June 9, 2025 Washington D.C. - Democrats Abroad, the official arm of the Democratic Party for U.S. Citizen living outside the United States, elected its new global leadership team during the Democrats Abroad 2025 Annual Global Meeting this weekend.
Returning as International Chair is Martha McDevitt-Pugh (Netherlands), a longtime advocate for overseas voters. She is joined by Steve Nardi (Canada), continuing his role as Vice Chair, and Daniela Salvioni (Italy), who will serve a second term as Treasurer.
The newly elected team also includes Inge Kjemtrup (United Kingdom) as Secretary and Kate Sawyer (Switzerland) as Counsel. In addition, Regional Vice Chairs (RVCs) were elected to represent Democrats Abroad’s global regions: Keith Brannum (Turkey) – Regional Vice Chair for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Suma Shamanna (India) – Regional Vice Chair for Asia-Pacific (AP), and Jessica Espadas (Brazil) – Regional Vice Chair for the Americas.
Together, the team brings decades of experience in organizing and advocacy on behalf of the 9 million U.S. Citizens living abroad.
As Democrats Abroad looks ahead to the 2025–2026 cycle, the organization also extends deep gratitude to the leaders who have completed their terms.“I want to particularly thank our outgoing International Secretary, Karen Frankenstein (Germany), Legal Counsel Anne Brady (Ireland), RVC for Americas John Chudy (Guatemala), and RVC for EMEA Jennifer Rakow-Stepper (Austria) for their selfless service to the party over the last several years,” said Martha McDevitt-Pugh. “Their leadership helped us grow, adapt, and stay resilient in challenging times.”
“We’re ready to continue engaging and empowering U.S. Citizens abroad to vote in the many important elections taking place this year and next, and help U.S. citizens around the world stand strong against the current administration,” McDevitt-Pugh added. “From voter registration to activist mobilization, we will ensure that Democrats Abroad remains a powerful force in the fight to protect and strengthen democracy in the United States.”
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Democrats Abroad is the official Democratic Party arm for the millions of U.S. Citizens living outside the United States. We are recognized as a state Party by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and send delegates to the Democratic National Convention. We strive to provide U.S. Citizens abroad a Democratic voice in our government and elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the overseas vote.
Our online voter registration tool - votefromabroad.org - makes it easy to request a ballot and vote absentee from any place on the planet.