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2017 Demmy Awards

Please join County Leader Keith L.T. Wright and the New York County Democratic Committee for the Demmy Awards on Monday, July 17th, 2017 at 7PM at School of Visual Arts Theatre- 333 West 23rd Street.

The Demmys is Manhattan’s premier Democratic event to honor those New Yorkers who make our city, our state and our nation great.

For more information and to purchase tickets online CLICK HERE

Have questions? Need help? Email us at thedemmys@gmail.com.

THE DEMMY AWARDS NOMINATION PROCESS IS NOW OPEN!

Know someone who you would like to nominate for Manhattan Democrat of the Year or Young Democrat of the Year? Great! Submit a nomination by emailing us at thedemmys@gmail.com with the word “nomination” in the subject line.

Would you like to see your club win a Demmy this year? Go for it! Send us your nomination at thedemmys@gmail.com with “club of the year” in the subject line.

The nominating process closes on July 6th at 12PM. Don’t delay send in your nominations today!

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2017 Endorsements of the New York County Democratic Committee

On May 17, 2017 the New York County Democratic Committee Executive Board met to vote on endorsements for city-wide and county-wide elections. Below is the list of endorsed candidates. You can see the full minutes of the meeting here.

  • Mayor – Bill DeBlasio
  • Comptroller – Scott Stringer
  • Manhattan DA – Cy Vance
  • Manhattan BP – Gale Brewer
  • County-wide Civil Court Judge – Phaedra Perry
  • County-wide Civil Court Judge – Richard Tsai
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Welcome Democrats!

Keith Wright Image

PROGRESS- LEADERSHIP- INCLUSION- ACTION

Welcome to the New York County Democratic Committee website! Here you’ll find important information regarding upcoming events, relevant news and photos, and information about how to get involved.

New York County is the most historic and important democratic region in America. Each day we carry the banner for progress while fighting to make our borough one of inclusivity and pride. We are elated to welcome you to that fight.

Democrats believe that all people deserve the ability to pursue their dreams and fulfill their potential. We fiercely protect and promote access to opportunity for all New Yorkers, and we believe in lending a hand when necessary and unifying to meet our community’s collective challenges.

Join us.

Keith L.T. Wright
County Leader, New York County Democratic Committee

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Why All The Elections?

The next Election is June 28th for the Congressional Primary. Why are there so many this year?

Although the NY Presidential Primary was concluded in April, our State still has three more elections ahead of it:

– A Congressional Primary Tuesday, June 28
– A State Primary Tuesday, September 13
– The General Election Tuesday, November 8

Why all the elections? The Presidential Primary is set by the Democratic Party and has been around the same time every four years for decades; that was expected. The General Election, too, happens in early November every four years.

The packed schedule is the result of Congressional Primary splitting with the State Primary. In 2009, Congress passed the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act to ensure military personnel (and anyone else abroad) would get their absentee ballots with enough time to vote.

Specifically, the MOVE Act requires ballots to be sent out 45 days before a Federal election (primary or general). And, of course, you can’t send out a General Election ballot until you know who won the primary. Since the State Primary, Sept 13, is not 45 days before Federal General Election a new date was required. The legislature decided to make it the old State Primary date of June 28.

That means this coming Tuesday there are four Manhattan Districts with primaries:

  • 7 (Nydia Velazquez); Lower Manhattan
  • 10 (Jerry Nadler); Lower/Midtown Manhattan mainly W. side
  • 12 (Carolyn Maloney); Lower/Upper Manhattan mainly E. side
  • 13 (Former Charlie Rangel); Harlem

 Find your congressional district here.

You might wonder “why not move both primaries to a new day?” Well, that was tried. It passed the Democratic Assembly and failed in the Republican Senate. Sadly, this will likely result in much lower turnout. Unless, of course, you help us get people out to vote!

Lone Voter
Let’s hope voter turnout doesn’t suffer.

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5/22/16 Executive Board Meeting Recap

This past Sunday, May 22, the County Executive Board met to endorse candidates in the primary election for Civil Court Judge and approve the Party Call.

