Are you dancing around singing happy tunes since Tuesday’s election results? I am, and I’d love to bottle this happiness and save it for inspiration next year. Songs are the closest things we have to bottles of happiness though, so here’s one to keep for later. (Thanks to our tax team for a new theme song ;-).

Speaking of the taxation team - they are on the Hill this week knocking on doors and working hard to let our representatives know about Residency Based Taxation (RBT) and why they should consider it. Many thanks to Carmelan Polce, Joe Smallhoover and DeeDee Gierow for the work you are doing supporting an issue that is so important to so many of our members. Do also check out Dina Titus’ shout out to our team and DA.  

Yesterday’s call with James Carville was thought provoking, fun, and inspiring. Listen to the call here.

James Carville believes Doug Jones’ has a chance in Alabama, and we do too. Please consider phone banking to help out. Winning this senate race would make a big difference in protecting vital legislation over the next year. Phone bank this weekend so Alabama voters have time to get their ballots in by December 12th.

The Global auction starts on November 24th and the team is still accepting donations. Large or small, these auction items are great ways to support Democrats Abroad. Women’s Caucus calendars are also on sale now and have their own page on the website. Check them out – deliveries still possible before Christmas!  

Mark your calendars
Veteran’s Day – November 11th
DA Global Auction – November 24th to December 3rd

Fabulous Facts
 4 recounts are still underway in VA. Americans abroad have the chance to turn the VA legislature blue.

Transparency in the DNC is a concern of all of our leaders and members. We strongly support DNC Chair Tom Perez's recent statement regarding the DNC's efforts to make 2020 transparent. 

Making 2020 Transparent

By DNC Chair Tom Perez

When I ran to serve as chair of the DNC following the 2016 election — a cycle unlike any other in American history — I knew that repairing our party’s structural flaws and healing the deep divisions among our supporters would not be easy. While we’ve made remarkable progress since last November, we still have a long way to go.

I am more committed than ever before to restoring voters’ faith in our democratic process because even the perception of impartiality or an unfair advantage undermines our ability to win. That is unacceptable.

To that end, the new DNC under my leadership is committed to the task of making sure that our 2020 nominating process will be unquestionably fair and transparent. And all the people I’ve brought on board since taking over as chair are working according to the following principles:

• We believe that only through transparency and accountability can we rebuild the trust we need to win elections.
• We believe that it’s critical to build an infrastructure that supports all candidates and helps Democrats win.
• We believe that a party must listen if it seeks to lead.
• We believe in the principle of equal opportunity for the American people and for our candidates in our party elections.

Of course, as any leader knows, principles only matter when they inform and inspire action. After listening to Democrats from every wing of our party, I’ve developed a series of concrete reforms to put our principles into action and guarantee that under my watch, the new DNC will work to rebuild trust with the people we represent. These principles are:

1. To ensure that no candidate participating in our presidential nominating process gains any unfair advantage- real or perceived- during our primary season. We will decide the debate schedule in advance, instead of negotiating it after all our candidates have entered the race.
2. I will ensure that any and all joint fundraising agreements will be transparent, including the new Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund agreements we’ve developed with all 50 state parties. This is the first time the DNC has signed joint fundraising agreements like this so early and before the mid-term elections.
3. At all times, I will follow the rules established in the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party, not least of all as they pertain to the selection of our nominee for president of the United States. If there are opportunities for the DNC to make changes to the Charter and Bylaws to be even more transparent, I will work with the DNC body to pass those changes.
4. I will continue to support the Unity Reform Commission, whose goals are both to unify and reform the party we all love. We will work with the Unity Reform Commission to implement their collective recommendations for meaningful change in our party.
5. I will continue working to reform and revive our party by empowering diverse grassroots Democrats at the leadership table. We will build on our recent successes with small-dollar fundraising. And we will reject contributions from corporate PAC donors whose goals conflict with our platform.
6. In addition to committing to a transparent process, I will work with all members of the Democratic Party to make the 2020 process as inclusive as possible, including working to protect the right of every Democrat to make their vote and their voice heard in the primary process.
7. I will work with our DNC members and progressive partners to ensure that the 2020 process is transparent, accountable, and representative of the will of rank-and-file Democrats

We should never confuse unity with unanimity, and it is my unequivocal goal to regain the trust of voters and unify and strengthen our party to ensure we can elect Democrats from the school board to the oval office. I will not rest in the fight to restore the faith of hardworking families in the political party I love.

Join us today on a call with Stephanie Schriock, President of Emily’s List, at 2pm DC time. Stephanie will be speaking with DA about how Democratic women can make their voices heard, how to make gender parity a reality, and more. Please keep in mind the time change and RSVP now. 

