country that says to guest: comparative advantage assumes full employment so people can go elsewhere. we are in a totally different world we're not talking about 100 million. we are off by orders of there is in host: plenty more to read about by these men on their websites. thanks a much for joining us this morning. that's going to do it for our program today. we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, have a great tuesday.

>> a look at waikiki beach in hawaii. president obama is vacationing as he does every christmas. this year as the 75th anniversary of the bombing of pearl harbor that led to the united states entering world war ii. japan's prime minister is visiting hawaii. he will meet with president obama this afternoon. eastern, he will raise a wreath at the memorial. at 505 p.m. eastern, president obama and prime minister abe will deliver remarks.

the event is live on c-span. willshington journal devote the program to issues that face the donald trump administration. wednesday, we will talk about energy and climate. thursday, we will talk about immigration and how donald trump and the new congress might change immigration policy. on friday morning, we will take a look at the future of the affordable care act and how they will repeal and replace the aca in the key players to watch in the months ahead. be sure to watch washington journal at 7:00 a.m. eastern. announcer: four candidates running to be the chair of the democratic national committee spoke at a forum where they outlined the priorities for the

party. the candidates are representative keith ellison, former chair julian sanchez, jamie harrison and new hampshire party chair ray buckley. >> hello, roberta. i am going to ask for everyone to take their seats at this time so we can get started with this forum. i am the chair of the colorado democratic party. [applause] >> thank you. rick: i also service the secretary of state democratic chairs who is the host this afternoon. first, it is really an honor to have each of you here in my home state. i am proud to say that colorado, along with our neighbor to the south and neighbors in west nevada, we are in a place where

republicans broke their ways. a majority of colorado voters chose hillary clinton to lead our nation, reelected michael bennet in colorado and the expanded the democratic majority. republicans have not been this well-positioned since the 1920's. republicans control chambers of congress and legislators. looking at the map, much of the nation looks incredibly red. turnout was down and we lost our core of working-class white voters who gave up a large part

of our coalition since roosevelt. this party, the democratic party is the party of optimism, right? we believe we are greater standing together, greater than we are on our own and that is when the country succeeds. when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules. but that message either did not give through in november or it was not believable this last november. wide swaths of the american people did not vote with us and we find ourselves at a crossroads and we looks like the new democratic national committee chair, and that is why we are all here today. we have four candidates in three

of them are here with us today. governor dean regrets he is on you to join us if he will be addressing us by video. before we get started, i would like to run through some very important guidelines. first and foremost, this is a forum, not a debate. while we may disagree on our candidate of choice, i would like for us all to agree right now that we would not be disagreeable this afternoon. [applause] >> you should have been handed a credential when you checked in and this will be required for you to stay in this room, so please wear them around her neck at all times. audience members who remove their credentials will be asked to leave. we are also going to ask, and this is going to be neighborly, that no disruptions are going to be permitted from the audience. disruptive people will be escorted out.

there will not be signs permitted, signs will be promptly removed. seating guidelines will be enforced. as you know, there is a rope in the middle of the room. everyone on this side of the extension, should be a member of the democratic national committee or a member of the state association of chairs. our guests are welcome but are seated on the other side of the rope extension. are there any questions about those guidelines? seeing no questions, first, the candidates will have 10 minutes for their speech and then you will have a reasonable amount of time we will provide for our candidates to answer questions. the first introduction i would like to make to have me joined on my left, ray buckley, congressman keith ellison who

represents minnesota, jamie harrison, chair of the south carolina democratic party. and i would ask for you all to please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. [reciting the pledge of allegiance] >> thank you. please be seated. now that we are all comfortably settled into our chairs, the first remarks are going to be by video from governor dean in the remaining order was picked as

the candidates backstage in a random order. mr. dean: hi, i'm howard dean. i appreciate being them to do this by video and apologize i was not able to get to denver. the dnc needs to be rebuilt on the ground up. we need to do something that i call the 50/50 strategy. getting back to a 50 state strategy and focus on the groups that vote for us bigger than any other group, the first generation. the recent that has an attached 50 is because it is the people that vote for us for 50 years. when you vote for someone three times in a row, which they have for barack obama twice and hillary clinton, it is likely you are going to vote that way for the rest of your life. you have to focus on young people, have to get them out in big numbers, much bigger numbers than before. democrats have nothing to be ashamed of.

they received 3 million more votes than donald trump did, but we lost. some of it was water suppression, particularly in wisconsin and north carolina, but we did not get the votes. the real loss was even worse. the real loss is there are more republican governors in this country than we have ever had in history of the united states. the state legislatures. that means of this party has to work at the ground level. this is not an ideological contest. we have to organize a mechanical contrast. we have to stand for something. that is important. being on the ground and trusting state parties and giving them the resources they need with the same strength we had before. you hire them, we will train them and make sure they are adequately paid. we need to be at the database. we are prepared to do that with the same people that brought the database in 2005 when i first

became chairman of this party. we can do this again, but there are important things we must not do. one of them, we cannot allow this to be a proxy fight between bernie sanders and hillary clinton. this party needs to start again and we need to be together. the second thing we cannot do is have a chairman that is part-time. we have to all work together and we have to focus fully on this task. i know this job better than anyone else in this room and it requires 80 hours a week, flying 250,000 miles a year and will have to raise $60 million a year. this is a full-time job. here is my promise to you. i am not going to be a candidate for the democratic national committee chairmanship. i think it is divisive. i have other priorities, a grandchild now but i am dedicated fully to using as much time as i can to support whoever

the chairman is. i ask all of those candidates, and there are some very good ones to work fully together and to take this job is a full-time job. i would support whoever wins. i think it is going to be a great year for democrats, but only if we do those things that i laid out before and i laid out in 2005. on record as chair was extraordinary. when i came in, it was a beautiful building, a $6 million surplus thanks to terry mcauliffe, we do not have the house, the senate and we did not have the presidency. when our team left in 2009, we had a great technology platform, the house, the senate and the presidency. i think that can be done again. thank you very much. [applause] rick: >> thank you to governor dean and it now jamie harrison. mr. harrison: wow.

to have to start after that. can you hear me? no? you can hear me now, ok, great. wow. that is some news. my colleagues and friends, i want to thank you, but first of all i want to thank governor howard dean. [applause] mr. harrison: i want to thank him for the 50 state strategy. i worked in the house of representatives at the time he proposed that and i remember being in the room when senator schumer and rahm emanuel basically said, hell no. we want the money for dccc. i remember my boss at the time who stood up and said, i support

the 50 state strategy. in the end, howard dean was right because we picked up seats in places like kansas and i can tell you nancy, it was not on rahm emanuel's list what we won. i have modeled my tenure in south carolina after governor dean and we have a 46 county strategy. i just want to thank him for all that he has done for this party and for setting out a blueprint for us. i want to thank you. i want to thank you for the millions of phone calls, for the millions of doors you knocked on. i want to thank you for pouring your hearts out to make this country a better place for all americans. this past election was like a punch in the gut. it hurts.

