How to become a state party delegate

I took part as a Democratic voter in the California assembly-district delegate elections held over the weekend and it was pretty inspiring seeing people doing so much person-to-person campaigning. I know a few of the people who won the election in my assembly district and wanted to pass along some guidance for other folks who may be running for state party delegates, or other party offices, or even local government offices.

• Many candidates set up their own Facebook pages. This was helpful for sharing with other folks, for asking questions directly from the candidates, and for reading direct replies.
• Many candidates organized themselves into “slates”. A slates is a group of candidates who identify themselves by a certain name to encourage people to vote for them as a group. In my district in California, Assembly District 15 (AD15), there were two slates, one of them the “establishment” progressives who called themselves “California’s Future”: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154802146682329&set=gm.1816838218595931&type=3&theater. They were passing around this graphic on social media, and they printed up heavy-stock two-sided cards with this graphic that they were passing around on the day of the election:

The other slate for AD15 called themselves Democrats Rising, positioning themselves as the “upstart progressive slate”, and were passing around this graphic on social media before the election: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154416025839102&set=gm.363446447355203&type=3&theater. They also had this graphic printed out, on plain paper instead of card stock, which to me worked for their branding as the “upstart” slate. They also focused more on their program and less on the endorsements of the elected officials.

• The successful candidates talk to LOTS of people. The ones I know who won were members of groups and Democratic Clubs, like the Wellstone Democratic Club in Berkeley and Oakland, or were heavily involved in local unions like the nurses union, and they get the support of other people from their club or union. One of the winning candidates introduced himself to me at a club meeting, asked if he had my vote at a different meeting, then emailed me two more times before the election to remind me to vote. And he was there the day of the election handing out slate cards.
• Successful candidates interact on social media outlets to answer questions and present why people should vote for them. Look for the Facebook pages for local groups or clubs and see if it seems like an appropriate venue to present your case. Set up a Twitter account for your campaign and push your campaign there with some consistent campaign goals, and use your district hashtag, like #AD15, for people to find you.

I’d like to invite candidates to add comments about what you think worked or didn’t work for you. This is the nuts and bolts where we change the party so the more the merrier. Thanks all!