2024 DNC Day 1
This morning were the first of the various caucus and council meetings. Most of these meetings include special guest speakers, panels and the opportunity to meet other delegates from around the country that are interested in the same focus areas.
The exhibitor hall (this year affectionately dubbed Dempalooza) has various organizations and a wide variety of vendors. It’s great for learning what different organizations are up to and many have buttons, shirts and other swag for sale (and some for free!).
I’m currently on a shuttle from the hotel to the evening venue (United Center). It has been held twice while security addresses a breach of the permitter by protesters.
Nominating Kamala Harris to be the candidate
7/21
I bet you I’m the only National Delegate who was setting up a pop up booth at a punk rock garage sale when they got the news…
at Bad Astronaut.
Prior to today, as a pledged National Delegate to an incumbent President, my responsibility was to cast my vote the way the Democrats in my district had voted, which was for the incumbent. What many people who were calling for a replacement did not understand is that with so few unpledged delegates, there was vanishingly little chance for any change to be made without the candidate withdrawing. While there are no criminal penalties for not honoring your pledged vote, there are other consequences that must be weighed when considering such choices.
7/24
Today the Democratic National Committee Rules Committee formally adopted a plan to determine a new Democratic candidate for President of the United States. The first step is that any candidate that wishes to be considered will need to secure 300 delegate signatures with not more than 50 from one delegation. Then the delegates will vote for one of those candidates as soon as August 1.
7/25
This morning I received my Nominating Petition for President of the United States of America. With my mother and daughter sitting next to me and my father and son sitting behind me, I filled it out for Kamala Harris.
While I have spent the past twenty years working elections and volunteering for campaigns, I was driven to get more involved in 2018 after the Parkland school shooting. Having experienced two different tragic losses from gun violence at an early age, I have long been a proponent of common sense gun reform.
My oldest child was one and a half when Sandy Hook took place. At the time, I thought surely now we’ll finally see forward momentum. Obviously we didn’t. Being a young mother working full time, I trusted leaders to get the work done. There seemed to now be more voices to the chorus of common sense reform, so I did what I could while leaving the heavy lifting to others. When Parkland happened, my oldest was now in elementary school and high school was fast approaching. My drive to protect her and all the other children from more gun violence drove me to get involved more directly.
In 2018 instead of attending the Houston March for Our Lives, I attended the Harris County Joint Convention. I became a State Delegate and I shared everything I learned to encourage others to get involved so that together we can change things.
Over the course of three terms as a State Delegate and my first term as a National Delegate in 2020, I have continued to share my experiences and what I am learning. I will continue that effort again this year in Chicago as I represent Texas CD38 as one of their National Delegates.
Help me offset the costs to travel to Chicago as one of my district’s National Delegates to the DNC.
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