Feb.23-25
The California Democratic Party annual convention will meet in San Diego on the weekend of February 23-25, 2018. Convention Delegates will decide CDP endorsements for U.S. Senate, Governor, state Constitutional offices and Legislative/Congressional candidates.
Delegates will also be adopting the Party Platform.
California Democratic Party Annual Convention
San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego 92101
Friday, February 23, 2018 to Sunday, February 25, 2018
For all Convention-related inquiries, unless otherwise noted, please contact Mike Roth at 916.813.1554 or [email protected].
General sessions of the convention will be streamed live on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/cadems/
List of confirmed speakers:
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris*
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)*
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi*
Rep. Maxine Waters*
Tom Steyer*
Jon Lovett, co-founder of Crooked Media, host of Lovett or Leave it and co-host of Pod Save America
Mayor Eric Garcetti*
Rep. Barbara Lee
Rep. Ted Lieu
Rep. Ro Khanna
Rep. Zoe Lofgren
Rep. Nanette Barragan
Fmr. Sheriff Lupe Valdez, (D-Dallas County, Texas) and Candidate for Governor of Texas*
State Sen. Toni Atkins
State Sen. Holly Mitchell
State Sen. Josh Newman
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher
Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber
Assemblymember Todd Gloria
Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr.
Assemblymember Laura Friedman
Myrtle Cole, San Diego City Council President
Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton
Lisa Middleton, Palm Springs City Council (first openly transgender City Council member in California)
Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach
Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
Teferi Gebre, Vice President, AFL-CIO
Roxanne Sanchez, President, SEIU California and SEIU Local 1021
Yvonne Walker, President, SEIU Local 1000
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation
Doug Moore, AFSCME International Vice President, Executive Director, United Domestic Workers
David Dayen, Journalist
*Denotes Keynote Speaker
List of Candidates Speaking:
U.S. Senate (Saturday afternoon)
· Kevin de León
· Dianne Feinstein
· Pat Harris
Governor (Saturday afternoon)
· Gavin Newsom
· Antonio Villaraigosa
· John Chiang
· Delaine Eastin
Lieutenant Governor (Saturday afternoon)
· Jeff Bleich
· Ed Hernandez
· Eleni Kounalakis
NOTE: The Lt. Governor Candidates will be participating together in a candidates forum on stage, with Vice Chair Daraka Larimore-Hall moderating and asking questions submitted through social media and our mobile messaging service.
Secretary of State (Saturday Morning)
· Alex Padilla
· Ruben Major
Attorney General (Saturday Morning)
· Xavier Becerra
· Dave Jones
State Treasurer (Saturday morning)
· Fiona Ma
State Controller (Saturday Morning)
· Betty Yee
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Saturday Morning)
· Tony Thurmond
· Marshall Tuck
Insurance Commissioner
· Ricardo Lara
· Asif Mahmood
CDP Thematic Programming Blocks
CDP Chair Eric C. Bauman and the Statewide Officers have instituted a policy of devoting a portion of General Sessions at Executive Board meetings and Convention to Celebrating the core communities and values of our Party. For our General Sessions, we will be featuring the following Programs:
· Mobilizing Women to Run, Vote, Lead: featuring CDP Vice Chair Alexandra “Alex” Gallardo-Rooker, Senator Holly Mitchell, Assemblymember Laura Friedman, CDP Women’s Caucus Chair Christine Pelosi, Planned Parenthood California CEO Crystal Strait, Emerge California Executive Director Maimuna Syed, and special guest musical performance.
· Celebrating Black Voters: featuring Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber, Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., CDP African American Caucus Chair Darren Parker, California/Hawaii NAACP President Alice Huffman, SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker, and a special video.
· The Millennial Mindset: featuring CDP Secretary Jenny Bach, City of Walnut Councilmember Andrew Rodriguez, City of Lemoore Councilmember Holly Andrade-Blair, Legislative Staffer and former CSUF Student Body President Pedro Ramirez, Orange County Young Democrats Chair Danielle Serbin and featured speaker Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.
· Labor & “I am 2018”: featuring American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, AFL-CIO Vice President Tefere Gebre, SEIU California and SEIU Local 1021 President Roxanne Sanchez, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski, United Domestic Workers Executive Director Doug Moore, and a special video.
Luncheon and Dinner Programs
Our Luncheon Program will feature CDP Chair Eric C. Bauman, remarks by national politics and policy journalist David Dayen and Jon Lovett, co-founder of Crooked Media, host of Lovett or Leave it and co-host of Pod Save America.
Our Dinner Program, “All Politics is Local” will feature a line-up of Democrats serving in municipal offices discussing the innovative and progressive policies they have implemented. The program will be emceed by San Diego City Council President Myrtle Cole, and will feature Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Garvey Unified Trustee Henry Lo, and Palm Springs City Councilmember Lisa Middleton, the first transgender person elected to a city council in California. Our featured speaker, Representative Barbara Lee, will close out the program by offering insights on the interplay between city government and the federal government.
The luncheon and dinner programs will also feature musical performances from the San Diego Women’s Chorus and Duy & Justin Nguyen-Amigo.
PLEASE NOTE: Out of respect for our Delegates and Activists who purchase tickets to attend these events, the Luncheon and Dinner are closed to the press. However, subject to staff availability, we will make every effort to facilitate interview requests with speakers at these events.
Platform & Endorsement Process
General information on the CDP endorsement process can be found here. Specific questions about the endorsement process can be e-mailed to CDP Communications Director John Vigna, [email protected].
For information on the CDP platform, including the draft submitted by the Platform Committee, please click here.
The Platform and endorsement consent calendar (for Congressional, Senate and Assembly races) will be adopted on Sunday.
Endorsements for statewide candidates and Board of Equalization will take place on Saturday and will be conducted through paper ballots. The results are final – there is no appeal, and to win the endorsement, a candidate must receive 60 percent of the vote. Due to the record number of candidates seeking the CDP endorsement in statewide contests, we anticipate vote counting will not conclude until late in the evening on Saturday, but we will announce the results when they are confirmed.
