Hello everyone, my name is Lori-Kaye and I have been appointed the chair of the Black Caucus in Germany. I have been living in Germany near Frankfurt for 13 years and vote in New York. As an international opera singer, I have had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling and getting to know many people and cultures. That's one of the reasons why I would like to get as many people involved in racial justice issues that are not only plaguing our country but, the entire world to this day.  The only way for we as Americans to be able to live peacefully is through accepting diversity in all its forms. In my opinion, racism is a lack of knowledge of other persons and its based on willful ignorance through certain news organizations, representation through our film and music industry, or passed down through family generations, to name a few.

Any person or any race or ethnicity can join the Black Caucus. If you are a person who believes in universal and unconditional human rights, and you are not a member of the Black Caucus, please join. I would love to get to know all of you and have some real conversations to come up with real solutions to this epidemic. Please take this survey. The purpose of this survey is to find out how many people would be interested in getting together for some of these fun events once a month and how many from each chapter so that I can get an idea as to how to organize it.  Just for starters, the subjects include:

• Book Club
• Martini Night with friendly political banter
• Movie Night in a cozy living room with snacks
• Labor Day American BBQ

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please specify on the survey. You can always contact me via email at [email protected]. Thank you for your participation and I look forward to hearing from you.

You can follow the Global Black Caucus on Facebook and Twitter

The March For Our Lives movement is created by, inspired by, and led by American students who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that have become all too familiar. The movement has expanded to include other major cities across the U.S. and the world. Democrats Abroad will be marching and rallying in 7 locations in Germany.

March certainly is coming in like a lion this year. Democrats have flipped 39 Republican-held state legislative seats since January 2017.

This past weekend, members of Democrats Abroad Germany (DAG) met in Hamburg for this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). See pictures from the AGM. We started the weekend with a trip to the theater to see Neuland, a piece about how American women feel about life under Trump and which several members of DAG performed in. On Saturday, we got down to business by discussing our Get Out To Vote (GOTV) strategy, listening to presentations by all of our caucus leaders about their work this past year and what they have planned for 2018, and learning how to communicate with conservatives.

The most important part of the weekend was the vote on proposed resolutions to our bylaws, which resulted in lively discussions and hopefully an improved set of bylaws that will strengthen DAG. On Saturday evening, we welcomed Josh Handelman from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) who gave an interesting speech on the wins Democrats had this past year and what lies ahead this year for the midterm elections. Read more about the speech or watch the video. Our 2019 AGM will be in Heidelberg.

In an effort to be as effective as possible in our GOTV efforts, each chapter received a tablet, portable printer, and SIM card during the Executive Committee meeting on Sunday to allow them to help people request their absentee ballots on the spot. We want to simplify the ballot request process to ensure that ballots requested online at a GOTV event are not forgotten and never printed and sent to the local election offices. We hope this will improve the efficacy of our GOTV events and make the entire process quick and easy. If you would like to make a donation to support the DAG GOTV Digitization efforts, you can find more information here. You can always register to vote and request your ballot at www.votefromabroad.org

Democrats Abroad Germany would like to be able to provide all chapters with a tablet, SIM Card/hotspot capabilities, and a printer to help improve our GOTV efforts. These items will allow chapters to hold absentee ballot request drives without having to rely on individual members to provide their personal devices, make it possible to hold these events when wireless internet is not available, and, most importantly, the printer will ensure that those who complete their request forms can print their form on the spot and put it in the mail immediately.

We want to try and simplify this process as much as possible to make sure that we are effective and successful in helping people complete the request for their absentee ballots.

If you would like to support this effort and make a donation, you can send your donation to the following account:

Account name: Democrats Abroad Germany
Bank: Kreissparkasse Kaiserslautern
IBAN: DE04 5405 0220 0140 2702 99
BIC: MALADE51KLK

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Emily Lines, Events and Fundraising Coordinator, at [email protected].

Voting in the 2018 Midterm Elections is extremely important. As the first major elections held since President Trump took office in January 2017, these midterms are the nation's first opportunity to hold a mass referendum on the Trump administration, making it all the more important to have your vote counted. The results of this year’s midterm elections will be enormously important — not just in shaping the future of Donald Trump’s presidency, but in shaping the American political landscape for a great many years to come.

Even though Democrats netted two seats in the Senate last year, Republicans hold a majority with 51, nine away from a filibuster-proof margin. Local and state elections matter! These elections have more impact and influence over citizen’s everyday lives than one may think. Many of the state legislators elected on November 6, 2018 will draw the congressional and legislative redistricting lines after the 2020 census. Therefore, voting this year may be one of the most important things you do this year!

Democrats Abroad Germany is looking for an At Large Media Contact with the following qualifications and experience:

• Should demonstrate verifiable experience and/or training in the fields of Media, Press and/or PR
• Act as liaison between DAG and international press officer
• Coordinate and support the work of chapter media contacts
• Write and organize translations of relevant press releases and press­ release templates (those not provided by international press officer)
• Maintain national contact database for journalists / press contacts (google-doc)
• Record and archive all press activities, articles, interviews (google-doc)
• Create press kits for Global Primaries and 2018 elections for DAG Chair/Vice­ Chair & for chapters.
• This position must also speak fluent German.

