Party Of The People Slate Organizes California ADEM Delegate Candidates For Progressive Platform
The 2020 elections we all knew have passed. The people have chosen their president, congress members, assembly members and city officials. But have you ever heard of Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEM) Delegates?
The California ADEM delegates are responsible for conducting Party business at the yearly State Convention and Executive Board voting for several things, including the election of several party representatives, Ballot Propositions and the official California Democratic State Party Platform, according to the Party Of The People Website. Ballots for the ADEM delegates election must be mailed in by Jan. 22. Kyler Asato, District 68 Candidate, became interested in running after being introduced by a friend. They saw an opportunity to make a difference without being in the spotlight.
“This is my first time running for anything. And honestly, I'm not a big fan of campaigning for myself. I hate doing it. But I also recognize that change doesn't come from just helping to elect people. Sometimes you need to make sure that good people run, period,” Asato said.
District 68 is mostly made up of The City Of Orange, Anaheim and Irvine. (Graphic by Party of The People)
The Party Of The People Slate is a new platform dedicated to electing diverse community leaders in Orange County, many being community advocates and activists. They are campaigning in seven districts. Specific points of their platform include abolishing ICE, the Green New Deal, student debt forgiveness and Medicare for All.
“For example, the California Democratic Party platform wants to fight to push universal single-payer (healthcare). However, there hasn't been a bill introduced to The Assembly or Senate…for universal single-payer in years. So what's the whole point of having it in your platform if you're not going to fight for it? ” Asato said.
Each district’s delegates must be made up of seven “self-identified females” and seven “other than self-identified females.” One of the most challenging issues for the ADEM delegate elections is the requirements. Voters must be registered democrats, but they also have to register for this specific election in order to receive a ballot. Members of The Party Of The People Slate have worked hard to ensure the turnout for this election is much stronger than usual. More than 168,000 people are registered to vote this year for the ADEM delegates, a 306 percent growth in voters over the last two years, according to the California Democratic Party.
“With the amount of impact and leverage and power these positions have, it's disappointing that so few people know that they exist. I didn't know that they existed until this year,” said Anat Herzog, District 68 candidate. “I was like, wow, this is really important. And I wonder why it's not something that more people who are registered Democrats have knowledge about or access to.”
After years of servicing the community and advocating for social, medical and environmental justice, Herzog hopes that electing Party Of The People candidates in these seats will result in real, legislative change.
“What am I most looking forward to? The positive impact we can make on a community through legislation, and through a party platform that really will work well for everyone, all the time, and thinking about what that looks like. I'm excited about the positive impact we can make,” Herzog said.
To learn more about Party Of The People, click here.