The DA France Toulouse Election Board is pleased to announce the candidates for DAF Toulouse Chapter leadership!
Join us for a brief online Meet and Greet on March 7 at 7:00pm if you'd like to meet our candidates.
Members of the DAF Toulouse Chapter area will receive a ballot by email. Electronic voting will end at 5:00 pm on March 11, 2023. For members who are able to attend our March 12 event, Celebrating 100 years of the Equal Rights Amendment, in person voting will take place from 3:30-4:30pm. RSVP here.
For questions, please contact the Toulouse Election Board at [email protected].
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Candidates for Chair
Scott Stroud, candidate for Chair of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, I have been in the Toulouse area for over 35 years, arriving on a Fulbright scholarship 1987. I’m the father of two Franco-Americans, and have worked at the Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile for many years as an English teacher. I first joined the DA Toulouse Executive Committee in 2007 and have occupied various positions on the ExCom. I am running for another term as Chair this year.
Over the years I have helped organize fundraising events at the local and national levels, cultural events such as film screenings and demonstrations, like the March for Our Lives event DA had last summer. I am on the DA France Media Team and have had the opportunity to engage with the local press to explain where DA stand on the issues.
Democrats Abroad has an important role to play in uniting, educating and motivating American citizens on issues that affect our lives and those of future generations in the U.S. and around the world. It is an honor for me to offer my time and energy as Chapter Chair.
Candidates for Vice Chair
Gina Granelli, candidate for Vice Chair of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
I would be honored to serve DA Toulouse again in the role of Vice Chair.
I grew up a Democrat in historically Republican Levittown, NY, and graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a BA in Political Science and from the University of Maryland with a Masters in Education.
A New York voter with dual US-French citizenship and mother of two dual citizens, I have been teaching English in Toulouse's public schools since 2002. In the course of my past terms on the DA Toulouse Executive Committee as Member-At-Large and Vice Chair, I have been active in voter registration, media outreach, phone banking, and organizing events such as our 2014 fundraiser, the Toulouse Women's March in 2017, two demonstrations for gun control, Martin Luther King Day celebrations, Global Primaries in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 and U.S. election watch events in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2022.
In the current term, with the easing of Covid restrictions, we have returned to in-person meetings such as our First Tuesday happy hours, movie nights, a chocolate-tasting fundraiser, and a voter registration drive at the Victor Hugo market. If elected, I will continue DA's mission of outreach to and advocacy for Americans abroad.
Candidates for Treasuer
Rebecca White Bordonado, candidate for Treasurer of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
I was born in Los Angeles but grew up in the North East and call the Frost Valley YMCA in the Catskill mountains of New York "home". In June 2000 I moved to Tournefeuille from Tempe Arizona, my voting state, as an engineering manager with Motorola. Since 2014, I’ve been an independent trainer in Quality for AirBusiness Academy and I'm also teaching English to aerospace clients through Focal Point Languages in Blagnac. My husband is a Toulousain, and we have one son living in Munich.
I’ve been an active member of DA Toulouse since 2004 serving as Membership Secretary, Member-at-Large and Treasurer in the past. Participating in DA allows me to meet Americans with similar values, work with them to elect Democrats, and have a voice in promoting progressive legislation.
Candidates for Members-at-Large
Maria Clemow, candidate for a Member-at-Large position of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
I was born in Washington D.C. but spent much of my childhood in Ireland. I returned to the US for high school and college and registered as a Democrat when eligible to vote in 1964. I joined the Civil Rights March in August 1963 and had the privilege of hearing Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech. After graduating from Bryn Mawr College, I returned to Ireland to do a post-graduate degree in history and literature and then moved to Paris.
In the 1970s my husband and I, with a small group, set up a commune in Wales to develop alternative technologies and lifestyle. In 1978, we returned to France and settled in the Gers, where our son was born. We restored an old farmhouse where I still live.
I joined Democrats Abroad Toulouse in 2003, was Executive Committee Member-at-Large from 2009 to 2011, Vice-Chair from 2011 to 2013 and have been a Member-at-Large since then.
I would like to continue to contribute in any way I can, to help move things in the more positive and hopeful direction , so I am running again for Member-at-Large.
