Tomas Vera

Chair, Placer County Democratic Central Committee

The Democratic Party is a bottom-up organization. Its candidates, policies and goals reflect the will of the Democratic voters it represents. So, too, does the California Democratic Party, including the Placer Democratic Central Committee and its chartered clubs.

In the coming months, Placer County Democratic voters will have several opportunities to dictate who they want to represent our party on the campaign trail and what policies they want the party to support. This will happen through the pre-endorsement and endorsement process which culminates in March of 2022

Pre-Endorsement Votes

The first opportunity for a candidate to earn the endorsement of the CDP comes at the state-wide pre-endorsement elections on February 12 – 13, 2022. State-level delegates, County Central Committee members, and representatives of Democratic clubs will cast ballots in support of candidates seeking CDP endorsement. Candidates who receive two-thirds of the votes cast will be (provisionally) the endorsed candidate of the CDP. If no one wins endorsement that day, there is a process defined in the CDP bylaws by which the CDP endorsement may be sought at the CDP Endorsing Convention held later in 2022.

CDP Endorsing Convention

The CDP Endorsing Convention will be March 3 – 6, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The purpose of this convention is to adopt a slate of candidates who will represent the California Democratic Party in partisan and non-partisan local races throughout the state. Candidates who were endorsed at the pre-endorsement meetings are usually* put through for a vote on the final day of convention. For races where no candidate has been endorsed in the Pre-Endorsement vote, a vote will be taken at the convention in an effort to designate an endorsed candidate.

*CDP bylaws allow for various challenges to the endorsement of a candidate. The complete process is described in the CDP Bylaws.

How You Can Participate

As mentioned, our party is a bottom-up party. As a Democrat in the state of California, you have a voice in the process described above, through the vote of delegates elected to represent you.

At the pre-endorsement elections, the voters include DCC members, ADEM delegates, and Club delegates all of whom are elected by Democratic voters and club members. As a registered Democrat, you helped elect these delegates and they are responsible to represent you, the voters, in their districts.

Placer DCC members represent voters in their County Supervisory district. These representatives are listed on our website and can be reached by various means, including social media. They are elected to four-year terms on the presidential primary election ballots.

Those elected as Assembly District Election Meetings delegates (ADEM) represent the voters in an assembly district. They are elected by Democratic voters on odd numbered years, and they serve for two-year terms.

Lastly, club delegates are elected by the members of local Democratic clubs. Placer County Democratic clubs are open to any registered Democrat, including you. The clubs page on this website includes a listing of clubs in your area.

In the weeks to come, the Placer DCC and its clubs will provide several opportunities for you to meet with candidates running for various offices - from Congress to School Board and everything in between. Please avail yourself of these opportunities to get acquainted with the candidates. Ask them for information on their positions and ask them to listen to your concerns on topics that matter to you.

After all, our party is the party of the people. People just like you.