Democratic Party of Michigan

The Democratic Party of Michigan is the Michigan political party affiliate of the national Democratic Party. The group is headquartered in Lansing, Mich.

Background

The Democratic Party of Michigan has affiliated County and Executive Committees for each county in Michigan (except Wayne County), as well as District and Executive Committees for each district in the state.^[1] The party also has numerous affiliated Democratic Clubs across the state, including Bay County League of Democratic Women/Men and Inkster Democratic Club, as well as several affiliated caucuses such as Arab American Democrats and Hunting, Fishing & Gun Ownership Caucus.^[2][3] The Democratic Party was organized in Michigan as early as the 1830s, and the party has continued to influence state politics considerably. Currently, Michigan's House Democratic Leader, Democratic Floor Leader and Assistant Clerk are all Democrats, as are the Michigan Senate Associate President Pro Tempore, Minority Leader, Assistant Minority Leader, Minority Floor Leader, Assistant Minority Floor Leader, Minority Caucus Chair, Assistant Minority Caucus Chair, Minority Whip and Assistant Minority Whip.^[4][5][6]

Platform

The party's stated platform is composed of 4 main issues:^[7]

• Opportunity
  "The Democratic Party is committed to closing the opportunity gap by investing in the people of our state and is fighting to implement measures which will make a difference in the lives of everyone."

• Community
  "A core value for Democrats is strengthening our sense of community. Michigan Democrats believe strongly that what we do together is important and makes life rewarding. Working together, we can achieve more than working separately. We all want to live in a place where we have ties to family, friends, and neighbors; where we roll up our sleeves to work together with our neighbors on issues that improve our lives."

• Security
  "The Democratic Party believes that our nation, state, and communities can be secure only when individuals and families are secure. We want to prevent people from 'falling through the cracks' or being driven to antisocial behavior from preventable causes. Democrats believe in personal responsibility; we hold individuals accountable for their criminal or terrorist acts. When adults or juveniles have been released from incarceration, Democrats believe that we must help to reintegrate the person returning to society. Security also entails the economic security of our nation; Democrats will be proactive in planning for our nation's future energy sources. We need green energy sources to prevent climate change, maintain pure air and water, become more self-sufficient, and provide new jobs."

• Accountability
  "Democrats believe government and corporations must be accountable to people. In a civil society, all institutions, private and public, must be accountable for their actions. Democrats believe we must take strong measures to improve the connection between the public and our government, and help the public hold those that deal with them, including corporations, clearly accountable for mistreatment and mis-deeds. Regulatory agencies must put service to the people first. We must forge a culture that encourages individuals to take responsibility for their lives and for how they interact with others."

Rules and bylaws

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Note: This page is not intended to serve as a manual for candidates. Individuals who are interested in running for office should contact their state election agencies for more information about specific filing processes and requirements.

See also: Rules of the Michigan Democratic Party

The state party is governed by a set of rules and bylaws. Typically, these give structure to the different levels of organization—local, county, and state committees—and establish protocol for electing committee members. The bylaws also typically give details on the party's process for nominating and sending delegates to the national party convention during presidential elections. The following is a selection of the Michigan Democratic Party's rules. This selection focuses on the structure and governance of the party:^[8]

• Delegates and alternates for any County or Congressional District Convention, any Democratic State Central Committee and any County or District Executive Committee is elected using proportional voting.
• Any qualified and registered elector who files a completed Michigan Democratic Party membership form with State Party Headquarters is a member of the Democratic Party of Michigan.
• The Michigan Democratic Party holds Fall State Conventions in even-numbered years and Spring State Conventions in odd-numbered years, and the agenda is set forth by the State Central Committee in a Call to Convention.

Convention

The 2016 state convention for the Michigan Democratic Party, when the party selects its delegates for the Democratic National Convention, took place on June 11, 2016.^[9]

National convention delegate allocation, 2016

See also: 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules

Terms and definitions

Hover over each term to display a definition.

Ballot access laws Ballot access laws regulate the methods by which candidates and political parties can have their names printed on election ballots. Ballot access laws are typically adopted, administered and enforced at the state level.

Primary election A primary election is a state-administered election in which voters select their preferred candidates by casting secret ballots.[10][11][12]

Caucus A caucus is a party-administered meeting. At a caucus, participants may debate about the candidates; in addition, the voting process itself may not be conducted in secret. Instead, caucus-goers may vote by raising hands or gathering in groups organized by preferred candidate.[10][11][12]

Delegate Delegates "are individuals chosen to represent their states at their party conventions prior to a presidential election."[13]

A political party formally nominates its presidential candidate at a national nominating convention. At this convention, state delegates select the party's nominee. Prior to the nominating convention, the states conduct presidential preference primaries or caucuses. Generally speaking, only state-recognized parties—such as the Democratic Party and the Republican Party—conduct primaries and caucuses. These elections measure voter preference for the various candidates and help determine which delegates will be sent to the national nominating convention.^[10][11][12]

In 2016, 35 U.S. jurisdictions (including states and territories) held a presidential preference primary to allocate convention delegates to both parties’ presidential candidates; in 13 jurisdictions, both parties held caucuses where party members gathered in precinct or county meetings to vote for delegates to a state convention that ultimately selected national convention delegates. Eight jurisdictions utilized a divided process in which one party held a primary to allocate delegates and the other conducted a caucus or convention.^[14][15]

The Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, the governing bodies for the nation's two major parties, establish their own guidelines for the presidential nomination process. State-level affiliates of the parties also have some say in determining rules and provisions in their own states. Individuals interested in learning more about the nomination process should contact the political parties themselves for full details.

Michigan had 147 delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Of this total, 130 were "pledged delegates." National party rules stipulated how Democratic delegates in all states were allocated. Pledged delegates were allocated to a candidate in proportion to the votes he or she received in a state's primary or caucus. A candidate was eligible to receive a share of the state's pledged delegates if he or she won at least 15 percent of the votes cast in the primary or caucus. There were three types of pledged Democratic delegates: congressional district delegates, at-large delegates, and party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs). Congressional district delegates were allocated proportionally based on the primary or caucus results in a given district. At-large and PLEO delegates were allocated proportionally based on statewide primary results.^[16][17]

Seventeen party leaders and elected officials served as unpledged delegates. These delegates were not required to adhere to the results of a state's primary or caucus.^[16][18]

Leadership

As of June 2016, the executive director of the Michigan Democratic Party was Garrett Arwa.^[19]

The website for the Michigan Democratic Party lists the following individuals as the party's state leadership:^[20]

Other leadership roles, 2016[21]
Lavora Barnes, Chief Operating Officer Kelly Tebay, Finance Director Shelbie Rose, Deputy Finance Director Ryan Covert, Director of Party Relations Paul Kanan, Press Secretary	Dorothy Johnson, Office Manager Abdulla Alhassani, Director of Constituency Relations GT Long, Northern Michigan Senior Field Organizer Megan Lizotte, Data Director

State political party revenue

See also: State political party revenue and State political party revenue per capita

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party maintain state affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories. The following maps display total state political party revenue per capita for the Democratic and Republican state party affiliates from 2011 to 2015. The blue map displays Democratic state parties and the red map displays Republican state parties. Click on a state below to view the state party's revenue per capita totals:

Total Democratic and Republican state political party revenue per capita in the United States, 2011-2015

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Michigan Democratic Party'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles; they are included to provide readers with the most recent news articles on the subject. Click here to learn more about this section.

See also

• Democratic Party
• Michigan

External links

• Michigan Democratic Party Website
• Michigan Democratic Party on Facebook
• Michigan Democratic Party on Twitter

Footnotes

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