About Progressive Delegates Network

Welcome to the Progressive Delegates Network! We’re a statewide team dedicated to promoting progressive candidates running in the California Democratic Party’s Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEMs). On this site, you’ll find candidates who are running to be delegates to the CDP.

The candidates featured on this site are committed to pushing the Party to action on issues such as Medicare For All, a Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, housing justice, and more. We're fighting to make the California Democratic Party the party of the working class, not the 1%. We’re tired of the platitudes about unity and civility at the expense of so many people who continue to suffer because of the corrosive influence of corporate power. We call on the CDP to reject contributions from the fossil fuel industry, corporate real estate development, law enforcement, the healthcare, insurance, and pharmaceutical industries, for-profit incarceration, charter schools or any organization or corporation directly benefiting these industries. We will work to hold accountable those who have a demonstrated history of serving the few and not the many.

We believe in equal human rights for ALL - here and around the world - for immigrants, refugees, and citizens alike; for the equal and dignified treatment of all people, no matter how they identify, and for a world that values respect, peace, and justice over the power of empire.

We know the majority of California Democrats are with us on the issues, but to win, we need your help. We are up against an establishment all too influenced by powerful interests, who are interested in maintaining the status quo.

Who We Are

PDN is a state-wide network of experienced grassroots organizers volunteering to identify, vet and support progressive ADEM candidates that are committed to eliminating the influence of corporations and special interests that infect Democratic politics with an agenda that does not prioritize the needs of real people. Local volunteers are armed with national campaign infrastructure and proprietary technology to ensure that progressive voters in each district are engaged with the information they need to vote for progressive delegate candidates.

Progressive activists in the California Democratic Party face two challenges in delegate elections. First, many candidates use the term ‘progressive’ to get elected but then do not adhere to those values in their votes. Second, progressive candidates often join ‘unity’ slates in good faith with other Democrats and power them to victory only to be sidelined as their slate colleagues collaborate with elected officials that put corporate interests ahead of real people. Both of these patterns drain strength from the progressive movement and essentially steal Party delegate votes that could have been centering progressive values. PDN is a solution to these challenges.

In the most recent presidential primary, the results showed that progressive activists can win any district in the state if they are organized and provided with some basic infrastructure. Funding for PDN is mostly from individual progressive activists across the state. We have also received financial and/or logistical support from trusted progressive organizations; Roots Action, Our Revolution, and the CDP Progressive Caucus PAC. We do not accept corporate contributions. We understand that corporate Democrats, elected officials, and special interests will vastly outspend us but money does not equal votes. Superior organizing and a connection to the grassroots is how we win.

PDN is operated through a consensus model of organizing led by the following volunteers working with local assistance (listed in alphabetical order by last name, affiliations provided for identification only and do not imply endorsement):

Regina Q. Banks CDP Delegate, Democratic Party of Sacramento County Campaign Services Chair, AD 9
Karen Bernal CDP Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus, AD 7
Zach Denney CDP Delegate, CDP Progressive Caucus Officer-At-Large, AD 13
Ricardo Franco CDP Delegate, CDP Progressive Caucus Communications Officer, AD 23
Martha Gamez Past CDP delegate, Past CDP Regional Director
Brandon Harami CDP Delegate, CDP Progressive Caucus Bay Area Vice-Chair, Our Revolution CA, AD 19
Ben Hauck CDP Delegate, DSA-LA, AD 70Revolution CA, AD 19
David Hildebrand CDP Progressive Caucus Northern Vice-Chair, AD 8
Emma Jenson CDP Progressive Caucus Parliamentarian, Our Revolution OC, AD 73
Bill Lackemacher former CDP Delegate, RootsAction.org, AD 7
Amar Shergill CDP Progressive Caucus Chair, CDP Executive Board Member, AD 9
Alfred Twu CDP Delegate, Sunrise Movement, AD 15

Downloadable Logos

PDN

Our Revolution

Roots Action

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