When Marcel Groen became Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party he pledged and promised that we would put in place a 67 county strategy for all future elections.
For the past year and a half, our team has been busy working to deliver on that promise with our Vote Local PA program. Since the election, we’ve been building volunteer teams across the state and coordinating with other start-up groups that have been advocating for individual causes that line-up closely with the Democratic platform.
2017 is a very important year for the Democratic Party; for us to start winning back our state (and our country) we must begin in our own backyards. This election cycle gives us an opportunity to grow our bench in statewide appellate courts and win municipal level seats across the commonwealth.
This year, we put together a new process reviewing, selecting, and endorsing a slate of statewide judicial candidates. The new “Judicial Review Committee” brought together a group of dedicated individuals from all 8 regions of the state along with representatives of various constituency groups and the legal profession.
Meeting with all the statewide Democratic judicial candidates, this new committee diligently deliberated on who they felt, collectively, would be the strongest slate. Our endorsed judicial candidates can be found on this site at padems.com/candidates, where we include some biographical information and links to their websites or social pages for further engagement.
Now it’s up to all of us to work together to make sure this slate, our endorsed slate, wins in the Primary (Tuesday, May 16th) and moves with momentum into the General Election.
Remember, in 2015 we did the unthinkable and swept the statewide slate for judicial elections. This year, we are seeing the highest levels of people-powered Democratic activism that we’ve seen in decades. It is an exciting time, and people want to get involved in the process to make sure we elect the best candidates. We’ve already begun the process of connecting county groups with volunteers from the presidential campaigns and other activists who have asked to be plugged into the local party structure. We know that our most ardent, long-time supporters will work closely with these new enthusiasts who want to help fight it out in the trenches so that our statewide slate can sweep the elections once again.
In that spirit, we encourage you to start spreading the word in your social channels about the statewide endorsed judicial candidates. Below, you’ll find our first Vote Local PA graphic for the 2017 Election Cycle. You can save the image and share it locally, or click the share buttons at the top of this article to share the image directly to your social media streams. Or do both!
Thank you for all your hard work to help get Democrats elected.
To Victory!
Mitch Kates
Political Director
Pennsylvania Democratic Party