that election still hurts. the morning after the election, my two-year-old son, came into the bed with me and he looked at me and his mom and said, mommy, daddy is sad. i leaned over to him and i said, buddy, yes, daddy is a little sad this morning. he leaned over and he kissed me and he kissed his mom. you know, it was at that moment i requested was not about hillary clinton winning or donald trump winning. i was sad and hurting because of the consequences of this election. the consequences for my son, the consequences for my mom, the consequences for my grandmother, the consequences for all the

people we love. what i have always learned is elections have consequences. over the past two years in various venues, the american people have been yelling and screaming that we have not been listening. they had been trying to tell us something. we saw it in the resurgence of police related shootings in african-american communities were african-americans young and old took to the streets and said, "black lives matter." we saw it with the lgbtq community and its allies fighting in the courtrooms with its loudest voice, who we love matters. immigrants who came to this country looking for opportunity and many escaping poverty and prosecution saying, give us a chance. supporters of bernie sanders saying, our voices matter, do

not take us for granted. and yes, even white middle-class working voters saying, do not forget us because we are special, too. the silver reality of the situation we are in right now, despite all of the amazing achievements that we have had under president barack obama, we have rebuilt the american economy, fought for equal rights and equal treatment for all, provided health care to 20 million americans, and despite being on the right side of so many issues, many americans feel we have not been listening to them. as if they matter because they do not see us anymore in their community. they do not see us helping them tackle the pocketbook issues over the past eight years. you have heard it, i have heard it, many of them said, the same problems i had eight years ago

under george bush on the same problems i'm faced with today. so, folks, the democratic party has to transform. we have to transform from simply being a political organization, looking for votes every two and four years and we must become a community organization, working in our neighborhoods with grassroots activists, addressing the day to day issues faced by middle and working class voters. but sadly we have not been able to do this for almost a decade. we have not invested in the frontline of our party. do you know who that is? all of you. it is the folks working in the state party. we should have predicted what happened because we have seen the signs. when 33 of 50 governorships are controlled by republicans with 50 nine of 99 state legislative houses controlled by republicans, when you have lost over 900 legislators seats in

the course of eight years, we've ignored the signs. these statistics tell me that for the past years we have built a beautiful house, neighbors house, a pretty house and paid no attention to the foundation. the foundation's have dried up like grapes in the vine of the california sun. let me ask you a few questions. how many of you are defending the u.s. democratic senate race or have a governor's race in 2017? as we see a show of hands. keep your hands up. how many of you have less than $150,000 on hand? how in the world can we think our state party can run effective campaigns when it can barely keep the lights on in their party.

when they have to lay off their staff. my friends, things have to change in our party and that is why i decided to join this race to be democratic chair of the national committee. john f. kennedy stated, it is time for a new generation of leadership to cope with new problems and opportunities, for there is a new world to be won. let me lay out my vision for the democratic party. we do not have the presidency and we need a full-time chair, someone who can dedicate 100% of their time and energy to the job. in order to rebuild the party, we need to invest in state parties and territories and the democrats abroad. i propose increasing the state partnership to $12,000 a month minimum to fund all of these organizations. we also have to empower regional caucuses, doing joint fundraising and providing them with the economic support system so they can some work local

candidates. we need regional staff in the regions as well. we need to build a bench. we have been doing this in south carolina. we lost a political fellowship where we are training 250 young people to be the next generation of candidates, county chairs, the next generation of political operatives. young people need a place at the table. we need to create a vice chair position for this young people under the age of 35. we have allowed republicans to catch up with us in technology. we need to foster a wave of political technological innovation. in my first month as chair, for the first time, i will call together a strategy retreat and call together the groups of the dccc and dmo because they have never sat down at the same table to strategize about message and direction. we have to fight to save our

democracy. we have to fight against political gerrymandering. we have to fight against of water suppression and we have to do it in a nonelection year. we need to do a 24/7, my friends. we have to get big money out of politics and cultivate small dollar donors and our actions our words that if we say diversity is our greatest asset, then we need to demonstrate that by the vendors that work with the democratic party and the story that shawn king wrote about the diversity in the senate was deplorable. our senate and congressional staff need to reflect the diversity of our party. but finally we need to get back to the grassroots for it we going to the community, addressing the issues from things from school supplies drives to resume building, to homeownership workshops.

that is how we do constituent service. with that, i am so pleased and honored to have thrown my hat in the ring. i will talk about my background so that you guys get a sense of who i am a little bit later. i want to thank you for all of the support i have received. thank you. i appreciate it. [applause] rep. ellison: hey, democrats. how are you doing? i want to thank jamie for the work you have been doing over the years and ray thank you as well. the effect of the matter is, we are all friends here and we plan on working together no matter how the race comes out. yes. [applause] rep. ellison: it is critical. we are in a all hands on deck moment in everyone one of us

need to figure out what we can do to help the american people reach their dreams in the era of trump. i am with jamie on this issue of just the pain people are feeling. in my own district, a young girl like five years old, she was in a room with her mother and her mother's girlfriend and her mom said, girl, go in there and watch tv and the front, the mother proceeded to tell my friend that if we are arrested and detained because we do not have our papers straight, would you care for amelia? amelia, being a smart five-year-old comes out of the romances, i know what you are talking about. you are going to take care of me of money and daddy are deported. this is the moment we are in. it calls each and every one of

us to put up when we got the three of us will put our hand in this ring because we love the american people and we want to see our country five and grow -- thrive and grow and it scares us. we're not too scared to fight here in we went to offer our leadership to you. i want to tell you, of course it is true that we suffered a very bad tragedy on election day. i tell you, i am still reeling from it, but that tragedy was a long time coming. did you know in 2014, we hit a 70 year low in voter turnout, 36%? the democratic caucus is smaller than since truman. in the last election, we had a 20 year low in presidential turnout. we have a lot of rebuilding to do. we need to energize the democratic activists across the country, giving them the tools

they need to build the party from the very bottom all the way up. we need to do something critical, reclaim the identity of the democratic party as an agent for the working people of america. we have to make sure every american knows that democrats are there to fight with them. walter reuther one cent the ballot box is directly connected to the breadbox. martin luther king, also said, what does it matter if a man considered the lunch counter that he cannot afford a hamburger? we have to be all about that in the work started on november 9. let me share with you my plan. i believe we need not just a 50 state strategy but a county strategy. every small unit of democratic party across the nation needs to be in close partnership with the

dnc and it means every state, territory and of course democrats abroad who supply a very large number of votes and can be the margin of victory in so many of our states. i do not believe there are any flyover states. i am from minnesota and i do not think i am from a flyover state . the industrialom midwest. we are proud. we believe our state has a whole lot to give and so does wisconsin and michigan and i love this country. the south, every part of our country. i will tell you this, i am so proud of you because you guys did some good things in colorado. it was not all bad news. give them a hand. [applause] rep. ellison: but also, an arizona, arizona out there? our blue states are not just atms, not just where we go to

raise money. in california and a lot of other blue states, they are a model for progressive action and we need to use that and utilize that come with tools they are giving us, not just the check, but how are you doing it so well? let me tell you, there are a lot of victories happening. georgia flipped three formerly red counties. do not tell me be cannot win in the south, we can win in the south, we must win in the south. texas, all of the county seats in harris county. good job come on in. great job. we can do more. yesterday i release my platform and the want to look at it carefully and i want you to share with me your thoughts about it. the democratic party should not have -- we have to distribute staff throughout the country on a strategic basis. we've got to be in touch all over this map. years ago me and members of the

progressive caucus talked about making sure we drive up voter turnout in the discover the what we do. we need to increase the funds so certainly help us know some of it also set up a grant program to allow every state to come forward to apply for extra money. i was talking to some state leaders in michigan it telling me they've got a plan for precinct programs. we should fund that, back that. our short. an.esources are short let me tell you, donna brazil is fighting that battle on cyber security. i believe in state parties.

