Fighting Systemic Racism

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Today Congressional Democrats introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. In the midst of worldwide outrage at the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, this is one of the first concrete steps proposed in response to these law enforcement atrocities. Although we do not know whether this particular legislation will become law or even if it should, we welcome this action as a step in the right direction.

But police brutality, as egregious and appalling as it is, forms just one piece of the apparatus of systemic racism that stretches to every corner of our society, assaulting Black Americans in every aspect of life. Whether the topic is income, schooling, health care, housing, or simple personal safety, racism is there and in control.

As the face of the Democratic Party in Cambridge, the Cambridge Democrats are here for the long fight. Our most important contributions as political activists will be:

• To help remove the people from power who stand in the way of reform, like Donald Trump and his allies. This involves working on campaigns (virtually this year!), phoning, texting, emailing, talking to friends and neighbors, and helping to get out the vote come election time.
• Having helped elect good people to positions of power, holding their feet to the fire through advocacy to help ensure that the worldwide passion for racial equity and justice does not dissipate.

Come join the fight. If you haven’t already signed up, click below to get email updates and hear about opportunities to volunteer!

Email Signup

Click here to register for the Zoom meeting:

Register for Cambridge Dems Zoom Meeting

In order to facilitate the Q&A period, please submit your questions for Juliette using this Google form:

Ask Juliette Kayyem a Question

We are delighted that Cambridge's own homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem will be our speaker when the CDCC meets online to reorganize and elect officers on April 7th.

While serving in the Obama administration, Juliette played a pivotal role in the successful handling of the H1N1 pandemic of 2009–2010. No one is more qualified to speak to us about the current pandemic, its impact on political institutions, and the road ahead.

Juliette was President Obama's Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, following her tenure as Governor Deval Patrick's homeland security advisor. Currently she is the Senior Belfer Lecturer in International Security at the Kennedy School, where she is faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects, a regular on-air national security analyst for CNN, a weekly featured analyst on Boston Public Radio, the CEO of Grip Mobility, and much much more.

The meeting will be a Zoom videoconference that you can attend with your computer, tablet, smartphone, or even by calling in on your landline telephone if you're feeling old-school. Click on the button above to register.

If you don't want to participate in the meeting but want to watch the proceedings, the whole thing will be live-streamed on Facebook, on Instagram, and on our new YouTube channel. We will try to monitor comments on those sites, but no promises…

This is our annual reorganization meeting, and we'll hold officer elections for the positions of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Affirmative Action & Outreach Advisor. Not only are CDCC members eligible to vote in these elections, but we encourage all interested members to run for an officer position! After the elections are concluded, Juliette Kayyem will speak to us and take questions starting at 8:00pm.

When and Where:

Tuesday April 7th at 7:00pm
(wards may meet virtually at 6:30 — or even earlier, check with your ward chair)
Location is wherever you happen to be!

Agenda:

I. Approve minutes of previous meeting
II. Officer reports
III. Election rules and procedures
IV. CDCC Reorganization: Officer elections
V. Juliette Kayyem speaks at 8:00pm
VI. Announcements
VII. Adjourn

***Caucuses Temporarily Suspended***

The following statement was just sent out by the Massachusetts Democratic Party:


 
In light of guidance provided by state officials at this afternoon’s press conference, the Massachusetts Democratic Party is temporarily suspending all caucuses scheduled to take place. In the event that this temporary suspension must continue for an extended period of time, the Party will develop a replacement to the caucus process. We will continue to follow the guidance of state and local health officials and will make a decision to end the temporary suspension based on that guidance. The Party has informed Senator Markey and Congressman Kennedy of this decision, and each supported the necessary decision by the state party to postpone the caucuses.

We'll keep you posted! Thanks to all who took part in the Cambridge caucuses in wards 5, 8, 9, and 10 this past weekend. We're sorry the fun has to be put on hold for a while!

Caucuses to Elect Delegates and Alternates
to the
2020 MassDems Nominating Convention

Democrats in Cambridge will hold caucuses in March to elect a citywide total of 94 delegates and 44 alternates to the 2020 Massachusetts Democratic Nominating Convention. The convention will be held at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell on May 30.

The convention will vote on candidates for the US Senate, determining who will be on the primary ballot in September and who will receive the endorsement of the convention.

Caucus Locations and Times

To find out what ward you live in, visit www.wheredoivotema.com (MA Secretary of State site). Sign-in for each caucus will start 30 minutes before the official starting time, and attendees must be inside or in line to sign in no later than 15 minutes after the starting time.

The fine print: Caucuses are open to all registered and pre-registered Democrats in Cambridge. Pre-registered Democrats must be 16 years old by Feb. 15, 2020. Same-day voter registration and pre-registration will be available at the caucuses. Sign-in for each caucus will start 30 minutes before the official starting time, and attendees must be inside or in line to sign-in no later than 15 minutes after the starting time. All caucus locations are accessible to persons with disabilities.

Delegates will be gender balanced and provision will be made this year for non-binary gender candidates. All ballots will be written and secret. Youth, minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBT+ individuals who are not elected as delegates or alternates may apply to be add-on delegates, either at their caucus or online at www.massdems.org.

For more information, visit www.massdems.org or contact Warren Behr, Chair of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee, at 617-575-9320 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Presidential Campaigns

– and –

Selection of Candidates for Election Commissioner
Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 7:00pm
Lesley University Hall, 1815 Mass. Ave.

All politics is local (more about that below!) — but you also have national politics on the brain, right?

So after we take care of Election Commissioner business on Thursday (again more about that below) we will hear from all six of the competitive presidential campaigns!

Now calm down, we have none of the actual candidates. We're not miracle workers, people.

But the six candidates who participated in the last Democratic debate in Las Vegas are all sending surrogates to make their final pitch for your vote before the Massachusetts Presidential Primary next Tuesday, March 3. Each campaign will present a short closing argument, and then we will have a question-and-answer period for all the campaign representatives.

OK, now let's get local.

Cambridge's own Tip O'Neil, the longest continuously serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was fond of saying that "all politics is local." One of our most important responsibilities as Cambridge Democrats is intensely local — it falls to us to select candidates for the office of Cambridge Democratic Election Commissioner. This is local politics at its finest and most pure, as we are entrusted with helping to maintain the integrity of elections here in Cambridge.

Following the public hearing held on Feb. 12, the Cambridge Democratic City Committee will meet on Feb. 27th and vote to select ranked choices for a four-year term on the Cambridge Election Commission. The city manager will choose the next election commissioner from this list.

Questionnaire responses were submitted by two candidates, Gary Mello and Larry Ward, and both candidates appeared at the public hearing held on Feb. 12th. The questionnaire and the submitted responses are available as PDF files:

2020 Election Commissioner Candidate Questionnaire
Gary Mello Responses
Larry Ward Responses and Resume

When and Where:

Thursday, February 27 at 7:00pm (wards may meet at 6:30)
Lesley University Hall, 1815 Mass. Ave.

Agenda:

I. Approve minutes of previous meeting
II. Officer reports
III. Unfinished business — endorsement resolution
IV. Selection of Election Commissioner candidates
V. Program — presidential campaigns
VI. Announcements
VII. Adjourn