Our GOTV team is counting down to next week’s elections in New Jersey and Virginia (and still doing phone banking – consider helping too). 

We are also looking toward December 12th and the senate seat election in Alabama, where Democratic candidate Doug Jones is running against Bannon-supported candidate Roy Moore.

To help out in Alabama, we’re thrilled to announce that the Ragin’ Cajun from Louisiana, James Carville, has agreed to join DA in a call next Wednesday, November 8th, at 9am DC time. He’ll be speaking to us as a surrogate for Doug Jones, and we’re looking forward to hearing his thoughts. We’ll be posting the event on the site very shortly!! 

Larry Cohen, co-chair of the Unity Reform Commission and chair of Our Revolution, met with DA France in Paris last week at an event hosted by Connie Borde. He answered many questions about the Unity Reform Commission's work and also the Las Vegas DNC meeting. Read a summary of his remarks here.

Last week’s call with Phil Murphy, the Democratic candidate for NJ governor, and his wife Tammy Murphy, went very well. Together they spent almost an hour answering questions from our members about everything from NJ infrastructure plans to the public bank program Phil is interested in setting up. In case you missed the call, check out the video.

This week’s Tiny Action will focus on raising money this year to make a difference in elections next year. We’re asking our Tiny Action activists to ask their family and friends to help support phone banking and other get out the vote actions to make sure Americans abroad provide the margin of victory in 2018.

Women’s Caucus calendars are on sale now and have their own page on the website. Check them out– it’s not too early to start your Christmas shopping! 

Mark your calendars

“Give to Win” fundraising month is running! – October through Nov 8th
Women’s Caucus hosts Emily’s List – November 2nd at 2pm DC time
James Carville webinar – November 8th at 9am DC time
DA Global Auction – November 24th to December 3rd

Join us today on a call with Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor, former ambassador to Germany, and great friend of Democrats Abroad! He will speak to us about his campaign and plans moving forward. RSVP now for a zoom link. 

We’re thrilled to announce that the Global Black Caucus is now an official caucus within Democrats Abroad. The caucus team, led by Angela Fobbs, warmly welcomes new members and is busy planning their first events and projects. Join today! 

Following the DNC fall meeting in Las Vegas, our DNC members are all back home, and catching up with work, family (and sleep). Many thanks again to the team for their tireless work in Las Vegas and their fantastic advocacy for Democrats Abroad.

In case you missed it, check out Ralph Northam’s interview with the DA Comms team. He’s running for VA governor and we were delighted to be able to hear from him about issues that matter to Americans abroad. 

What’s new with Give to Win this week? Check out the site and see! 

Women’s Caucus calendars are on sale now and have their own page on the website. Check them out– it’s not too early to start your Christmas shopping!  

This week’s Tiny Action highlights the elections we are working on. Please take some time and phone bank for these elections. They matter – wins in AL, NJ and VA will make a huge difference for the Democratic party next year and we need to pull out the stops to make these wins happen. 

Mark your calendars
“Give to Win” fundraising month is running! – October through Nov 8th
Phil Murphy, NJ governor candidate webinar – RSVP now - today at 11am EST
Women’s Caucus hosts Emily’s List - November 2nd at 9am DC time

Hello from Nevada! The DNC fall meeting is just over and we are already working on what comes next. But first a recap:

If you’re wondering about the state of the DNC let me tell you – the new DNC is up and running and in full motion forward. New is the byword in all conversation, and work across all zip codes (even abroad) is too. National has studied the game video, taken notes and are rolling out their game strategy with no holds barred to get out the vote and win.

That’s the summary for anyone with thirty seconds. Now for the details!

We kicked off the week with state chairs and executive director workshop meetings on Wednesday. The meetings were invaluable for getting to know state leaders, hearing their approaches and sharing our own. I attended the workshop for state chairs and vice chairs while Adrianne George and Ken Sherman helped make sure DA was represented in the executive director meeting.

The Unity Reform Commission also met Wednesday -  Connie Borde, Martha McDevitt Pugh, Adrianne George, and Katie Solon represented us and will be sharing their notes later this week.

In the Association of State Chairs general meeting that evening, Democrats Abroad was honored to get a shout out of thanks for our work on Resistance Summer by DNC deputy Chair Keith Ellison.

Thursday I attended the state chairs’ IT committee meeting and shared some of our best practices and major tech asks with the group. It’s a privilege to be a member of that committee and I’m delighted that DA has been added to it!

Thanks to the advocacy of Liz Jaff I was able to meet with DNC CTO Raffi Krikorian, who is very interested in our data project and has pledged to help us meet our goal of gathering all fifty States absentee presidential voter data and matching it with more robust contact information.

