2020 Democratic Primary A Briefing for Delegates on the 2020 DA Delegate Selection Plan

DNC Member Nominations Information

Thank you for your interest in running to become a DNC member for Democrats Abroad! 

In order to run to become a DNC member, you must be a U.S. citizen who resides abroad and will be over 18 by November 3, 2020.  To run as a DNC regional representative, you must reside in the region that you run in. Any eligible candidate residing abroad may run to become a DNC global representative. 

The role is a four year position that involves in-person attendance twice a year at Democratic National Committee meetings in the United States. All travel and hotel costs are covered by the individual. 

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Below you'll find feedback from our current DNC members on the role of a DNC member: 

  • DNC members should tactfully and patiently build and maintain bridges of common-interest and cooperation between DA and the state party organizations (chairs, vice-chairs, executive directors, and DNC delegation members). This is a continual process of education, as people do change. 

  • DNC members should build goodwill within the DNC party leadership and staff. 

  • We are here to represent Democrats Abroad, not to represent ourselves. This is not a stepping stone to becoming ambassador to Faroffistan or an appointment to be Undersecretary of HUD. Time spent in this role needs to be 100% spent on the organization's needs. 

  • A DNC member's number one job is to tell the story of Democrats Abroad. We are a very different state party from all other states, and our main job is to let our fellow state party DNC members know about the work that we do for their voters abroad.

  • DNC members represent states - in our case a world state – and we try to bring  our knowledge and skills to the DNC - what potential we offer, what benefits we can bring to states and to organization as a whole. We do this by making ourselves known to them, building relationships within the larger group on all levels.  We join issues caucuses, we play a role in our Regional Caucuses, we attend as many committee meetings as possible, often dividing ourselves up and then coming together to coordinate what we’ve learned from each relationship.  We do not work in a vacuum, we work as a team.

  • In return, we have a mission to keep our constituencies back home informed.  DNC meetings form the base of our Party, and our members have elected us to better understand the decisions taken within the DNC. Our members rely on us to explain and interpret these ever-changing complexities: Delegate Selection Plans, Rules and Regulations, Bylaws, and Commissions (such as the very important Unity Reform Commission, established on our watch in 2016) and more.

  • We make our needs known to the DNC in a professional and coordinated fashion, usually under the leadership of our fearless (in our case!) Chair.

  • DNC members work to make Democrats Abroad visible and known at the DNC and in the state parties. The unique nature of being not US-based means that we continually reach out and build relationships with DNC and state party leaders to fulfill our mutual goals of electing Democrats to fulfill on the promise of our party and platform. We do this through our participation and leadership roles in DNC’s many caucuses and councils, proposing and voting on resolutions and communication to bring the DNC closer to DA members and vice versa.

  • DA’s DNC members listen for issues that may impact Americans abroad and raise awareness in the Democratic Party of how laws and policies impact Americans living abroad and their families. We have the honor and privilege of embodying this constituency of Americans at every DNC event we participate in. We highlight the lives, concerns and contributions of Americans living abroad to strengthen the role of overseas Americans in the political system and to give states the opportunity to learn about our extraordinary immigrant/expat lives.

  • DA’s DNC members are a team that support the DA chair and excom in fulfilling their goals. As eight DNC members, we can be in many places at once and maintain many relationships, which enables us to be of great assistance to DA leadership.