Civil Court Endorsements
Josh Hanshaft Esq. and Emily Morales-Minerva Esq. have received the endorsement of the NY County Party for the Countywide Civil Court vacancies.

They will run in the upcoming primary with the support of the Democratic Clubs and county organization which will help them petition and turn out voters for their win.

Should they win the primary, they will then proceed to the general election as the Democratic candidate.

The Party Call
The “Party Call” lists all of the available Judicial Delegate, Judicial Delegate Alternate and State Committee positions.These party positions will be elected during the Primary in September.

Judicial Delegates are proportional to the Democratic voter turnout (how many ppl vote for the Dem) in the last Gubernatorial election by district.

State Committee is two per Assembly District (Male and Female).

Meeting Live Tweets

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Democratic Clubs III: It’s That Easy

Last time, our friend Keiko decided to get involved with a local Democratic Club. But there are two Clubs in her Assembly District — which one represents her?

To be an official Club, the Club has to be affiliated with an elected Democratic District Leader. You can find a list of the district leaders elected in Manhattan County HERE.

Each District Leader represents a neighborhood which is called an Assembly District Part. Figuring out the Part lines can be a bit tricky, so it may make the most sense to e-mail our County Secretary at manhattandems@gmail.com and ask which Part you live in.

In Keiko’s District, there are four Leaders representing two Parts: Kim Moscaritolo & Adam Roberts, and Jill Eisner & John Halebian. Remember, each district leaders’ job is to engage with the Democrats in their district, so you should never feel hesitation in reaching out.

Keiko, lives in the Part jointly represented by Kim Moscaritolo and Adam Roberts. She remembers Adam — when he was gathering signatures last year, she bumped into him and traded e-mails. Now it’s as easy as reaching out! She finds his information on the District Leader page (or, if it’s missing contacts manhattandems@gmail.com) and send hims a note.

“Dear Adam,” Keiko writes, “I’m a Democrat and I live on 80th & 2nd. Am I in your district? Which club am I in? I want to get more involved, what should I do next?”

Now, we just wait for Adam to write back — and then we take it from there.

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How a Judge Becomes a Judge Part 1: Civil Court

One of the most honorable duties of the New York County Democratic Committee is to endorse candidates in the Democratic Primary for Civil Court Judge races. Since Judicial races are often under most peoples’ radar, these endorsements can be very important.

In Manhattan, we have a marquee process. The Judicial Committee, a sub-committee of the County Committee composed of a District Leader from each Assembly District (AD), creates an independent screening panel, attended by representatives from third party organizations. The panel proceeds with a thorough review of all applicants and endorses between two and three candidates for each open seat; some of which are County wide and some of which fall within specific districts (but we’ll get into that another time).

Next, the County Executive Board (composed of all the District Leaders and the elected County Leader) votes on which of these candidates will be the endorsed candidate in the Primary. The winner of that, of course, goes to run in the general election. The winner of that, is a judge.

Sound complicated? Here’s a handy graphic.

Civil Court Infographic 3

 

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Downtown Congressional Endorsement Meeting

On Sunday, April 28 four Democratic Clubs held an endorsement meeting for Congressional candidates.

Village Independent Democrats, Village Reform Democrats and Downtown Independent Democrats hosted Rep. Jerry Nadler, Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Rep Carolyn Maloney wasn’t able to attend, but sent a representative.

Read the live tweets from our Secretary Ben Yee below.

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#TransparencyTuesday Summary

The Democratic Party is the party of The People. We fight for inclusivity and demand solutions to the inequities that plague communities big and small. Here in Manhattan, we’re using our platform to emphasize the importance of getting involved.

This #TransparencyTuesday we have so much we have to do it over two weeks! This week:

  • Watch a quick video of our Secretary, Ben Yee, explaining how County Committee selected a Democratic nominee for the special Assembly race on the Lower East Side.

Next time:

We’ll update manhattandems.org, with all of the State Committee members – democratic voters’ representatives to the State Party. We’ll also publish an article explaining the importance of their role in the democratic process.

A new map with electoral information everyone needs to know, but many don’t! And who doesn’t love maps?