During the week I met with DNC CEO Jess O’Connell and Advisor to the Chair Will Hailer to discuss our strategy for 2018 and the funding opportunities needed to fulfill that strategy. We will be able to submit a formal grant request on November 1 and we have already sent in a draft of the grant to their team for consideration.

States are organized by four regions within the DNC, and our DNC team is, uniquely, a part of each region. During Thursday’s regional caucus meetings we were each able to let our region know about our efforts this summer and next year through our state report.

Friday morning we all attended the resolutions committee meeting in support of our resolution. The committee tabled it for further consideration at the next meeting in the early spring.

The DA DNC team were proud to add our names to a resolution in support of Puerto Rico. The resolution passed unanimously. 

The day was packed with caucus meetings and the team split up to attend as many meetings as possible. By the end of the day, Martha McDevitt-Pugh had won a seat on the board of the Women’s Caucus and Orlando Vidal on the board of the Hispanic Caucus.

We are happy to announce that we found generous support for our efforts to make sure the Veterans hot line works abroad. South Carolina DNC member Clay Middleton has already approached Rep Jim Clyburn about the issue, and the Mississippi state vice chair has vowed to work with the VA on the problem too. As well, Adrianne George and John Eastwood’s advocacy led the Veterans Council to pass a motion regarding the issue.

Anyone who got to meet Liz Jaff during her visit with us this fall will not be surprised to hear that her pitch-a-thons were tremendous successes. State parties are excited and eager to learn about new technologies - a fantastic development for our party.

During our time in Vegas we were able to speak with every member of the DNC executive committee. They are very eager to work closely with us and visit as well. Tom Perez was particularly interested in our Alabama work and asked me to make sure we push as hard as we can on getting out the vote there.

The entire DA team also had the opportunity to meet with Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and let her know about our efforts.

I’m excited to note that our first visitor post meeting will be Larry Cohen, chair of Our Revolution, who kindly agreed to meet with DAG France next week at an event hosted by Connie Borde.

The general meeting on Saturday was inspiring as we heard Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Harry Reid and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto give rousing speeches. Sen. Tim Caine and Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, joined remotely. Tom Perez capped off the meeting with a fantastic call to action for this fall’s elections (particularly the Alabama senate race) and a last take away focused on the goals and direction of the new DNC.

Saturday was also Ken Sherman’s birthday and we were delighted to wish him many happy returns before we parted to begin making the long trip home.

Tremendous thanks to the team for the time spent together and the work that everyone did making sure the hundreds of DNC members knew Democrats Abroad, our value and what we can do to help them in their election efforts.

Next week the DA DNC team heads to Las Vegas for the 2017 DNC Fall Meeting. We’ll be meeting with DNC and state party leaders, voting on resolutions (including the Compact) and electing regional and caucus leaders. Keep an eye out for Facebook and Twitter posts of the meeting at #DAinVegas. 

Ralph Northam, Virginia’s gubernatorial candidate, wants every Virginian abroad to vote if they can. We’ve worked with his team on a video we’re circulating on social media now. Please share the post widely! 

Speaking of social media - the #GunControlNOW social storm this weekend took off on both Twitter and Facebook with thousands of participants joining in. Many thanks for taking a moment from your weekend to help out, and to Amanda Mohar, Angela Fobbs and the rest of our social media team for their work on this fantastic initiative! 

Have you checked out the Give to Win fund raising campaign yet? If you have an idea for another project you’d like to add to the list, please email Kari Hiepko-Odermann at [email protected]. She’d also love to hear from you about donor phone banking – calls work and are a great way for you to help fund the tools you use in your outreach each month.   

This week’s Tiny Action highlights the Tax team’s Tax Reform Campaign in a box. Tax reform is under discussion in DC now, so call your representative and senators about how citizen based taxation affects you (and your members), and don't miss this narrow window of opportunity to make a change! 

Mark your calendars

 “Give to Win” fundraising month is running! – October through Nov 8th
 Women’s Caucus hosts Emily’s List - November 2nd at 9am DC time

Sensible gun control legislation is important to Americans abroad, regardless of where we live. To help us raise our voices, the Comms team and Congressional call team are working together to roll out call scripts and Tweet samples for a united Call and Tweet storm. The scripts will be out and posted very shortly!

Virginia and New Jersey elections are coming up soon and we’re delighted to be working with both governor candidate campaigns.  Do keep an eye out for upcoming news stories and videos from these candidates.

Many thanks to Carmelan Polce for her excellent taxation advocacy webinar last Friday! The team also composed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee regarding DA’s stance on overseas taxation reform. The DNC hand delivered that letter for us on Monday, prior to the Tax Reform Hearings on October 3rd.