Judith Winchester-Ware, candidate for a Member-at-Large position of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
Life-long democrat, I grew up in East Tennessee and have lived in Europe since the 1990’s. Gaining an international perspective through decades of living abroad in both France and Germany has provided me with on-going opportunities to compare political and social systems, to learn from their complexities, and to shape my vision of a healthy society. Staying engaged with US politics from abroad is important, and Icherish the opportunity that DA Abroad offers to continue “the good fight” to build a better future with participation for all, to move society towards a more inclusive vision of America, to build a system that is fair for everyone, and to work to elect Democrats who will uphold these values.
In Toulouse since 2004, I teach English in the French national education system. As a Member-at- large of DA Toulouse, I am proud of the beneficial impact our organization has had on past elections, and I look forward to participating in further contributions we can make to politics at home. I am committed to doing my part as a member-at-large because freedom cannot exist in a vacuum; the “oxygen” it requires in order to thrive is the participation of committed individuals.
Beatrice Monthioux, candidate for a Member-at-Large position of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
I am a Senior Consultant and the Quality Domain Leader at AirBusiness Academy, an institution specializing in innovative, collaborative, and learning solutions for the aviation and aerospace industry. A graduate of the University of Virginia (MS Chemical Engineer) and the University of Delaware (MBA) my career began over thirty years ago with DuPont de Nemours where I held various roles as Consultant-Quality and Research and Development Engineer.
I was born in Haiti and moved to New England as a teenager. I then lived up and down the East coast from Upstate New York to Virginia before settling in Delaware where I still vote. I moved to Toulouse 24 years ago and am the mother of two French-American sons.
It has been both an honor and pleasure to be a Member-at-Large of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter over the past two years. Democrats Abroad provides valuable information about voter registration and opportunities to network all year long. Our need for democracy at home and around the world has never been greater, I look forward to supporting more outreach efforts and community events.
Suzette Tanis-Plant, candidate for a Member-at-Large position of the Democrats Abroad Toulouse chapter
An American with French roots, I come from a family with a long-standing membership in the Democratic Party. I grew up on the East Coast, and my American voting address is Albany, New York. With dual nationality, I also vote in France.
I have lived in France since 1976, mainly in the Parisian area where I worked for the French National Institute of Agricultural Research. Prior to that, I lived in the outskirts of Bordeaux and worked for the Bordeaux Bar Association. In 2016, I retired to Toulouse, the hometown of my husband’s extended family.
The outcome of the 2016 presidential election drove me to participate in party-based action, and in 2017 I was elected to the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad-Toulouse as a member-at-large. I have continued to serve in that position since then.
Over the last six years I have participated in big and small ways. I organized, in one way or another, large events such as The Women’s March, the March for the Environment, the Covid 19 vigil, and the anti-gun public outcry, and I helped set up get-together activities such as the recent chocolate tasting. Most importantly, I have taken part in Get Out the Vote, the party’s voter registration program. For example, for the Biden-Harris elections I wrote hundreds of postcards to encourage people to vote, and for the November 2022 Mid-Elections I helped in the organization of the dinner celebrating Democratic Party wins. Since first elected, I have attended almost all of the Executive Committee meetings, thereby participating in the party decision-making process.
Being a member-at-large fits well my availability as there are periods of time when I traveling to The States where my sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren live.
As a renewed member-at-large of Democrats Abroad Toulouse I would continue in much the same way as in the last six years, transmitting in various ways Democratic Party values.
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There are 2 methods to vote:
- Submit your electronic ballot. All members of the Toulouse Chapter will receive their ballots by email. The deadline to submit your electronic ballot is Saturday March 11 at 5:00pm.
- Attend the "100 year Birthday Celebration of the Equal Rights Amendment" Toulouse election event on Sunday March 12, from 3:30 to 4:30pm (rsvp to let us know you can come) and vote in person. Make sure to bring your personal DAF membership ID number with you (received in the email with the ballot) which will verify your DAF membership as you vote with a paper ballot.
All members of the DAF Toulouse Chapter may vote in the leadership elections. The elections will be decided by a plurality of votes (the candidate who gets the most votes in the election wins). DAF does not accept proxy votes. Since there is an early online voting process, nominations from the floor during the in-person election event will not be accepted. The ballot includes a space for write-in candidates for all positions.
New members are welcome to join and vote. To join, click here: www.democratsabroad.org/join. You must be a US citizen 18 years of age or older by Nov. 7, 2023 and living in the Toulouse Chapter region. New members may join up until the day before the election.
Questions? Please contact the DA France Toulouse Election Board at:
Thank you for voting!
DAF Toulouse Chapter Election Board