ken is my friend but he is also my partner. we worked together very closely and i am honored that you supporting me because he knows that my campaign has contributed over $1 million to state campaigns. he also knows that we have invested in local races throughout the state. in a year when it was tough all over, we sent congressman nolan back to congress. that is worth a hand. i want to tell you that my district is the fifth congressional district of minnesota and when i first got there in 2006, my district was the lowest turnout district in the state. today, it is the highest turnout district in the state because we haven't tested in turnout, 365 -- have invested in turnout, 365 days a year, all over, everybody coming young people, new americans from all over the place. we are doing the deal. if you look oral success is a

qualification for this job, i fill that criteria. i hope you all will take that into consideration, who has actually produced electoral success and helped other democrats win? democratic governor mark dayton won by less than 10,000 in 2010 that more than 100,000 in 2014. that is because we turned up people. al franken one by 312 votes in 2008 and more than 200,000 in 2014 because we got out the vote are in i and organizer at heart. i walked picket lines with my brothers and sisters in later whether it is nurses, anybody i am out there with you. postal workers, verizon workers, we are there. i have been arrested for standing up for immigration reform, so we are fighting for a new america. i have traveled to nearly 30 states the last two years alone fighting for candidates at all levels. i have the energy and the time to do the work. i am a proven fundraiser and i

have raised over millions of dollars for democrats up and down the ticket and i have strong support from progressive and labor leaders because they know that when i say it i am going to do it. let me just say i believe in unity. it is true. i was a burning supporter. i was very active in very proud hillary clinton support. i believe i can help pull us together, unify us because that is so key and i tell you, i go to places where we have to go to win. i have spoken in state parties in utah, oklahoma and nebraska and also nevada. i believe i can help pull us i spent five hours ringing unity to those in nevada. let me say, i believe in you. i know we can bring this thing back. 2018 can be a big year for democrats but it starts with , strengthening grassroots, turning our attention to turnout, being bold and standing of strong against this trump era

we are facing and calling out the people that may have voted for working-class prosperity but what they're getting is nothing but a cabinet full of billionaires. we need to call a truth out right now. i hope to be your dnc chair. i hope to be your dnc chair, but whether i am or not, i am proud to be your brother and a member of this democratic party. thank you all very much. [applause] rick: think you, congressman ellison. ray buckley? mr. buckley: thank you mr. chairman, jamie and keith as well. i want to reiterate what my two friends appear upset. -- appear have said. we are not running against each other. we have committed to defend each other and as i tweeted out the other day, do not send me crab about one of the other candidates because we are united and we have chosen to believe that we can win but only if we

are one party and we cannot be divided. you can say if you want, but it is not going to affect our support. [applause] most of you have known me nearly my entire life. you have seen me as a teenager, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's. you know the story about studying to become an activist at eight years old because i was so horrified by the injustice of racial injustice. to me, that became my cause. i know little kids are passionate about baseball or barbies or whatever, but for me and the selections and starting at eight years old i started organizing campuses. that is what i believe. i have held every position available within the democratic party from 14 might counter, the chair, city chair for five

terms, county chair for four terms, treasurer of the state party when i was 21, served as executive director, served four terms as the vice chair to the democratic party and i know in my fifth term as the chair of the new hampshire democratic party and i am starting in my fourth term as president of the state chairs association and serving as one of the dnc officers. for those of you may not know, that is not really knackered. by record that i like to talk about is what is happened in new hampshire in the last 10 years. when i grew up in new hampshire, republicans laughed at the idea that we even had to compete with democrats. the election was the republican primary. the last 10 years in new hampshire, 11 out of 13 statewide races, democrats have won. five out of six gubernatorial elections we have won. three out of four senate seats, we have won.

nine out of 12 congressional with races, we have one. nobody in new hampshire is strict cash is great as you track record like we have. for the first time in our history, all four members over delegation are democrats. never before, even before he civil war. [applause] they will also be the first all-female democratic congressional delegation. [applause] mr. buckley: how did we do that? well, we had the success because it was the grassroots. in 2014, it was mentioned that turnout was down. it was not down in new hampshire because we invested in the grassroots. we do not wait for the money from somewhere else. we knew there was nobody coming our way and we decided we were going to raise the money ourselves and we were going to invest and do it. what we discovered after the election, u.s. senator after

u.s. senator in a deep purple states shopping by flies, how to jeanne shaheen coming become reelected? how did maggie hassan get reelected as governor? we went to the deep dive. small state, same tv ads, everything. what was the difference? there is one community actually be other in the turnout was different. why the heck is that? it was how many local people were actually knocking on the doors and making the phone calls. it worked again this year. we really only purple state to pick up the u.s. senate seat. we do that because of what we do on the ground in new hampshire and that is what we need to do in every single state. we have fought back. i want you to know every time republicans in new hampshire have success we ticket right to

them and we danced back the next -- bounce back the next election. that is what we should do to donald trump and every single one of the republican elected officials weather in the state legislator, government or the white house, we need to stand up and fight back and not be shot. -- shy. we need to be bold when we push back. my record is about inclusion and fairness. when my state was saying bernie sanders cannot be on the ballot in the new hampshire primary because he was not really a democrat, i told them to court. there was a challenge filed. i would be for the ballot commission and i said, bernie sanders is a democrat and he needs to appear on the ballot. i escorted bernie to be secretary of state's office to file to make sure he appeared on the ballot. ifif i had not taken that to make sure he was on the ballot, how different would this have been? 60% in the primary voted for bernie sanders. their voice needed to be heard,

respected and that is exactly the fairness we need out of the dnc. first off, i want to reject the notion that we can appeal to all voters. i will never be part of a party that it anyway backs out of the historic struggles. if people want to call it politics, they can call it politics but i got involved as an eight-year-old because of inequality and that is the cause of my life and that is the cause of the democratic party. we will never back down. the dnc has a lot of work to do. we have to restore public trust, democratic base needs trust, activists and elected officials need trust. we have an attack on voting rights. the redistricting challenges, the hacking and now we are living in an allegedly post-truth society, but we need to get our own house in order first. we need radical change.

yesterday before the executive directors i went through a 15 point part, some of which you have heard from my friends, but i will post that on my facebook page in the coming days and you with your exactly what it is. it is based on reform, respect my accountability, transparency, engagement and empowerment. because there are so many dnc members and most everyone here is, i want to talk about what we need to do, get our own house in order. before we expect the voters to trust us, we need to make sure that we have put those safe measures. here is what i am going to do, i will call it the dnc empowerment project. a unanimous eight offices cannot write any decision of the dnc chair. all dnc hires of $100,000 must be approved of the officers. all contracts over $100,000 must be approved by the officers, loans us be approved by the

officers, transfers of $1 million or more must be approved. each officer receives a free monthly financial report. the executive committee, the dnc committee must adopt all dnc fund-raising policy. presidential debate schedule and criteria must be approved by the executive committee. quarterly financial reports come operational reports through the executives and senior staff must appear quarterly and get a report on their department. annual financial report and operational report. we need to make our meetings were interactive. i am sick and tired. i have been on this committee since 1999 and we get talked at. we do not get asked anything. we need to be able to participate. that means in the caucuses and will have a lot more to talk about. the convention.

the idea that we have 20,000 activists international convention but nothing about training and were engaging them were in someone communicating with them so they are warriors for us and our causes, it does not make sense in we need to look at reviving the idea of the midterm convention and conference to make sure we bring up a lot of us. i will be a full-time dnc chair. when i say full-time i do not need 40 hours but 24/7. for those of you on the fcc or not what i've done in hampshire to know when i-64 seven, i mean 24/7. i ask for your vote, i hope to earn your vote in the coming three months. i think we can do this together all working together. , i think we can go out and win. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, raymond. thank you to all three of you. now it is time for questions and

answers. we are going to do this a couple ways. we have the two middle aisles was two great volunteers, maureen from nebraska and alan from florida. what i would like for you to do is, if you are a member of this committee or dnc member and you would like to ask a question, please lineup at the microphone. our volunteers are going to control the microphone and give it to you when i call on you, but we will do this in an orderly fashion. while that is happening, the first question is going to come from me for all three of you. perception we know, perception is reality and politics, right? for many, the perception of this election was about rejecting what many voters see as the establishment.

in controversy in the dnc during our primary, whether we like it or not, created a very deep skepticism within our party and faith in our party was broken. how do we begin to feel these -- heal these divisions and begin the process of restoring trust in this party that we all love so much? jamie? mr. harrison: e first thing is, we have to get rid of this idea that there is a bernie democrat or a hillary democrat or an obama democrat because as long as i have known myself, i have just been a democrat. a democrat that has been fighting for equality and opportunity for all, regardless of what you look like on how you look or background or experiences where you come from. that is the first thing. my experience, many of you know i worked on capitol hill for a while and my job -- i had to get

