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.

Democratic Clubs II: What’s In a Number?

A typical Assembly District (AD) in Manhattan

You’ve read about Democratic Clubs and you’ve decided you’d like to get involved. How do you get started? And which Club’s district are you in, anyway?

When it comes to political districts, the first thing you need to know is your Assembly District, or “AD” for short. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know it! Lots of folks don’t, and the numbers change over the years so it may be different then you remember.

The best bet is to click here and do a quick search. When I put in my address, I learn that I’m in the 73rd AD, and that my Assembly Member is Dan Quart.

Now, for me, this makes things easy. The whole of the 73rd AD, from 96th down to 32nd, is represented by one Club: the Lexington Democratic Club. So my next step would be to go to the Lex Club’s website, join the Club and sign up for the e-mail newsletter.

But here’s where it gets confusing. Some clubs cover more than just one AD, and lots of ADs are covered by more than one club! Confused? Let’s look at an example.

Suppose my friend Keiko lives on Roosevelt Island. She goes online and finds out that she lives in the 76th AD and is represented by Assembly Member Seawright. But the 76th AD has two official Democratic Clubs: the Lenox Hill Democratic Club and the Four Freedoms Democratic Club. Which one covers Keiko?

To find out, we have to dig deeper and look at how ADs themselves are politically divided. Next time we’ll look at what are called Assembly District Parts, and learn how to sort out exactly where we stand.

Democratic Clubs Part I: Size Matters

By Cory Evans

Want to get involved in the Democratic Party at the hyper-local level? I don’t mean Congress, or even the City Council — I mean really, really local. If you do, and you live in Manhattan, you should consider getting involved with one of the many party clubs organized throughout the City.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of Democratic Party clubs in New York City. The first category is called district clubs, the second category is called city-wide clubs. Today we’ll talk about these two categories and explain the differences.

District clubs represent the Democratic Party within a certain geographic area. For example, my Democratic Club — called the Lexington Democratic Club — represents the Democratic Party throughout the 73rd Assembly District.

You can be a member of as many district clubs as you want, and there are dozens throughout the City. But, by courtesy and tradition, you can vote in one. That club is called your voting club or home club, and you are said to be a voting member of that club.

Citywide clubs focus on advocating for an issue or cause within the Democratic Party. Examples include the Manhattan Young Democrats, the Stonewall Democratic Club and the Muslim Democratic Club. You can join as many city-wide clubs as you like and you can vote in all of them if you wish to.

But how do you know which district club covers your neighborhood? And how are the geographic borders decided anyway? I’ll try to answer both those questions next time when we focus on district clubs and district leaders.