth Caucus Pizza & Drinks
• Get Trained!
  
  

Issues & Actions:

• Austria Calling Campaign
• Anyone Seen My Constitutional Right to Privacy?

Midterm Election News:

• Battleground State Calling Campaign
• Your Vote is Your Voice

Reviews:

• Immigration Law with Dr. Alexander Raidl

Our Executive Committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month. Our next meeting will be held online on: Thursday, May 19, 2021, at 7:30 p.m. Members are welcome to join us at the meetings. Please contact Richard at [email protected] to join.

DAA is making a strong effort to include in our monthly newsletter all the information you need to stay up to date. By sending you fewer emails, we hope you will read those you receive. Thanks for reading!

Message from the International Chair and Global Women's Caucus Chair –

The Supreme Court’s draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaked by Politico, makes unmistakably clear what the Republican agenda is: an unprecedented assault on women and families in the United States.

For more than a generation, the right to reproductive freedom has been the law of the land. When a far-right administration took office in 2016, we knew that this right was in grave danger. Fast forward to 2022, and we now have three more ultra-conservative, anti-choice justices on the Supreme Court. The looming fate of Roe is the direct consequence of the 2016 election.

That many of us saw this coming does not make the blow less painful or severe. But we can fight back. 2022 is also a decisive election year. Together we must put in place both federal and state legislatures that fairly represent the will of the majority. This cannot wait.

Let us not forget in this dark moment that we have the power to elect legislators who will respect the law of the land and the will of the people this November. We must wield it. 34 US Senate seats, all 435 U.S. Representative seats, 46 state legislatures, and 36 state governorships are on the ballot. These are the offices that will determine access to abortion and reproductive health care in the absence of Roe.

REQUEST YOUR BALLOT FOR 2022

What you feel right now—do not forget it. Instead, resolve to turn this moment into collective action. Ways to fight back can be found in this statement from DA's Global Women's Caucus.

Raise your voice. Vote. And bring other people with you.

In Solidarity,

Ann Hesse, DA Global Women's Caucus Chair

Candice Kerestan, DA International Chair

Events:

Experienced Dems Meet-Up

When: May 19, 2022

Time: 6:00pm CEST

Where: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, Vienna 1010, Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Democrats Abroad Annual Global Meeting

When: May 21–22, 2022

Time: 10:00am CEST

Where: Online

Austria Youth Caucus Pizza and Drinks

When: June 7

Time: 6:00pm CEST

Where: Pizza Bussi Ciao, Piaristengasse 15, Vienna 1080, Austria

RSVP to attend in person

Get in Shape for the Midterms — Get Training!

When: Multiple dates through 2022

Where: Online RSVP for Zoom link

Issues & Actions:

Austria Calling Campaign

Be prepared for a short phone call from us to check if you have requested your 2022 ballot and if you need any support! Our top-notch phone banking team is starting our Austria-focused calling campaign now with the hope that many of you will happily tell us that you have already gone to VoteFromAbroad.org and requested your ballot! Thanks for either taking our call, listening to our voice message, and/or responding to our text message! Our goal is that at least 90% of our nearly 1,900 members in Austria vote in the midterms. Take a few minutes and request your ballot today!

Anyone Seen My Constitutional Right to Privacy?

We're all well versed in the leaked US Supreme Court opinion gutting Roe vs. Wade and the imminent threat to reproductive and other civil rights. The Court has wiped out "super precedent" before — but it was to add civil rights, not to take them back.

There are no easy answers, no quick fixes. Some expect the decision to galvanize voters ahead of the midterm elections. They hope that traditional midterm dynamics — swing voters moving away from the party in power and higher enthusiasm of the out-party's base — will be upended. That Republicans are focusing on the ruling's leak and not its substance suggests they are worried about this.

It's too early to say how the politics will play out. So let's cut to the chase: the politics are up to us. Where can we be most effective in the next six months?

The Senate: Majority Leader Schumer wants to codify abortion protections into law. Unfortunately, the legislation will be subject to filibuster, and there are only 49 Democratic co-sponsors of the bill — Senator Manchin is a holdout. So what can we do? Double down on expanding our majority in November — reelect our incumbents, and for those voting in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere — you need to elect Democratic senators.

The States: since we can no longer count on the federal government or courts to protect abortion, this fall's most meaningful races will be down-ballot races. Reproductive and voting rights will be decided state-by-state, along the lines of state legislative control. And it takes only a few hundred votes to flip a state chamber.

Think about that. A few hundred votes. We can do that.

The day the actual decision is released, abortion will be illegal across 22 states where Republicans hold governing majorities.

But in Arizona, the GOP holds a single vote majority; in Michigan, they have only three-seat majorities in both state Senate and House. These, and several other state legislatures, are flippable. Without Manchin, without changing the filibuster, we can protect access to abortion for millions of people.

Ways to make an impact in down-ballot campaigns:

• Join a DA State Team to call battleground voters, meet state candidates, and share voting information: [email protected]
• Contact phone-bank coordinator Yvonne Richard to remind and educate DA members about registering to vote from abroad: [email protected]
• Contribute to NARAL or Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Governors Association, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
• Donate to Run for Something

-Tanya Lolonis, DA Austria Member-at-Large

Thank you for reading the June Newsletter!

Midterm Election News:

Battleground State Calling Campaigns

The overseas vote was the margin of victory in Georgia and Arizona in 2020 and we’re going to make sure to do it again in the upcoming midterms. Democrats Abroad phone bank volunteers are continuing to call members in battleground states.

We need your help to reach our members! It’s easy and satisfying. We call DA members who are happy to get the reminder and DA covers the call costs. Also, you can make as many or as few as you like and when it fits your schedule. There are regular trainings to get you started and our DA Austria’s Phonebank Coordinator, Yvonne Richard, will answer your questions. Be part of the effort to fight for our democracy! Find out more here.

Your Vote is Your Voice

One of the DA’s core activities is to help Americans to register and return their ballots. The non-partisan Vote from Abroad website has up to date information so voters are best informed about their State’s regulations and deadlines. There is also a voter protection team that works with Local Election Officers and State Secretarys to solve issues that disenfranchise overseas voters.

Every election cycle we hear from overseas Americans and dual citizens who say they didn’t know they had the right to vote in Federal and even State elections. Help us to spread the word amongst your family, friends, and colleagues. And if there are Americans in your sport’s team, club, school, or place of worship, we’re happy to come by and help get them registered – regardless of their party affiliation. Contact the Vote from Abroad Coordinator at [email protected]

Reviews:

Everything You Need to Know about Immigration Law with Dr. Alexander Raidl

Members gathered at Amerlinghaus and online to give and seek the advice and information provided by Dr. Alexander Raidl. Dr. Raidl has extensive experience helping third-party nationals address legal issues related to living and working in Vienna. Using the example of a fictional couple moving to Austria, Dr. Raidl took the audience through the entire process of Austrian immigration, job, and language requirements. Attendees shared their experiences and asked a wide variety of questions that were fully and expertly answered by Dr. Raidl. If you have any new or additional questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Raidl at [email protected] and check out his website and blog at: https://www.rechtsanwalt-raidl.at/

Please let us know if you would like another event with experts from other related areas/topics!

Thank you for reading the May Newsletter!