Next up – the Tax team and volunteers from the Comms team are working on a Tax Reform Campaign in a box. It’s an extension of this summer’s RBT campaign in a box, and includes talking points, call scripts, and sample email and postcard scripts.

Mark your calendars
 “Give to Win” fundraising month begins – October 9th
Women’s Caucus hosts Emily’s List - November 2nd

This week’s Tiny Action supports our universal health care story campaign. Members have sent in almost 300 stories so far, but we very much welcome more. Special thanks to the Medicare4All team - Bob Kerr, Kent Getsinger, Gordon Gaul and Siera Burtrum, who have been big helps in this initiative.

The fundraising team is pulling out all the stops getting ready for next month’s big fundraising push. The theme of the month is “Give to Win” and we’ll be honoring that theme with sponsorship programs to suit a whole spectrum of interests. For more details or if you’re interested in helping out, get in touch at [email protected].

It’s a lively week in taxation news. While Carmelan Polce digs in to the Americans Abroad Taxation survey data in preparation for the Taxation Advocacy webinar on September 29th, 9am DC Time, she and the rest of the Taxation Task Force are also reviewing the just released tax reform framework. It’s the latest information on tax reform plans by the Trump Administration, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Senate Committee on Finance designed to save corporations millions of dollars. Join the call on Friday to hear more about what’s in the plan and how it might affect Americans abroad.

Save the date
Taxation Advocacy Webinar with Carmelan Polce – September 29th, 9am DC time
 “Give to Win” fundraising month begins – October 9th

Healthcare is under attack again as Senate Republicans try to force through the Graham-Cassidy bill - a last minute effort to repeal ACA. This week’s DA tiny action provides talking points to use to call your Senators and ask that they vote against the bill. Hats off to DA Mexico for their help on this action and our best thoughts as Mexico recovers from the earthquake yesterday.

Almost 200 people have sent in their universal healthcare stories so far by email and the website, but we need to double that number to make a big impact in DC.

Our Spanish translation efforts are getting a big boost thanks to a new system Alex Montgomery has set up for us to work with – CrowdIn – a site that makes translating content a crowd project, easily accessible for volunteers. Interested in translating a few lines yourself? Please get in touch with Ana Blackstad, Hispanic Caucus chair, who is managing this wonderful project (and doing many translations herself!).

The Senator Elizabeth Warren call last Sunday was an energy-filled round of question and answer. She cheered on our universal healthcare campaign and asked us to keep fighting for DACA. She also answered our questions on RBT with clarity and candor. We are continuing to work with her team to help them understand the issues that affect Americans abroad and thank you for your contributions to the call! Please note that as she is in election season, her team has asked that we not circulate the video of the webinar.  

Our next webinar is a Taxation Q&A by our own Carmelan Polce. She’ll be hosting the session on September 29th at 9am DC time. We’ll send out a global email about the event on Monday, but do add it to your calendars now!

Save the Date

• (Inter)National Voter Registration day – September 26, all day
• Taxation webinar with Carmelan Polce – September 29, 9am DC time
• "Give to Win" Fundraising Month for DA - kick starts October 9

Have you signed up for Elizabeth Warren’s talk this Sunday? Take a second and RSVP now if you haven’t.

In other news, our thoughts are with our families and friends recovering from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Jose. We all have favorite charities to give to, so I won’t send another list. If you have a moment though, consider working on the DA tiny action of the week: please call Congress and ask that they support the EPA's Clean Power Plan. If Fox News asks - no, it is not too early to talk about climate change.

Speaking of which, if you missed last Friday’s webinar on climate change with Karla Raettieg from the League of Conservation Voters, definitely check it out. Karla is a very knowledgeable speaker and talked to us about several ways Americans abroad could help make a difference back in the US on this important topic.

Interested in hearing how other country committees spent their summer (and what they did with all of those postcards?) Check out Aloka Barthel’s story on our news feed about a few of the Resistance Summer postcard grant participants.

Have you noticed a spate of DA ads popping up on Facebook? Please share and comment on them freely! The Comms team has troll watchers working to keep the troll commenters (Russian bots?) down; positive comments and lots of sharing are most welcome.

 Save the Date

• Online vote on the Resolution Proposing the Adoption by the Democratic Party of a "Compact with the American People For Election Reform – September 15 (over a 24 hour period)
• Elizabeth Warren webinar – September 17, 9:30 am DC time
• Taxation webinar with Carmelan Polce – September 22, 9am DC time
• (Inter)National Voter Registration day – September 26, all day