218 votes every time the bill came onto a four made of progressives, blue dogs, black, asia-pacific, what have you. the way that you do that when you only have a majority i do, the way you do that is you have to first understand that we win because we are a party of addition, not a party of subtraction. we also win because we understand that diversity is our greatest strength and we have to appreciate it and we have to respect it. folks know in south carolina that the way that i lead is by bringing everybody together, listening to all voices. that does not mean i will agree with all of the voices that speak up, but it does mean that they know they are heard and

they know they are respected, and at the end of the day, they know they are part of the process in which we make decisions. i think that is how we have to do in this party. people need to feel as though they are being heard. they need to feel they are being respected. they need to feel that they matter, and i think that a lot of that comes from the leadership but a lot of that also comes from people seeing that it is not just words but there is also action. i think that is the first thing. whomever takes this role as dnc chair needs to sit back and figure out how to bring all of these people together and how you translate that you respect them and that they have someone who will listen to them. >> thank you, jamie. i thought there was a lot of good in there. rep. ellison: i would say that we have to listen. we have to really listen.

that means we have to go all across this community, urban communities, suburban communities, rural communities and listen. that is a process every dnc leader can help with. we need to sit down with our labor friends and really listening. we are good at raising money from them, but with we really listen? i think we need to have some real listening sessions, but not just led by the dnc chair. they need to be decentralized with the dnc chair going around, shut up and listen to folks, not just tell people what is going to happen. i also think we have to get the resources to the people at the grassroots level. that is trusting folks. once it looks like everybody in washington dc is sort of controlling the resources and is not get them to the people that could really use them closest to the voter, bed quite honestly,

even though you have not said i do not trust you, you have shown you do not trust. so, you need to spread the power out and give it to the folks closest to the voter. i think one way to listen to folks is to help win louisiana. i have a phone bank coming your way and i hope to get down there and help all of us do that. the truth is, you want to show her you care about what she thinks, you listen to what she says. may i start by saying, she's asking for help because we still have a shot in louisiana to win. am i right about that? let's start like right now. well, she says fast ahead.

i do not have a problem with that. that guy has a santa claus hat over there. that is the thing, listening to people, going around and empowering dnc members to be the leaders not just in dnc when we are together but when they are spread across the united states. dnc members can be saying, we are going to conduct a listening session, have a chair and vice chair, and we are going to take in your views on those going on and resources where they are most needed because we trust our leaders to distribute those resources in the right way. there is more. mr. buckley: i touched on this a little when i talked about restoring the trust. i think really be dealt with five issues that destroyed the trust of the dnc or the democratic party. one was neutrality. i have the experience of serving as a chair of new hampshire who

not one instance of me not being completely neutral. you can ask anyone who worked on any one of those campaigns. there is not a whiff of favoritism. when somebody says they are neutral, they damn better be neutral, for real. the second, the fundraising agreement. that was highly controversial. guess what? maybe the entire executive committee of the dnc had a role in the conversation, we might want to flag a little bit of that. the debates. again, maybe if the executives at the dnc had a role in that, we might have been able to say, not sure if this really is the right thing to do. superdelegates. there are ways to make this so the states are reflective of the votes. it is something that the grassroots want. it is something, we have a commission working on it, but i'm committed to making it work.

there are ways to make sure that those who are delegates reflect the votes of their state and nine committed to that. the state convention. i watch the videos of what happened in nevada, heard the stories about what happened in maine and we had a leadership washington that decided to do nothing, and is so i took the podium at our meeting in may and said, hell no. we are going to get the leadership of the campaigns and i will go myself to every one of those conventions. i went to wyoming in other places. we do not need to have your riot in our state convention, but the party needs to provide leadership with that. that is my record has been and that is what i would do as chair of the dnc. [applause] >> we have a question over here.

>> when you were asking her questions, and she could say your name clearly and where you are from in your position. >> i am the state chair of indiana. guys, thank you for running and show your time. everyone in this room, at least on the 2/3 side and dnc members are accountable to organizations that have a to start by saying we respect that we need to be accountable for what the dnc provides us as far as organization. if you cannot speak, let's fast-forward to 2019, 2020. can you speak to have the dnc would or would not, and probably would, as we all have to prioritize, adjust resources and still not, i guess, make some states that are not traditional battlegrounds feel like they have been dropped off the earth?

this is not a pejorative statement to any current or past actions, but this is an issue i hear a lot about it home. how do we maintain a level of the 50 state strategy, not just with money which is critical. i appreciated and i want to be accountable for it. it is not just money but talk about how the dnc will have to adjust resources we get into the presidential cycle and look at the battleground states. how do you strike the balance? thank you again. rep. ellison:, to say, i am proud to be for minnesota but i was born in michigan. if you do not think michigan was a battleground state, you have learned it was. my thought about your question, we have got to regard every state as contested territory, but we are going to find and promote resources to develop the

boat in every single county and every single local party in this country. one of the things i hear agreement on is we've got to strengthen the party at the grassroots level because once we just say we are only going to invest resources in battlegrounds, we have simply, we have shrank our map as to where we can win. we cannot be a party that is trying not to lose. we have to be a party that expects to advance and that means investment. i also think when we talk about a portion, so many can be consistent over time with the resource because again, if you are working year-round to develop the voter, you will be able to get the results they were not able to get. it is kind of like, you want to have a party.

if you want to have a great garden party, you are going to have to water the grass, fertilize it, long before he are ever going to have the party. if you want to raise the vote and increased turnout, you are going to have a look. you'll have to have a long-term commitment and a durable commitment to the party whether it is in his so-called battleground state. that is so we need to portion money. clearly there will be places that are closer than others and we might have to make some decisions and be flexible, but there should nothing one part, one inch of the continental united states, any of these states, territories or democrats abroad that we say, we have written you off. we are not going to invest in you. we need to stick with that. so, thank you. >> jamie?

mr. harrison: again, we have to stop with all of the windowdressing and maybe it is because i'm the youngest person in the room and i do not have the history and i rely on those of you that do, but let me just say this, this seems to be the very last election cycle in which the presidential candidate takes over the dnc. [applause] mr. harrison: the dnc is not about winning the presidency. amen? because even red states send two u.s. senators to congress. states have legislators who draw the lines and make a determination, so when we ignore red states.

we are saying republicans, just take those senators and take all of those members of congress that they send to washington dc. they write same laws that impact all of us in red states or blue states or purple states. our thinking has to shift because my friends, let me tell you, if you are not realized this, the republican's thinking has shifted. they are investing money in all states on all levels and if we continue to only think of the presidential thing as the only operation and the only goal for the dnc, we will continue to have 33 governors that a republican. our mentality has to shift. we have to be more than just a presidential party. and is so that means we have to

budget. we set the budget and say we are going to dedicate this amount of money for state parties in whatever, then that is what the budget is. regardless of the presidential election, we have a commitment. we have made a commitment to our state parties in the territories and democrats abroad and we have to stick to that commitment, regardless if you're a blue state or red state. each presidential candidate, when the, try to get the combination, they need to understand that. the power is with us. it is not with a presidential candidate. if we build an organization, a strong organization with a strong foundation, it is not matter if you have a political phenom like barack obama once in a generation or you have a policy candidate like hillary clinton, you win because your foundation a strong. we have not invested in the foundation of this party, and

that has to be the number one commitment. that has to be our sole focus of the course of the next few years. again, that is my idea. i'm not going to windowdressing more. >> thanks, jamie. raymond, before you get started, member if you have questions, lineup at the microphone. the one in front of me, the other in front of allen. if you have questions, please lineup so we are not chasing folks around the room. raymond? mr. buckley: thank you. the best part of going last, i do not have to repeat everything. the first subject, nor turning over the checkbook to a presidential campaign. it is absurd that we do that every time. when you get a chance to look at my 15 point program, you will see it does not matter if you are a blue stick of arrested, purple state. it does not matter if you are a target state or not a target say. when you look at that map of

counties, i believe perhaps rhode island is the only state that is entirely blue. there are red areas of every single state. there are red areas of every single state. there are democrats need help in every state. part of that is having field offices, permanent community centers i believe we need to create. listen, the presidential campaign has enough money to do their target. the governor, they can pick winners and losers, not the democratic party. we have to get out of the business of following what their needs are. -- what they are leads are. we should be about electing democrats in every single state. thank you. [applause]

