(I meant to post this earlier this week...better late than never.) If you are reading this, it's probably because you know me or you know someone who knows me, but I thought I'd give you a little info about me and how I became a delegate.
I am from Phoenix, Arizona (native actually) and live in a central Phoenix historic neighborhood with my husband and two children. I work at Sojourner Center, the largest domestic violence shelter in the country, as the Director of Government Relations. As a social worker, I have been involved in issues like homelessness and domestic violence for many years. My involvement in politics is much more recent - I have been really politically active for the past 4 years.
So, a lot of people have asked me what I had to do to become a delegate. The 2004 convention was the first one that I really paid attention to and watched coverage of. When Barack Obama gave the speech that propelled him into the national spotlight, that is when I decided that I wanted to be a delegate. So I started asking people what I had to do. Most of them said that I needed to pick a candidate and volunteer on their campaign. If my candidate won delegates in Arizona, then I could run to be a delegate. It's actually a little more complicated than that. But, when Hillary Clinton announced that she would run for President, I knew that I would volunteer for her and that I wanted to be a delegate for her more than anything else.
So volunteer I did! My good friend Dana Kennedy started organizing a steering committee for Clinton in Phoenix and I signed up for it. I tabled at events, had a house party, and made more phone calls than I care to remember. I took several days off work for GOTV, and our efforts helped Clinton win in Arizona. The results of the Presidential Preference Election are what determines how many delegates each candidate will get. To become a delegate candidate, I had to submit a form pledging who I wanted to be a delegate for. Before the lists of delegate candidates are published, they are sent to the respective campaigns for vetting. The campaign can strike anyone off (which is why being a volunteer is important - if they don't know who you are, you probably won't stay on the list).
The elections are held first at the congressional level and there are a certain number of slots for each candidate in each congressional district. My good friend Dana Kennedy and I both happen to be in Congressional District 4, and there was one female Clinton delegate slot in our district. Dana is a mentor to me, and I did not want to run against her, so I ran a really bad campaign, and she was elected. She deserved to be. Oh, the people voting in this election are the Democratic precinct committeepeople. Then there are at-large slots, and the election for those is done at a state convention of all the Democratic state committeepeople. I ran at this level and won, with more votes than anyone else who was elected!
I am very proud to be a delegate representing Arizona and I welcome you on this journey with me.
