How to influence the (state and local) Democratic Party

Democratic Clubs: the party of the Party🥳

So we’ve all recently become experts on how the Democratic National Convention works. 

But it wasn’t until this week that we started asking: wait, how many delegates does the presidential nominee need again? Who are these delegates anyway? How do they represent me? And can I influence them?

It’s a good reminder of the importance of the critical (and complicated!) role that parties play in national politics. 

Parties play the same role in state and local politics. I already wrote a post about NY’s Democratic county committee members (the people that have appointed ~30% of current New York Assembly members). So today’s post is about another foundational unit of the Democratic Party: Democratic Clubs.

I was on the board of my Democratic Club when I lived in San Francisco (Shout out to the United Dems– the absolute best club in SF), so that’s when I came to appreciate the role of Democratic Clubs. 

What is a Democratic Club?

Democratic Clubs are the party of the Party.🥳 

Okay they do work too, but they’re also meant to bring people in by being social and fun.

In New York City, Democratic Clubs usually represent specific Assembly Districts, so each neighborhood has its own club (though there are some city-wide clubs). Democratic Clubs have meetings where they do actual business, they host social events, they do. the. work. (more on this below), and ultimately they influence local and state politics.

My local Democratic Club is CoDa. CoDa is a great example of a powerful Democratic Club. Let’s use them as an example for how clubs influence politics.

An example of a fun CoDa social event

How do Democratic Clubs build power?

They build power by doing. the. work.

These are the people with the clipboards that you try to avoid at the bus stop.

They collect signatures for candidates to appear on the ballot.

They influence voters by canvassing on corners, sending direct mail, and distributing campaign literature door to door.

Clubs use their own budget to print brochures and mailers with candidates’ names and faces on them. So if you’re running for office and you got on the club’s mailer, they’re saving your campaign money.

Local elected officials and party officials regularly attend Democratic Club meetings because those are some of the most engaged voters. If you’re running for city council and you need 30 people to show up at your campaign launch party, these are the people you want to meet. 

CoDa members knocking doors collecting signatures for their endorsed candidates, in the rain no less! 

How do Democratic Clubs influence politics?

Democratic Clubs endorse candidates. 

Club endorsements are key for a couple reasons:

1. An endorsement is a strong signal to voters. 

An endorsement lends credibility to a campaign and some voters will just vote how their club tells them to vote.

2. Clubs only do the work for their endorsed candidates. 

Winning an election is all about positive name recognition. Clubs mobilize their members to hand out flyers, host fundraisers, and put signs up in their apartment windows. But only for their endorsed candidates.

An example of a CoDa event benefitting endorsed candidates and featuring lots of local elected officials and leaders

Democratic Clubs weigh in on issues 

Democratic Clubs can declare positions on issues, write letters to elected officials, and sign on to petitions. 

This is one way to influence the policy positions of elected officials. For example, CoDa officially opposes the closure of Mount Sinai Beth Israel. If you’re an elected official in CoDa’s district, you better do the same or you’ll be playing defense for your job. 

This is also a way to influence the Democratic Party’s narrative. Democratic Clubs are local units of the larger national party, so by default they carry the Party values and Party line. But maybe your Club wants to stake out its own position on the war in Gaza, for example. Your club can do that. And if lots of other clubs do the same, that’s a canary in the coal mine for the state and national party officials of how their most engaged voters are leaning on an issue.

Conversation, compromise, and progress exist at the local level. Dive in.

In my last post, I mentioned that my Community Board takes public comment very seriously and is responsive to even very small groups of neighbors. Democratic Clubs are the same. These clubs are not huge groups of people, so they’re way more easily swayed than the national party.

If there’s a local or state issue that you care about, your local Democratic Club is a good place to start. Here’s how:

1. Find your assembly district

2. Find your Democratic Club. Unfortunately, this might take some manual work. Here’s a couple sites that can help, at least for Manhattan and Queens. If you know an easier way, leave a comment below!

• Manhattan Democratic Clubs

• Queens Democratic Clubs