>> good afternoon. my name is louis elrod, the president of young democrats of america and the other dnc members from my organization represents thousands of young democrats in hundreds of chapters across the country. there are those of us who believe that youth engagement, securing the youth vote means more than hiring young people to work in campaign offices in -- and means more than hiring young people like me to run campaigns. it means actually engaging young people so they are leaders of the party and engaging young people so they were for office. -- they run for office. my question to each of you on behalf of my number ship is, -- membership is, will each of you pledge to put together a real plan for millennial engagement and turnout in election years and if so, what does it look like? >> raymond, you may start. mr. buckley: thank you for the

question. it gives me an opportunity to put in my 15 points. engagement youth votes was down across the country, according to what people are saying. it was not in new hampshire. we have same-day voter registration we can actually , track where college kids register to vote. it was the margin in new hampshire, that is why hillary clinton won, it was because of the youth vote that turned out in new hampshire. we have long-term programs working with them. maggie hassan defeated kelly ayotte because of that. that is how we win elections in new hampshire. we know what we are doing. we have six state representatives under the age of 30. we had on staff -- i don't know if any other young democrats organization had a full-time director, we did. we invest in the youth, we make

sure they are engaged and involved in every level at every state, and they are never not at the table. >> i really appreciate it, we all have to think about how we can engage young people in this process as leaders. not just staff, but also leaders. i will make that pledge to you with that plan. let me tell you what i have already pledged. i think the college democrats have to have a budget. i was told that young college republicans have $5 million and college dems did not have a budget. we have to let them go toe to toe. we have to be there for them. i will also tell you that, i think we should have a focus on college kids, but also on noncollege young people.

we act like everybody goes to college. a lot of people don't. i have three sons and a daughter. my second son went to hamlin university for a semester and set i am going to be a full-time artist. that is what he does for a living. bottom line is, we have to be at the apprenticeship program. we have to connect with -- they have a program called next up. it is all young people, some of them are pretty politically sophisticated. some of them are new to the whole thing. they have a big conference at the bring young people to every year. we should partner with them as much as we possibly can to say, if you are fighting for fight for 15, if you are fighting for immigration reform, if you are a member of black lives matter, or any of these organizations, the democratic party ought to be contesting for your time and attention. not that we want to take you away from those great advocacy groups, but we want you to know

that if you want to fight for 15, you have to pass a law. that means you have to elect somebody. maybe you. these are the things that i am prepared to pledge to right now. i think our labor friends can give us a lot of good advice on how we can get to kids were in a -- apprenticeship programs. also our veterans. i have another son, he has not gone to college at all. he went straight into the united states military from high school. he is getting out in about two or three weeks. he is looking for what he wants to do. we have to be able to talk to our young veterans, because they have advice on how we can connect with young people across the board. thank you for making sure that we promise to that that will be a top consideration. those are some of my ideas.

i would like to get more of yours. thank you. >> thank you for that question and all that you guys are doing. again, on the front lines of this party. you look at the history of this great nation, all of the great changes in this country have happened because of young people. from the founding of this country, young people. from the civil rights movement, young people. in this next phase of the civil rights movement, it has been led by young people. when i was 20 three years old i i was one of the , youngest nonprofit executives in the country. i ran nonprofit called college summit. it helps other low income young people get to college. to get from an organization where we worked with a few hundred students to now working with about 17,000 young people, all across the country, getting them into college. when i was 29 years old i became

the first african-american and youngest executive director of the house and aquatic caucus. in the 200 years plus of the house democratic caucus, which is the oldest organization in the house, i was the first african-american and youngest at 29. at 36, i became the youngest state party chair in south carolina, ever for the democratic party. if i am elected chair at 40, i will be the youngest the nc chair. i know about providing young people with opportunity and allowing them, and giving them the opportunity to exceed and excel. that is what i do each and every day in south carolina. if you talk to the young democrats in south carolina, i spend so much time with my mentee. i am writing a book with a republican friend called, climbing the hill, how to make a difference.

that is what young people want to do, they want to make a difference. they want to build their future. it is important that we do that. we have invested so much in young people in south carolina. my third question or is under the age of 35, that is why i am proposing that we create a under 35 dnc vice chair. in addition, in south carolina, we have the political fellowship geared towards young people, training them to run for office. not just to be the field staff. one of my candidates who ran against mr. benghazi himself, was 26 years old. he went toe to toe with him. we trained him and help them on debate prep. it made me beam with pride. that is what i am all about. empowering young people so they can be their own future.

that is my life history. that is my life story. i am in this with you. >> thank you all. chair of the washington state democrat and the vice president for the western region for the sdc. there are 13 states in the western region, i doubt a quarter of the individuals in this room. it is good to see the three of you representing the south, the midwest and the northeast of this country. i would like to ask a little bit as we talk about grassroots efforts and building the party and drilling down on the experience that you have all spoken passionately about. as we know, it is a little different in different parts of the country. i question to you is, could you speak a little bit about your experience, your knowledge and your plans for working with states and the western parts of the united states?

often times there is the feeling that we are considered a very large, blue, cash register or a , small red state that is a flyover state. we deserve more than that. we have constituencies in the west that extend across borders. we have challenges that are unique. i would like to hear a little about your experience and plans for that. thank you. mr. harrison: i worked in the house with the house caucus. that means representing and working with representatives from all of them. understanding -- when you have to get 218 votes, sometimes votes come on the house floor that some members cannot take. they cannot vote the way that the leadership wants them to vote because of their constituencies, and coastal

aspects of things that do not fly in their areas. one of the things that we have to do a better job of, and we have a particularly in some of our western states. i think what a party, we talk about these values but then our words betray us. but our actions petronius. -- our actions betray us. in some western states you have a lot of native american communities. i have been doing some work with the kellogg foundation and they do so much work in native american communities. it is big. what is going on right now, with the pipeline, it breaks my heart. it absolutely breaks my heart, that we as a party are not standing up. [applause] mr. harrison: and so, i mean, again, we cannot just talk about

this folks, we got to be about it. we can't just talk about it. and i comment to this point, again, i love the president dearly what it is time for some leadership. i know he only has a few more weeks, but it is time for some leadership. it is time for cory booker, who is my man, i know he stood up. it is time for some leadership from this party to stand up and do what is right for the people. so, jackson, just know that coming from a red state that is always the stepchild of the democratic party, or at least that has been since the 60's, 70's, i know what it is to just be used for certain aspects and not feel appreciated. i want you guys to know that this is a commitment from me, not only for just our blue states and the states we need, but for all of the states.

you have a partner who will work each day and every night doing what we can to do what you need to be done. that is my commitment to all of you. [applause] >> i am firmly committed to elevating the voice of our western brothers and sisters. i spoke at the state democratic party at the state of utah. i actually think i have done that twice. i was very honored to be there with my brothers and sisters in nebraska. talk about pipelines, this is the original pipeline fighter over there. [applause] mr. dean: i have written letters asking the president to diver

t the pipeline that i have also spoken and tried to say that we have to get into a conversation because we have construction , workers and native communities, and water and environment. the democratic party should be a source for getting us in a room and coming out holding hands together. never sacrificing where we stand on the issue of the environment. i have been to nevada, spent five long hours. there were fractional differences that i saw in philadelphia. i went to speak at the breakfast, there is a very strong difference of opinion.

