From the San Francisco Democratic Party Chair - May Updates
May 16, 2024
Fellow Democrats,
It has been an eventful first month of the new 2024-2028 term of the San Francisco Democratic. The newly elected members were sworn in at our first meeting, we elected the Executive Board of the Party, and passed a number of resolutions on issues ranging from the Party’s support for organized labor to the importance of sound housing policy in San Francisco. You can read all of the resolutions in their final form here.
The Party also began the process of addressing the long standing issue of sexual assault and harassment in our political community. I convened a Special Committee in order to understand the pervasiveness of the problem and to work on a new Code of Conduct by which we can all hold ourselves accountable to each other.
On May 2, 2024, Acting Chair Lily Ho presided over the first meeting of the Special Committee. Survivors generously shared their stories with the committee members, underscoring the very real effect that sexual assault and harassment has on survivors and the chilling effect it has on participation in the political community. The Special Committee’s next steps to build this code of conduct are as follows:
Committee research on best practices to address sexual assault and harassment, including model codes of conduct
Workshops on May 21 and June 24 with stakeholders and chartered Democratic Clubs on proposed framework and language
Presentation of new Code of Conduct to the full DCCC at the July meeting
Adoption of new Code of Conduct at the August meeting
It is important that we are inclusive and involve our community of stakeholders - survivors, experts, and democratic clubs - in creating the code of conduct and policies. Stakeholders have been invited to join us in being a part of the solution to create survivor centric, fair, and clear guidelines for the way our chartered Democratic clubs will handle sexual harassment and assault complaints in the future. Once the new Code of Conduct has been adopted by the DCCC, all chartered Democratic clubs will be required to adopt it as part of their rechartering process this fall.
We are also gearing up for November elections! Director of External Operations Lanier Coles is our lead for supporting candidates on the federal level, including President Joe Biden. We are hoping to put some of our SF Democrats' power behind close Congressional races in the Central Valley – Adam Gray (CD-13) and Rudy Salas (CD-22). While we will be organizing for specific dates TBD, anyone can sign up for the regular Wednesday and Sunday phonebanks here.
Additionally, please save the date of Thursday, July 11, 2024, for our annual SF Democrats Gala. This is the Party’s fundraiser for election field efforts - including re-electing President Joe Biden - and our opportunity to recognize our local Democratic heroes and organizations. Stay tuned for more details.
Our next regular meeting of the San Francisco Democratic Party will be on May 22, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. in the Milton Marks Auditorium, 455 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. You can find our tentative agenda here. Please join us!
In solidarity,
Nancy Tung
Chair, San Francisco Democratic Party