Four members of Kane County Democratic Women attended the National Federation of Democratic Women (NFDW) Convention held in St. Louis on June 5-7: KCDW Chair, Carolyn Bird Salazar; Public Relations Chair, Sylvia Marshall; Membership Chair, Martha Hanna; and Linda Willet. NFDW President Barbara Faison welcomed everyone to this important convention held during a time when there is chaos and uncertainty in America, and the leadership of NFDW can play an important role in organizing and recruiting women throughout the country. She was followed by the Mayor of St. Louis, Cara Spencer, who is the city’s third consecutive female mayor.
NFDW is the oldest national women’s organization that is affiliated with the DNC. It was founded in 1971 and holds two seats on the DNC Executive Board. Currently, the NFDW has 33 federations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and 26 were represented at this annual meeting, which also happened to be an election year for officers. Officers are elected for two-year terms, and each state that was represented at the convention cast 20 votes for the candidates they wanted to win.
This year, there was strong competition for the positions of President and 1st Vice President. Debi Thompson, 2nd V.P. and Chair of the Finance Committee, and Lovie West, 4th V.P. and Chair of the Political Education Committee ran for the position of President. Debi Thompson placed her name on the ballot for the position of 1st V.P. in case she did not win the President’s race, and Christine Pelosi, 3rd V.P. and Chair of the Women in Blue Committee, had also sent in an application to be the 1st V.P. The other positions—3rd, 4th, and 5th Vice Presidents, Recording Secretary, and Treasurer–had only one nominee. Kim Savage, the co-chair of Illinois Democratic Women is the new NFDW Recording Secretary.
On Thursday, all the committees gave their reports, and the candidates running for office spoke about their past accomplishments and visions for the future. Debi spoke about the work and offices she has held in the NFDW during the past 25 years. She said that when she first became active in Oklahoma, every state position had only a Republican on the ballot. No Democrats were running at all. Her mission was to get someone on the ballot for every position. Lovie’s speech was more about the future of the organization. She said that Mississippi can be very dark politically and frightening to voters who need political education and training. It ranks 49th in education. Lovie’s mission is to educate voters throughout the country and hold Republicans accountable for their actions. If we don’t reach out as an organization, people will not vote. She spoke about her work as the founding President of the DeSoto County Federation of Democratic Women and the launching of a leadership institute and clubs. In 2016, she worked with the Clinton campaign in battleground states and has managed a Congressional campaign in Mississippi.
Throughout the two days, we heard inspirational speakers such as Margaret Weinberger, Chair of the Somerville Democratic Committee, who said Democrats need to engage people with recruitment, reactivation, and reclamation. This involves community organizing and showing up in unexpected places. Democrats can fight back and hold the Republicans responsible by attending townhalls and discussing how our Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, and healthcare benefits are being cut by the Republicans to give tax breaks to the wealthy. We are in a fight for our lives, and we are the answer. To former Republicans who want to join our fight, Democrats can welcome them. It will take all of us to win this fight.
On the last day of the convention, we voted for the officers that will lead the federation for the next two years. Before the vote, the Illinois delegation met to decide whether we would cast all 20 of our votes for president for one candidate or split them between the two candidates. After a short discussion, the 11 members of the Illinois caucus decided to cast all of our 20 votes for Lovie West who has an inspiring plan for the future of NFDW.
Lovie won the presidential election, but there was conflict over the position of 1st V.P. The NFDW President, Barbara Faison, announced that since there was only one candidate running for the 1st V.P. position, Debi Thompson would be the 1st V.P. The California delegation said that there was a candidate from their state, Christine Pelosi, who had filed the papers and been vetted for the 1st V.P. position, and they did not understand why she wasn’t being considered. Barbara stated that the nominations had been closed at noon on the first day, and an announcement was made then. She said that Christine should have announced that she wanted to be considered before nominations were closed. It appears that Christine did not receive a personal letter from the Nominating Committee when she sent in her papers, but the Nominating Committee recommended Debi Thompson for the position if Debi did not win the office of President. This information had been published and sent to everyone. There was a debate about whether Robert’s Rules of Order allowed another person to be considered when the nominations were closed, and it was decided that the membership could vote. Christine Pelosi won the position of 1st V.P. It was decided that the 2nd V.P. seat formerly held by Debi would remain vacant until the President Elect appoints someone. Debi cannot run for a second term for that seat.
The meeting continued on Friday with excellent speakers, which included Missouri State Senator Tracy McCreery. There were regional meetings following lunch, and our Illinois delegation chose Jennifer Franklin as our new Regional Director. Jennifer grew up in East St. Louis but moved to Illinois to attend SIU during college. She is a founding member of Cook County Democratic Women. She wants to cultivate membership in NFDW and train women to take leadership roles. This includes reaching out to women from diverse backgrounds so the organization represents the diverse backgrounds found in IL. Jennifer is a lawyer and currently works for a government agency in Chicago.
The day concluded with a dinner banquet and installation of officers. Former Missouri Governor, Martin O’Malley, and Vice Chair of Voter Protection for the DNC, Reyna Walters-Morgan, delivered the evening remarks. Nancy Pelosi also addressed the convention by Zoom. The KCDW attendees learned a lot during the convention and are planning to go in future years, depending on the location. We exchanged contact information with some of the other Illinois attendees and talked about ways to reach out to women in our counties. Hopefully, next year’s location is nearby, and more KCDW members will join us.
