Dem Convention Announcement + Speaking Opportunities

And Why Posts Might Be a Little Slower Coming in June

Scroll to the Bottom for a Glossary of Dem Leadership Terms

We have 148 days until Nov. 5, 2024, which means we’re in our most critical era if we’re going to overcome right-wing extremists’ plan to overtake the government and turn it into an authoritarian playground where everyone but the white, Christian wealthy elite suffers.

Political analyst and author Rachel Bitecofer told me that EVERYONE would need to be talking about Project 2025 by this summer if we were going to defeat it. So I’m ramping up my own efforts to spread the word and using every opportunity available to talk about the biggest threat to democracy our country has ever seen.

Saturday was our Montana Democratic Party’s state convention. This year we elect people to send to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August to vote for the presidential nominee. I can’t speak for every state party, but in Montana we are divided into Eastern and Western caucuses where we vote on women and men to represent the state on a national stage. After those are selected, a small number of PLEO delegates (Party Leaders and Elected Officials) run, and then we elected at-large delegates. There are about 5,000 delegates throughout the country, and Montana sends 26 (plus two alternate delegates).

I decided to run as a delegate this year. I thought of you guys the whole time. I considered who I could meet at National Convention and which perspectives I could bring back to you. While I could have easily talked about my work with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, or the Queer Prom I helped start that sees 850 attendees annually, or the canvassing I do for every blue candidate in my red, rural county, I decided to use all my time on stage speaking about Project 2025.

“If you aren’t fired up to vote for Joe Biden this election, go read the Republican plan for a Trump presidency, and you’ll get there,” I began. “The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, always authors a plan for a conservative president if one is elected. This year, it’s the worst possible outcome you can imagine for America. They want to gut every federal office of thousands of employees and replace them with Trump yes-men who will do whatever they want despite the illegality. They are already vetting those employees on their website, Project2025.org.

“They’ve detailed their plan in a 920-page document called Mandate for Leadership. Everyone is at risk in a myriad of ways in that document: Labor union workers, queer Americans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, women, people who can’t afford health care on the private market. School children who use lunch programs. They’re even trying to do away with child labor laws.

“This election is not time to play games*. I’m Riden with Biden all the way. Send me to Chicago, so I can enthusiastically vote for him for president and save the country from the dystopian nightmare that would be another Trump term.”

I garnered the most votes in my category.

SO I’M GOING TO NATIONAL CONVENTION IN CHICAGO BABY!

Let’s all go blind staring into the camera.

It will be an honor to be there during an historic moment in history. I’m proud to stand next to the other Montanans selected to lead this country forward.

After delegate selection, one of the county central committee chairs approached me to ask if I could speak about Project 2025 to her central committee. I gladly agreed and asked her to spread the word to other central committees that I’m available to them too.

So I want to extend that offer to all of you. If you’d like me to give a quick 10-minute primer to your group (via Zoom), and it works out schedule wise, I’m happy to. If you’d like a more in-depth training, I’m happy to do that too, but we’d have to talk about the logistics privately.

Shoot me a message and we’ll work something out!

My calendar is B - A - N - A - N - A - S this summer, especially in June. I’m typing this from a hotel in D.C. that is hosting Gun Sense University, which is Moms Demand Action’s annual leadership training. This is such an incredibly opportunity to learn leadership skills to take back to our communities. I’m so proud of the work other moms like me throughout the country are doing to fight the NRA’s radical and dangerous agenda.

And it seems Biden is proud too because guess who will be here tomorrow!

Also Tuesday, we’re on Capital Hill talking to our senators and representatives about gun safety laws. I’m here through Wednesday, when I head back to Montana to take over parenting so my husband can travel for his job. The moment he gets back, my mom is coming to stay with us for a week and a half, and to top it all off, I got called for jury duty the week she’s in town. Fingers crossed I don’t actually get selected to serve on the jury. I’m happy to do my civic duty… but would prefer to do it a different month.

So if posts are a little more slow in June, it’s because I feel like my head might fall off at any moment.

Onward, Democracy Defenders!

* I said this line as a dig against the woman with Montanans for Palestine who had the audacity to run as a delegate after leading a No Preference vote against Biden in our primary election. I have so, so much to say about the group that is trying to disrupt elections to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. I understand and agree with their stance, but not their methods. They’re attempting to divide the Democratic Party, which will only help get Republicans elected. The great irony is that NO ONE — especially Palestinians — will be safe under Republican leadership.

Dem Leadership Terms

Okay, I promised to make this substack easy to consume for those of you who don’t live and breath politics every day, and I realize using a bunch of words and terms you might not understand. This substack is for political newbies and seasoned vets alike. One of the things that makes access to politics so difficult for everyday people is in the jargon-filled way we speak about the people making the decisions that affect us. It’s elitist and privileged. I want to put an end to that.

Political party politics is different than every day politics. The politics of politics is my least favorite part of politics. Here’s the meaning of words and phrases I used in this post:

Canvassing: Going door to door to support specific candidates

Caucus: This is a group of people within a body. For legislators, there is often a Black Caucus, an Indigenous Caucus, an LGBTQ+ Caucus, etc.

Central Committee: These are the organizations throughout the state that represent you locally — usually based on county (although not always). There are elected positions (chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, etc) and sometimes there are paid positions (depending on the size of your Central Committee and its resources). Central Committee leadership reports to the state organization

Delegate: A person chosen by their state to vote for a presidential nominee

Democratic National Convention: This is when the Democrats get together to vote on a presidential nominee.

No Preference: This type of vote means you don’t prefer any of the listed candidates. It’s basically like a vote of no confidence for an incumbent candidate like Biden. In my state No Preference got 9 percent of the vote in the Democratic presidential primary and an equal 9 percent in the Republican presidential primary, which I was happy to see because there was a concerted No Preference effort against Biden from Montanans for Palestine, but no concerted effort for Trump. That means 9 percent of Republicans just don’t like him.

Primary Race: This is when your state chooses who will represent your party in the general election