they asked if i would come to nevada to sort out a memorandum of a unity agreement? i said i absolutely will do that. weeks later, got on a plane, went to nevada, sat on a plane for five hours, until we came out with an understanding of a memorandum for sanders and clinton supporters. i was glad to do so because i think it was something that our dnc chairs should do. understand the conflict and sit down and help people sort those conflicts out. that is why i did that. i have campaigned and colorado a bit. one of our western states. in arizona, and in washington state. was really happy to go out and help her win her race in seattle. give a hand to pamela. [applause] mr. dean: i have spent the time, and will spend the time.

texas is a southwest date. being there, and campaign there, also working for a city council person. it is not just the federal office, we are working on the granular level. that has been my commitment. i have put my feet on the ground and spent time supporting candidates, spent money and given up myself to help resolve conflict. i think in the west, the state of california, i have read out of time i will tell you more in a little while. mr. buckley: i promise i did not pay jackson for that question, but i am glad he did ask it. in my eight years i have been to , every western state at least

two times. some, nearly a dozen times. i take that back. i have never been to hawaii in the last eight years. if you want to send me, i would be willing to go. new year's sounds good. there has never been a committee or a meeting that does not include western states in the conversation. to cut it really quick, if you have any concerns about my commitment to the western states, you should talk to the chair of the western states democratic national caucus who is supporting my candidacy. >> thank you raymond. i think we have a couple more questions. i want to maybe be more of the provocative question asker, since we have shy audience members. there is a line? oh, ok. they are sitting down.

ryan? >> is it on? good afternoon, my name is ryan ramirez i am the chair of the native american council. i am here for the dnc from belfort, north dakota. [applause] >> we also have deb who is the first native american state party chair. [applause] >> my question is, some of what was answered. i would encourage you guys to make sure and include us in your comments. when you talk about different groups, not one of you talked about native americans. you talked about latinos, asian americans, african-americans, you got to include native -- that is a big thing in terms of our community. that was something that president obama did on the front and really garnered a lot of

support. i don't want to see us go backward in terms of that messaging in that place. i asked, i humbly ask that you include us and do not forget about us as the first americans. secondly, i was going to get to the dakota access. i don't to get is a complex issue between labor and tribes. it is a simple issue. it is about civil rights, it's about human rights, it is about the right to have clean drinking water. it is not a complex issue. it is something that we, as a party and as a people need to stand up for. when you see our indian brothers and sisters getting bitten by dogs and hosed down by water hoses in freezing temperatures, that is not right. that is a simple thing. it is not complex. i beg to differ with you on that mr. ellison. it is not complex in the least, it is simple.

it is a fundamental right for tribes to be able to defend themselves and have access to clean water. everybody in that community needs clean water. they deviated it to protect the cities, why won't they protect our reservations? i preach it time, but i did want -- i appreciate the time but i , did want to echo that it is not a complex issue, it is a simple issue. [applause] >> if i may, i absolutely agree with you, which is why i have letters that are contesting and disputing the pipeline. and i have been on record. i would like to send those to you. i am on record of standing with you. i really do want to tell you, it is absolutely unfair and environmental injustice abuse to deviate the line towards a native community and run the

risk of their water, when you made the decision to avoid a white community. i think you are absolutely right. the treatment of the protesters had been abysmal. that is why i have spoken out at public rallies. i do want to tell you though, i have had people come into my office and tell me, the workers are not to blame. we did not design it, it is not our fault and we are trying to make a living, can't there be a way for us to -- for the democrats to try to drive a win-win conversation? we are not talking about the company, i do not care about them. what i am telling you is, i have a long, strong record of fighting for indigenous rights. i started a group called environmental justice advocates of minnesota, which includes native americans. i have been up to several

reservations fighting for these issues. we have another part of our democratic coalition, people who are workers, union members. i am just saying, we have to create an environment where we can have a conversation. i hope you agree with that. i don't think the protesters have animosity towards the workers, i just think that we have to create an environment where we can come together and have a valid conversation. that is what i want to share with you. i will tell you that, you are absolutely right when you say we have to lift up native american struggle. that is why peggy flanagan, that is why susan allen, state legislators in my estate, i have i have backed , them and throughout the state of minnesota.

not that the moral issues are complicated, they are not. we have this worker issue, and i think we have to talk about it. mr. buckley: it is absolutely empowering to hear you being mentioned. i did not actually go through the litany of the people. i know what it is like, according to the new york times, the first openly gay guy elected to the state legislator in american history. i know what it is like to hear lgbtq mentioned. the first one to lead the organization and the first openly gay person to be a vice chair of a national party. i know what it is like and i know what it feels like, and i apologize if you do not feel like you are included by us. our support is more -- i have cosponsored the resolution for the pipeline. i believe we all need to stand with you.

we will also lead in effort. once, we were told that it was important to the native american community about the jefferson jackson dinner's. state by state has fallen and we have removed those names. different states have gone with different names. we understand the pain and the tragedy that occurred with the trail of tears. we agree that it is inappropriate for us to operate -- to celebrate that. we absolutely stand with you. i don't think that anyone here meant in any way to offend. mr. harrison: you are tremendous and the work you are doing is tremendous. as i left off in my remarks earlier, everybody wants to feel like they matter and that they are respected. lord knows native american community has been disrespected from the start of this great nation.

as ray said we were testing with it even in south carolina. it wasn't even a tussle, because unanimously, our executive committee decided to get rid of the name of the jefferson jackson dinner. i got a lot of blowback from folks, one person said, andrew jackson was born in south carolina. i said, so was john c. calhoun, and? what does that mean to me? when my brother hurts, i hurt. when my sister hurts, i hurt. that is what we need to be as a party. listen, it is not about revising our history or what have you. our history is our history, we have to learn from it so that we do not repeat it. at the same time, we do not have to continue the hurt and the injuries from that. so, i stand up with you man.

i am with you 100%. i am with the community. whatever i can do in the fight, just know that i am here. >> allen? >> hi, i am martha, the chair of the democratic party of wisconsin. i have a simple question, but one that is incredibly important. i think if we answered it in this election, we would have a very different meeting and a very large celebration right now. it is, how will you work to engage -- or i should say, to reengage voters who are from the industrial midwest? industrial midwest? rep. ellison: being from the industrial midwest, i can tell you that what we have to do is sit down and listen to people about the economic pain they have been in. plant closing, people who are hoping the plant does not close, even when they threaten to close

the plant, they are asking for wage concessions. people are dealing with this day in and day out. in some states, we have governors that have not accepted the medicaid expansion. in the age of trump, none of us may have that. should know that, we do not -- in the industrial midwest, i i think people should know that we do not consider ourselves a rustbelt. we are not rusted out, we are up and ready to go. the other thing is that, we are very diverse. i don't mean racially diverse, i mean we are geographically diverse. we have some folks that live in rural communities, suburban communities, urban communities. addressing this idea of the de-industrialization that has taken place over the last 40

years and has flattened our wages, has been a real serious issue. i think the democratic party should be allowed and crowd about our collective-bargaining rights. [applause] rep. ellison: collective bargaining started in wisconsin and it is one of the ones that is most under attack. public employees -- we all remember when you guys so valiantly stood in there and fought against scott walker. the whole world saw your courage. you have a democratic party that stands with you. i think we should really change our language. i don't think anybody means it in a bad way if they say flyover or rust belt, but we need to enhance ourselves. just like the comment about making sure we talk about the native american communities. and the key partnership we have with them. we also have to talk about the midwest and south to make sure that we never contribute to somebody feeling left out, lost, second-best, not included. i can tell you that, if we invest in the grassroots, on the ground in wisconsin, michigan

and iowa, and minnesota. if we do that, and we prioritize voter turnout 365 days a year, we will get those folks back and we will win all over this country and in the midwest. [applause] mr. harrison: i think a lot of the pain that is being felt in the midwest is also pain felt in the south as well. very similar, the textile industry in south carolina was hit hard. we had to pay the and pivot to -- pivot, and pivot to other types of the industry. tourism became one of them. some manufacturing has come back, but we also -- when the three of us spoke to our friends at afl-cio, i mentioned that we do not have very many unions in the south.

