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Related: About this forumDear DU Friends, I am asking for your help if you are or were active in your County Dem Party
I live in NM and am 54 years old. I have decided to become more active in my County Democratic Party. In the past month, I was elected Vice-Chairman of my county Ward, my Precinct's member of our County Central Committee, and was just appointed as the Chairman of the Communications Committee. I'm excited and honored to actually win two elections and by trusted to run the Communications Committee.
I know that many of my friends here at DU (where I have been a member since 2002) are active in their local parties. Being a rural county that lately votes Red, we need a lot of structural changes and growth. Our new County Party Chair is a great progressive and, during the past wave of county party elections, progressives have basically taken over the local party.
Here are my questions to all of you:
1. Is there a DU forum that features discussions on how local party officials run their operations and help each other?
2. Is there a forum anywhere on the "interwebs" where veterans of local political efforts share ideas, success/failure stories, and resources?
3. Is there a good resource for progressives on how to create good and effective communication efforts at the local level?
4. Are there any of you who have walked this road (mostly running the communications arm of your local party) and are willing to share your knowledge/experience?
We have an upcoming special election (in one month) to replace Deb Haaland, our former US House Member who is now the first Native American head of the Interior Dept. Keeping this seat blue is paramount to Dems retaining control of the House. With little to no structure in place (an underused and clumsy website, a facebook page with a host of administrators, many of whom lost the last election (since they were Blue Dogs) with ulterior motives), an unused Twitter and Instagram account, and a Newsletter that tends to bounce or get rejected as spam with an outdated contact list, I have a lot of work to do in a very short time.
Whatever help you can share will be valued and greatly appreciated.
In solidarity,
Keopeli
PS - If I don't respond right away, it's because I'm busy being a Middle School teacher, an acolyte at my church, a caregiver to my octogenarian parents, a director of three community choirs, or being a good partner. Fear not - I will respond as soon as I am able! And thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with me.
niyad
(119,877 posts)keopeli
(3,579 posts)SheltieLover
(59,599 posts)Sorry, no answers. I tried numerous times to reach Democratic Party in TN to no avail.
JudyM
(29,517 posts)I havent been that involved with generating communications but have you considered reaching out to the NM Dem party HQ? Heres their contact list, including the phone number of their Communications Director: https://nmdemocrats.org/our-party/dpnm-staff/
Starting there might give you some answers, if not additional on the ground support, if they can help. Consider asking them outright for assistance, not just referring you to other websites to do your own research; reaching out to Executive Director would likely be better than the Communications Dir for that purpose, so you might want to start there. If you cant get extra help from them in terms of both shoring up your website and Facebook page, they might have a list of folks in your area who would be willing to volunteer, or they might have student interns in the wings who they could loan you to help you get things off the ground. Id also ask her the best way to shake off the old FB admins, if they wont support you.
You could also reach out within your county Dem party to ask if anyone knows of anyone who would have the ability and energy help with those short term specific projects, that it could make a substantial difference in the outcome for your county. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and even mature high schoolers would be able to help you, including managing FB and Twitter.
You are making a difference, exactly what we need, koepeli
Congrats and good luck!
keopeli
(3,579 posts)I have done some of what you suggest at the county level, but have yet to reach out to the state Exec Dir and Comm Team. I will do that post haste.
Thank you so much for your valuable advice! And thanks for the well wishes! I'll do the best I can to make this happen.
Warm regards,
Keopeli
Delegate anything you can... thatll allow you more time for strategic creativity, plus you could be building a team for the future of your county by engaging more folks.
Ill be interested to see how it goes for you.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,668 posts)But your post was both inspiring and disheartening.
I've been involved on the past, but have no specific information.
I thought about the Ibama Foundation. You can contact them and someone there ought to have some sage advice.
https://www.obama.org/contact-us/
Thank you for being an admirable person in very dark times. Wish there were more like you.