We are also looking for volunteers for fill these positions:

• Hispanic Caucus Chair
• Women’s Caucus Chair
• Black Caucus Chair
• Interested members to help form our fledgling Veterans and Military Families Council
• Media Contact for the Hamburg Chapter

If you are interested in this position, please send an email to: [email protected]

Happy New Year! We hope that you had a great start to 2018. Democrats Abroad Germany (DAG) is hitting the ground running as we kick off the new year with our first big Get Out The Vote (GOTV) push. Many sources are predicting a “Blue Wave” in the 2018 midterm elections, but there will be no wave unless you and as many people as possible vote this year. What better way to start the new year than by submitting your request for your absentee ballot for the midterms! All you need to do is to go VoteFromAbroad.org. It just takes a few minutes and then you can already cross something off of your new year’s to-do list! You’ll also save our dedicated phone banking volunteers from making unnecessary calls — so thank you!

Currently the Republicans control our government. The U.S. Senate has 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats (including two Independents that caucus with the Democrats). The 2018 midterm elections are just 10 months away: November 6, 2018. There are 34 seats up for grabs in 2018, of which 26 are held by Democrats. We will need to gain 2 seats to take control.  All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election as are 39 state and territorial governorships. Special Elections show a positive pattern for Dems, regardless of the election. The Democratic voting margin has been 16% higher than the average partisan lean in each seat, and 12% overall in both federal and state legislative special elections. We must keep up the momentum from the 2017 Special Elections into 2018!

Our global campaign to remind people to request your ballot will start this month. It’s not too late to sign up as a phone bank volunteer. Join other members in phone banking today. Stay tuned for more information regarding training sessions and contact DAG’s GOTV coordinator Beverly for training material or should you have any questions about phone banking and volunteering for GOTV efforts.

January Events — Anniversary of the Women’s March, March to the Ballot Box Events

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become more politically active, then you’re in luck! The Democrats Abroad Global Women’s Caucus and DA-Germany have organized celebrations and voter registration/membership drives and meetings throughout the month of January and over the anniversary weekend of January 20-21. Join us as we participate in commemorative events around Germany and set the tone for resistance in this all important election year! Please RSVP today for an event near you.

The Democrats Abroad Global Women’s Caucus and DA Germany have organized celebrations and voter registration/membership drives throughout the month of January and over the anniversary weekend of January 20-21. Join us as we participate in commemorative events around Germany and set the tone for resistance in this all important election year! Please RSVP today for an event near you:

Leverkusen - GOTV Planning for 2018 -  January 08, 2018 at 7 pm

Cologne - DA NRW 2018 GOTV Season Kickoff Event - January 09, 2018 at 8 pm

Munich Voter Assistance Training For Vote From Abroad - January 10, 2018 at 7 pm

Heidelberg Chapter Monthly Meeting And 2018 Kick Off - January 12, 2018 at 7 pm

Stuttgart Women's March Pussy Hat and Sign-Making Workshop - January 13, 2018 at 2 pm

Berlin Political Pub Night + Voter Registration! - January 17, 2018 at 7 pm

Democrats Abroad is pleased to announce that we now have 5 active caucuses; three out of the five caucuses are chaired by Germany Members. A Caucus is a a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon causes. Caucuses can be organized according to a commonality, whether it's ideological, ethnic or interest group-based. All members are welcome to join any of these special interest groups.  By joining, you’ll be informed about specific issues and special events that the caucus has scheduled. 

To join any Caucus, just click one or more of the following links:

BLACK CAUCUS

HISPANIC CAUCUS

LGBT CAUCUS

WOMEN’s CAUCUS

YOUTH CAUCUS

You can go to http://www.democratsabroad.org/caucuses to read about each of the caucuses.

Also, checkout and like our Facebook pages:

Democrats Abroad FB
Black Caucus FB
Hispanic Caucus FB
LGBT Caucus FB
Women's Caucus FB
Youth Caucus FB

To contact any of the caucus chairs, please use the email addresses below:

Global Black Caucus Chair - Angela Fobbs, [email protected]

Global Hispanic Caucus Chair - Ana Hernandez Blackstad. [email protected]

Global LGBT Co-Chairs - Martha McDevitt-Pugh and Bob Vallier, [email protected]

Global Women's Caucus Co-Chairs - Ann Hesse and Salli Swartz, [email protected]

Global Youth Caucus Co-Chairs - Amy Dutailly and John Grosser, [email protected]

We hope you will join one or more of our DA Caucuses.

For Immediate Release

Date: April 5, 2017  

News desks

Excitement Spreads as Democrats Abroad Germany Picks New Executive Committee

Democrats gathered in Berlin to talk politics and plan for the Congressional races in 2018  

Berlin- Things were looking up for Democrats living abroad in Germany over the weekend as 130 attendees from all over the country, as well as guests from the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, and France, gathered for the 2017 Annual General Meeting.  In attendance were ten chapters and 15 precincts, and 9 remote viewing/voting centers were set-up for those that could not attend in person.

The agenda for the meeting was set and the participants quickly began to talk about the current political situation at hand, and what everyone could do to make sure that there would be Democratic victory in 2018.

Interactive workshops took place where members were given the opportunity to share their ideas on sustaining a volunteer organization. The participants gave their input on what issues they cared about, what resources they needed to meet their goals and guidance for finding allies. This was an empowering moment for many who wanted to shape the direction of Democrats Abroad Germany as they voiced their concerns over the Trump Administration’s current actions.

After the workshop sessions, the election process to select the new Executive Committee (national leadership) began. Members from all backgrounds, experiences and ideas, but with the same goal in mind, took center stage as they gave their speeches underling the issue that Democrats needed to face, and which approaches will help insure a victory in 2018. At the end, a momentous moment for DAG arose as over 2/3 of women and 1/4 of young Democrats were elected to the Executive Committee. One