there is union presence down there, but it is very, very small. it is a very small footprint. then we have, at the same time, we have unfettered demonization of folks who work, who are union members by our leadership. nikki haley has called union members thug and everything else. as my grandmother would say, everything but a child of god. it is hard to push back. this is what my message was to

our friends in the unions and in the labor movement's. y'all have to help us. it is hard to push back against that if you are not down there and working with us. if you are not trying to grow that area. many of the pain that you guys are feeling either pains that we are also feeling in the south. i can say this, you guys know my background by now. i grew up in rural south carolina. my mom was 15 years old when she had been. i grandfather worked in construction. had a fourth-grade education. my grandmother worked at one of those textile plants that were shuttered. she had an eighth-grade education. to i know what it is like to be on food stamps. i know what it is like to have your lights turned off. i know what it is like to see your rate cash wages not

increase -- or a nickel increase or a 10-cent increase. while the price of goods continue to go up. the price of gas continues to go up. the price of clothing continues to go up. i know what it is like to lose ground. that is what a lot of folks are feeling. a lot of folks say, there is a black man from the rurul south carolina understand what a white man sees. those same poor black people and the same poor white people are shopping and going to the same places altogether because they are all broke together. yes, a black man from rural south carolina does understand what a white man or white woman from rural south carolina is going through. there is a lot of pain being felt. when you have unemployment that is still in the teens. i am in the fight with you. mr. buckley: our problem, in any one of our communities, not just in the rural areas is that we show up to the election and somehow expect to be miraculously connected to the voters.

they are smarter than that. the dnc has a new tool. it is called the building fund. we can take dollars that don't count against anything else. let's raise the money in the building fund. i want to work with every state party. there should be a field office. i like to call it a community center in every congressional district across the country. i found in new hampshire, we had 27 regional offices, more than half were not paid by anyone coming out of office. they were the local people raising and helping with it. it was a partnership between the state party in the local people making sure they had a office. we rented them early and developed them all across the state because they become community centers.

people come, they see it, they become part of the families. opening up the door, maybe we do not have a full-time stoppers in, but it is the place to go. other organizations come in and utilize it. if someone is protecting women's rights, let them come in and use the tables and chairs. if it is about voter protection, let them come in. invite people in. we will have that conversation in the community. we need to get back into the union hall, we need to get back into the church halls, we need to get back into the communities across the state. are too much of gobbledy-gook guys in the basements in washington, or some other place towing us here is analytics. screw that, we need to start talking to the people. if we talk to people they will understand what we believe in and be with us on election day. [applause] >> thank you raymond. terry? we are going to move into one minute answers for the next several questions.

[laughter] >> this is not a yes or no question. you all talked briefly. sorry, it terry tucker, i am a dnc member. you all talked briefly about unity between the bernie and hillary people and we have to bring ourselves together. the grassroots are already starting to do that. these are not new ideas. we are beginning to have little meetings, unity meetings between us. we are doing things with each other, so that we are unified. the important question i have for you is the unity commission. do you have an idea? i think we're under a time deadline that the members need

to be appointed shortly. do you know who you want to appoint? if you don't, are you going to let us? or will it be you appointing because of our deadline? i am very interested in what your plans are for the commission. mr. buckley: i am trying to remember if the appointments have to be made before february 25? there is part of me that has to believe it will be donna brazile's appointment. oh, mr. roosevelt. was i correct, or was i wrong? >> this is jim roosevelt. by the terms of the resolution, the appointments are to be made by the next elected chair of the democratic national committee. mr. buckley: you already know where my commitment is. a lot of the problems that we had came with a lack of understanding and appreciation. i think we need to make some

radical change to how we do a process. i believe that the charge is not to simply look at the issue of's delegates, but how caucuses are governed. i think there is an enormous amount of work that can be done to make people so respected and included. that is why i offered all of those reforms to the dnc itself. i had not given any thought to it but, sure. quite since i thought donna was making the appointment, but i had not given thought to it. mr. ellison: know i do not have any specific people picked out. i think we ought to have people who are interested, identify themselves.

i think we ought to pick a diverse group of people that can represent different sites because i think the democratic party should be democratic. [applause] mr. ellison: i just want to say, one of the most important things we can do for ourselves as the democratic party, is not just to be fair, because we have to do that, but also to appear to be fair and set up transparencies so that everybody knows what is going on, how folks are chosen. they had a shot, we cannot guarantee you will get in there, but you are to be able to participate. i think that this is definitely a real reform that we have to make. transparency, sensibility and inclusion.

mr. harrison: i also thought that donna was making the appointments. nonetheless, i agree with what keith said. they have to be people who want to be unified. there are a lot of people that do not want that. they want the conflict and the back-and-forth. i do not have any time for that. as my grandma always told me, to get respect you have to give it. what i have seen, i had someone tweet, i guess we got cameras here so i cannot use the f bomb. they told me that i needed to stand the f down. a poor black man from south carolina. my entire life people have been telling me to sit down. that ain't happening anymore. i am not going to tolerate it.

[applause] mr. harrison: we have to respect each other, we have to respect each other's backgrounds and points of views. because we are all different. that diversity is our strength. it creates issues as well. and so, whomever we pick on this, it has to be people who understand this. that is the greatest strength of the party and the greatest strength of this nation. >> my name is deborah holland, i am the chairwoman of the democratic party of new mexico. democratic party of new mexico. thank you for allowing me to ask a question. i don't know if it is a question as much as a comment. after i won my election in 2015, about five minutes later i got a facebook message that said

congratulations you are one of three native americans on the dnc. currently we have a caucus of three people. if you are calculating, i guess i should say that i am a very proud member of 10% of the native voting population in new mexico. a lot of native communities in new mexico have up to 40% unemployment, and they still get out to vote and they vote 90% for democrats. i think that we are all missing a tremendous opportunity if we are not really, really working

round. do not suspended because we do not have an election year. those folks need to be engaged year-round. secondly, if we are looking at the population of our committee here, we should have at least 20 native american members on this committee. i urge you all to work, and i know you can do that through state parties. i know some state chairs who are tremendously engage with their native voters, but we need you, our leadership to do more. to make sure that we get those numbers up. i am sure there are other ethnic groups who need representation on this committee. i am not sure if you want to answer this or take this as a comment, but that is what we need. [applause] in mr. harrison: i think it is critically important that you made that point. i am for increasing be native voice in the dnc. i also want to say to you, congratulations on a pretty good year in new mexico, and what was otherwise a tough year a

cross the country. there were bright spots in new mexico was one of them. thank you for your leadership. mr. harrison: we need to increase it in congress as well. and in our elected offices all across this country. i am in that commitment with you. thank you, deb. mr. buckley: in the 1988 convention, jesse jackson required that we all agreed to create appointments to the dnc, to make the dnc more reflective of the democratic party and of america. it has been an important first, second and third step for our communities.

there was a time for the executive on the dnc, we did not have a resident. i announced, and some of you may remember, i was voting no on every appointed to the dnc executive community. we need a transgender member in the dnc. that is the first thing i said when tim came and got elected. we need to make sure someone is on their, she was on the stonewall ward, now i believe we have three. we need to use those appointments and that power of ability of bringing in the communities to make sure the dnc absolutely reflects who the democratic party is and who we want to be.

