In This Issue –
Events:
- Experienced Dems Meet-Up
- Debate Watch Party
- Young Dems Pub Night
- Salzburg Meet Up
- DAATalks with Ambassador Eva Nowotny
- Solidarity Sundays
- Global Black Caucus Book Club
Issues & Actions:
- Become a DA Delegate to the Democratic Convention
- Global Presidential Primary
- Democrats Abroad Tax Advocacy Year In Review - 2019
- It’s All Happening at #demsaustria
- Gearing up for 2020:
- A Warning
- Join the Club!
- Volunteer and Be the Difference in 2020
Reviews:
- ProDA Austria Kitchen Table Talk
- Impeach & Remove Rallies in Graz and Vienna
Our Executive Committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month. The next meeting will be held on:
- Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Members are welcome to join us at the meetings! Please contact Jennifer at [email protected]for the location.
DAA is making a strong effort to include all the information you need to stay up to date in our monthly newsletter in order to avoid the flood of emails that occurs in an election year. By sending you fewer emails, we hope you will read those you receive. Thanks for reading!
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New Year’s Message –
The Year For Change
On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 we’ll know. We’ll know whether our Constitution has held, whether our Supreme Court will retain a semblance of judicial balance, whether our laws guaranteeing our right to vote will have withstood partisan attack.
On the day after the election we’ll know if we did everything we could to remove a corrupt and unfit president from office and whether or not it was enough. The days and months until then will make the difference. Our votes from overseas are proven to be the margin of victory in close elections. Democrats Abroad knows how critical it is to get out those votes. That’s why in 2020 we will be working harder than ever to help people to register, request and vote their ballots.
Together we can generate the biggest turnout ever of overseas voters for Democratic candidates from the president on down. Together, we can make this a year of change and a trulyhappy new year.
Request your ballot today and start the year off right as we head towards winning back the White House and the Senate!
– Democratically Yours,
Jennifer Rakow-Stepper, DAA Chair
Events:
Experienced Dems Meet-Up
Join us for the first meeting of Experienced Democrats in 2020!
— John Cahill, DAA Experienced Dems
When: January 14, 2020 at 6pm - 8pm
Where: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, Vienna 1010
Visit this event on Facebook.
Debate Watch Party
The next Debate Watch Party will again be at Beaver Brewing Company at 7pm on January 15th. We look forward to seeing you there for another round of democratic drinks, debate and discussion!
— Jennifer Rakow-Stepper, DAA Chair
When: January 15, 2020 at 7pm
Where: Beaver Brewing Company, Liechtensteinstrasse 69, Vienna 1090
Visit this event on Facebook.
Young Dems Pub Night
Join us for our monthly Young Dems Pub Night at Beaver Brewing Company. We're looking forward to meeting many of our (new) young dems. Bring along anyone you know who would like to join us for drinks and talks!
— Laura Farmwald & Sophie Spiegelberger, DAA Youth Caucus Co-Chairs
When: January 16, 2020 at 7pm - 10pm
Where: Beaver Brewing Company, Liechtensteinstrasse 69, Vienna 1090
Visit this event on Facebook.
Salzburg Meet-Up
In 2020 we plan to meet tentatively on the 3rd Friday of every month. We will discuss a range of topics.
Meeting location will either be a member's home or a local establishment with easy access for all attendees. On January 24, we will meet near, BUT NOT AT, the restaurant Goldener Stern (Stauffeneggstraße 2, 5020 Salzburg). Contact me for the exact location if you want to attend.
We hope you will join us!
— Mary Beth Kollert, DAA Salzburg
When: January 24, 2020 at 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Where: Salzburg 5020
Contact [email protected]for the exact location
Visit this event on Facebook.
DAATalks with Ambassador Eva Nowotny
Democrats Abroad Austria is excited to welcome Eva Nowotny, a top Austrian diplomat, as the guest speaker at our next DAATalks lecture series.
Nowotny was Austria’s ambassador to France, the United Kingdom and the United States, foreign policy adviser to Federal Chancellor Fred Sinowatz and Franz Vranitzky and president of the Austrian UNESCO Commission. Today, she is chairwoman of the University Council of the University of Vienna and, since its founding in 1991, board member and curator of the Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue.
As an expert with a deep understanding of the American political landscape, she will be sharing her views on the current U.S. political situation and the upcoming election.
We hope you will join us for what will certainly be a fascinating discussion! Doors open at 18:30.
— Jennifer Rakow-Stepper, DAA Chair
When: January 23, 2020 at 7pm - 8:30pm
Where: Republikanischer Club, Rockhgasse 1, Vienna 1010
Visit us on Facebook.
Solidarity Sundays: Amending the Constitution
Learn how our founding document gets updated, and which amendments are still pending. Start election year right, and get trained to phonebank our members! Bring a laptop & earbuds with microphone. Save democracy, one voter at a time.
— Tanya Lolonis, Member-at-Large, DAA SoSun Co-Chair
When: January 26, 2020 at 4pm - 6pm
Where: Amerlinghaus, Stiftgasse 8, Vienna 1070
Visit this event on Facebook.
Global Black Caucus Book Club
Please join us for our next book: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migrationby Isabel Wilkerson. February 13th, 7pm at Cafe Weimar. Contact: [email protected]for more information.