>> senator karen carty peterson and chair of the louisiana democratic party. thank you all for what you are doing to help us with the selection. i appreciate it, keep it up. i will be passing the santa claus hat later. we were speaking about diversity. i would like all of the ladies to stand up and show that you are here and present. those of you that will be voting in february for the next chair of the dnc. you see all of these wonderful ladies gentlemen? they are voters. [applause] you have not mentioned to us just debt, but here is your opportunity to tell us. because that gender gap is getting wider for the democrats paired we don't like that, we did not break the ceiling. we do not like that. we are very frustrated. i was in north carolina right before the election doing a lot of work. i saw a wonderful woman offer herself for the u.s. senate and she came up short. now, the governor's race, governor elect cooper, did really well. i was perplexed because i went to a lot of those rallies.

i was like, what is going on. then, josh stein won. then you win the race, but we cannot win the u.s. senate race. there is something going on. we need attention, just like other caucuses do. our women's caucus needs your attention, and we would like to hear more about how you will focus on us. [applause] >> you have one minute. mr. buckley: your check will be in the mail, thank you for that question. i have elect a more women in office for any other state party chair in american history. we have our two democratic women as governors, now u.s. senators, both members of congress.

we had the first female majority body in new hampshire after the 2008 election. i just want to throw one thing in there. the women of the afdc has been my base. that is why i have been reelected every time. my executive committee, there was almost two thirds of executives that were women because they thought they had a chance to be involved. this is something i brought up to the rules committee two years ago. because we are unique in new hampshire, i still think, because i get a lot of pushback in new hampshire, women are the only part of the dnc that has a ceiling. i do not understand why it is not a floor instead of a ceiling, why are women limited to only 50%? we could have 100 percent african-american, lgbtq, native american, but women cannot be 51% of the body, committee, or the convention. that is wrong. [applause]

mr. ellison: thank you for all you have done to elevate the voice of women. i share your commitment. i just want to recognize that, in this year we have a chance to elect the first woman president of the united states. the most renowned misogynist ever won the election. stop and contemplate for a moment. we live in a world that is sexist and unfair. and all of us have to have a

commitment to this. i am committed in the long term. >> i was released by a single mom, so i know the power of women. and i am married to a powerful one. yale and harvard graduate, the smartest woman i know. i am going to make some news here. i know that we have been throwing around some things about whether or not we are going to have a chair, or whether a cochair. let me just say this, if we do go to a cochair model, it needs to be one man and one woman, because that is what we do in our states. that is what we need to do if we are truly committed.

again, i am tired of the word and it's all about the action. if we are going to go to that, then that is the model we need to do for this party as well. [applause] >> i am the incoming chair of the nebraska democratic party. thank you. [applause] one of the things iran ran on is promising folks in our state that the m aquatic party will lead on issues, not just candidates. we have to be in the streets showing independents and democrats that we have a back on. when it comes to big issues like, the xl pipeline, the dakota access pipeline, there are about 10 democrats that stood with us. representative ellison was one of them. a lot of the democrats nationally said nothing. while our native brothers and sisters are getting hosed floodwaters and farmers are getting their land taken away

for private gain. i want to know, what issues you guys are going to talk about? what is the issue you really care about that is important to democrats that is currently not being taught about, that you will elevate? >> since we are running out of time here, in the coming years, if you are elected party chair, in addition to what our new chair from nebraska hat, how will you lead our party in opposition to the trump administration and appeal roughly to the hopes and dreams of americans? they are not necessarily the same thing. mr. ellison: let me tell you i am proud to oppose the dakota type plan and the keystone pipeline. it is so hard to pick between just one. we have got to address this economic that so many americans are suffering through.

that is a bundle of things. that is minimum wage. that is a fair trade agreement. i was a clear opponent and fought tirelessly with the transpacific partnership. i will fight more so that our working people in this country don't see jobs go away. health care access is on the line. they are talking about repealing it right away. i think we need to go back to having mass rallies and gathering democrats in local communities and in washington, but all across the country to raise their voices and rally against the era of trump. i bet we could attract thousands of people if we create a resistance movement.

i think this will attract people and appeal to the brought of the nation because trump says he wants jobs, but the truth is he will not deliver any. he has lobbyists, and he is everything else. we will stand against that. i figure we'll get us back in the majority in a short time. mr. buckley: i have to believe that is how we will get the young people. i know you all have heard me say this. i should not be the youngest person at your state central committee meetings. there should not only be one or two people with brown hair. we need to engage. young people will come to our meetings and organizations if there is an action item. i am sorry, that is why we go to church every sunday. or saturday. we go because we want to get together and feel good.

that is why we meet, is to be a collective and be a part of something together. that is what makes us americans. why we have gotten away from doing that, i cannot understand. that's why i talked about the midterm conventions, i think that is important. let's let everyone come in. let's let everyone have a voice in the party. let's showcase all of these phenomenal people we have. there is a rally on january 22 in washington with the million mom march. i absolutely believe that has to happen, not just in washington we need to do it across the state and we want a couple thousand people in the community. some people cannot travel to washington, but they can take a stand against what donald trump stands for. mr. harrison: i just want to

say, time limits are discrimination. we take a wild to talk. we should get an extra five seconds or something. three things, the greatest threat to our democracy right now, political gerrymandering. greatest threat to the growth of our party right now, young people. why? it is they align with us about you wise, but they don't align with us in terms of identifying as democrat. we have to change that. i have $160,000 of student loan debt. $160,000. they get a check every month for me before i pay my light bill. that is what young people are faced with. we have to help them tackle that. last thing, economic stagnation. credit, i tried to get the clinton campaign to talk about this.

credit is the biggest very are living the american dream. if we do not tackle that and help people with that, we never will. >> henry munoz of texas. i have one of those terrible two-part questions. it was like you read my mind. i spent a lot of the last four years traveling around the country. i thought we had a project by which we would go back and look at the cultural identity of this brand, the big d of being a democrat. what i found is that young people and people of color do not understand what that means for them and how it has an impact for their lives. they have lost this connection to what it means to be a democrat. we hire political consultants to help us fix that, when in reality, it is a cultural issue. a part of the cultural fabric of the united states. how would you fix it? the second thing is, i do not

have an issue with much of what you have spoken about today, i just want to know how you will pay for it? [applause] mr. harrison: i am going to be calling you to help me raise some of that money, brother. seriously, the biggest challenge in raising money, i remember when i became chair and folks said, jamie, you are a young black man. this was coming after the -- you have to give people something to invest in. that is why bernie sanders was able to attract small dollar donations. people saw him and wanted to invest. same reason with barack obama and howard dean.

here is our initiative. here is our project. ini the second thing you said, one of the things i said earlier, democrat care, going into the communities on a grass roots level, cap issues on a day-to-day basis. we also have to demonstrate what is going to discourage is when they saw that the senate does not have black folks working or latinos or anybody come and that just kills us as a part so we have to tackle things like that. >> when it comes to attracting young people to identify as democrats, i think of something my dad always said. he said, if you want a friend, be one. when you see young people, fight

for 15, occupied wall street or all of these movements that are out there, but it could access pipeline. the immigration fight. the democratic party has to stand with them and make clear that we are with you. that means, being there and walking that walk and being there. i think that is absolutely true. somebody asked me if i think we need to go left or right? i think we need to go deep. that means build durable trust relationships based on unity and connectivity and the answers will clearly come. fundraising wise, henry, you are the man on that. we definitely will rely on you, but let me tell you. i have raised millions of dollars for the dccc. over a million given to my state party. it is a strong message and people need to know what they are investing in. if that message is compelling, i

believe we will get there. thank you for all you have done. we owe you a debt of gratitude, henry. thank you for your question. mr. buckley: first off, henry, i would ask you to return as finance chair. [applause] mr. buckley: but seriously, when the donors out there, when there is a little old lady that wants to send in $5 or $10 a month, which he trust is that we are spending it correctly and not wasting it, would our staff understand that that is not wasted away? that might have been a meal for that woman. people need to take that seriously. when our big donors see an action plan, with proof positive of getting into the communities, it is a hell of a better investment than a tv ad. we have all the money in the worl