— Faith Hall-Herbold, Member-at-Large, DAA GBC Caucus Chair
When: February 13, 2020 at 7pm - 10pm
Where: Cafe Weimar, Währingerstraße 68, Vienna 1090
Issues & Actions:
DA Delegation to the Democratic Convention
Are you interested in being a DA delegate at the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this summer? If so, please review this document with all the information you need to know.
Global Presidential Primary
The Democrats Abroad Global Presidential Primary will run from March 3 to March 10, 2020. As an official arm of the Democratic Party, DA members will be able to vote for their choice for presidential nominee and send 21 delegates to the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee in July.
When you use Vote from Abroad to request your ballot, you can confirm you are a Democrats Abroad member and you'll be eligible to vote in the Democrats Abroad Global Presidential Primary.
Austria will have a voting center at Frank’s Restaurant and Bar in 1010 Vienna on Tuesday, March 3, 2020 from 4pm to 8pm and on Saturday, March 7, 2020 from 12pm to 7pm. We will also be arranging Voter Assistance Events in other Austrian cities, and of course it will also be possible to vote remotely!
We’ll be posting more information and instructions about the GPP in February’s newsletter, so watch this space!
— DAA Global Presidential Primary Committee
Democrats Abroad Tax Advocacy Year In Review - 2019
Democrats Abroad is ending 2019 repeating and reinforcing a request we made, in unison with our colleague organizations advocating on behalf of Americans abroad, this time last year; that Congress hold hearings focused on the taxation, banking and other issues causing serious personal and financial harm to Americans abroad. The request takes on added importance this year.
As followers of our work know, for the last 2 years Americans abroad have enjoyed the support in our tax advocacy efforts of Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-8), Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV01), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD08), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY12) and Rep. George Holding (R-NC02). This week Rep. Holding announced his retirement from Congress. Americans abroad will, at the end of the 116thCongress, lose a Congressional champion for Residency Based Taxation (RBT).
– Carmelan Polce, Taxation Tax Force Chair
It’s All Happening at #demsaustria
Have you visited Democrats Austria’s Instagram page recently? There is lots of interesting content including answers to frequently asked voter questions, candidates who’ve qualified for the GPP, quizzes and more. Be sure to visit today and don’t forget to follow us at #demsaustria!
Gearing up for 2020:
Over the next months, this column will provide a space for the thoughts, opinions and announcements from both the DA Executive Committee and our members. While we may not endorse or support any particular candidate before the primaries, we are interested in sharing ideas about what Democrats can and will do to win up and down the ballot in 2020.
A Warning
I just finished reading "A Warning" by Anonymous, a senior official in the Trump administration.
For anyone following US politics, the book does not present anything we did not already know about the impeachment hearings, leaks and Trump tweets. Nevertheless, the book presents a remarkably cogent -- and damning -- appraisal of the ongoing train crash of the Trump presidency, a train crash in which not only US citizens but also large parts of the world are passengers and victims.
– Andreas Beckmann (lives in Vienna 15., votes in Michigan)
Join the Club!
Celebrate the new year by helping Americans abroad win elections back home! Join the Margin of Victory Club (or gift a membership) and become a sustaining donor to Democrats Abroad for 2020!
Your donation will enable Democrats Abroad volunteers to phonebank our members, get out the message on social media, and support all our other global get out the vote efforts. Still hesitating? What would you give NOT to see T’s reelection come November?
Americans abroad have been proven to be the margin of difference in critical elections – help make all of us to be the margin that counts!
– Democrats Abroad Global
We Can’t Win Without You!
DA Austria is looking for a Get Out the Vote Coordinator so together we can dump Trump and elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2020. Feeling inspired? It will take a village to do all the things we need to do in 2020 and we need your help!
Take our Volunteer Survey. Have an hour to spare? We are looking for volunteers in all areas and with any time availability. Find out more information about how to join our team.
Do you have an idea? We're looking for suggestions on how we can connect with more Americans in Austria, find places to advertise, events to have, and any suggestions you have to get more people to vote. Bookmark this link and submit your ideas at any time.
Reviews:
ProDA Austria Kitchen Table Talk
On December 7th ProDA Austria hosted a second Kitchen Table Talk in collaboration with our Solidarity Sundays partners. Our group of 21 was large enough for three breakout groups. Each had the opportunity to share their suggestions for DA platform planks on Medicare for All, Revitalizing the Rural Economy, and Reasonable Gun Legislation. In the meantime, we have submitted our results to the DA leadership for further consideration. We are looking forward to more discussion in January. In the meantime, best wishes to all of us for a progressive 2020!
— Bruce Murray, Scott Witmer, and Raina Ganev, DAA Progressive Caucus
Impeach Rally
On December 17, the night before the House voted to impeach Trump for attempting to meddle in the 2020 election and obstructing Congress in the process, thousands of activists and concerned citizens rallied together in cities across the U.S. to demand that our representatives impeach and remove the 45th president.
Many members of Democrats Abroad Austria in both Graz and Vienna added their voices to the rally by “Punsch-ing for Democracy” while enjoying a bit of holiday cheer at local Christmas markets. Thanks everyone who turned out!
— Caitlin Ahern, DAA Database Manager & Jennifer Rakow-Stepper, DAA Chair