ADEM

Eddy Yeretnov

The quest for political power does not end with the general election. Throughout the electoral term, there are moments when citizens and activists alike can influence the policy makers’ decisions. One such moment is during the California Democratic Party’s Assembly District Election Meeting (ADEM).

To achieve meaningful changes, we must spread awareness of this crucial step in the political process. Just a few thousand voters could decide some critical issues like the possibility of tuition-free public college in California. Older students have the unique opportunity to exert a profound influence in these elections.

In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was elected governor of California with 48% of the vote. In 2018 Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, was elected with 62%. This change shows how California has a completely different political environment than just 15-20 years ago. This is primarily due to the state’s demographic shifts.

As a result of this shift, Democrats control a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature and every statewide elected office.

As the California Republican Party continues to platform far-right candidates, moderate voters continue to fuel the Democrat’s edge in districts that traditionally voted Republican. This all results in a straightforward conclusion: the Democratic Party controls state politics.

As that conclusion sets in, the question becomes: who controls the Democratic Party? The answer isn’t simple.

The party is controlled by the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC). This is a committee of delegates that vote on the policies and candidates the party will support. The DSCC is large (2800-3200 members), and there are three distinct groups represented roughly in equal proportion.

Eddy Yeretnov

First, are the delegates elected through the county central committees. Each county gets four delegates plus one per every 10,000 registered delegates in the county. These delegates are mostly party insiders who are already members of their party central committee.

Next are the appointed delegates. All Democratic elected officials and nominees are delegates and can also appoint between two and six delegates themselves. Legislative and Congressional leadership has an additional 90 delegates. Party leadership also gets to appoint 30 delegates.

Lastly are the ADEMs, the delegates elected through California’s 80 assembly districts. Democrats from each district elect seven female-identifying delegates and seven non-female identifying delegates. These delegates range from activists and party insiders to non-partisan elected officials such as city council members and mayors. These elections are the only say that ordinary people get on the Democratic agenda. Yet, they are still shrouded in mystery.

ADEM is traditionally held as a caucus. A caucus is a meeting of local party members where they select delegates.

Caucuses have become a rare phenomenon in American politics, replaced with government-run primaries. Caucuses have traditionally decreased voter turnout due to their time-consuming nature, requiring voters to attend an hours-long meeting. This leads to the conclusion that ADEMs are in the caucus format for two reasons.

Firstly, elections for internal offices of the party are not state-funded, and secondly, the caucus keeps the number of voters low. Usually, the youth turnout disproportionally falls in a caucus compared to a primary.

The initial reason for keeping the caucus format is simple to overcome by running something called a firehouse caucus. The firehouse caucus is a party-run primary. The North Dakota Democrats used it for the 2020 presidential primary. This method would allow voters to simply cast their ballots instead of caucusing.

In previous years, the ADEMs required voters to attend a physical caucus and spend hours voting, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to switch to vote by mail (VBM). VBM could increase turnout by making it easier for people to cast ballots, but also requires voters to specifically request a ballot, which may confuse those who automatically request their ballot.

The ADEMs are held at the beginning of every odd year, a couple of months after the General election.

The turnout in these elections are low. 33,000 voters cast their ballots for ADEM two years ago. That is 336 times fewer people than the amount of Californians who voted for Joe Biden in 2020. This small number of voters equates to an average of 412 voters per district.

The number of voters is incredibly small to the point where Carlmont’s senior class would likely sweep a district. Meaning, if they voted as one block, they could win all 14 delegate positions. This is all without mentioning that two years ago was the highest turnout in ADEM history. Two years before that, only 11,000 had their voice heard.

Due to the shallow nature of the Caucus turnout, campaigning has taken on a unique character. Instead of running sophisticated campaigns or battling it out on the field of ideas, candidates use personal connections to win. One person usually doesn’t know enough people to get a majority, but by forming alliances, or slates as they are known, candidates can work together to win. With a slate of 14 individuals, each candidate would only need to bring 15 friends to win an average California district.

While, in theory, this creates opportunities for activists, elected officials have used this as an opportunity to expand their influence.

Kevin Mullin, who represents the assembly district Carlmont is located in, put together a slate with well established elected officials and some party activists. While there are some good members on the slate, Assemblyman Mullin already appoints several members to the DSCC. This is a clear attempt to exert more influence.

To combat elected officials’ influence, organizations like Our Revolution have created endorsement lists for every assembly district and push voters from their extensive email list to turn out. The turnout efforts allowed progressives to take a majority of executive board seats.

This is the election that California residents should be worrying about. There is nothing that will change as a result of the General election. We know at least that for the foreseeable future, Democrats will control California state politics. This is why we, as current and future California Voters, must vote in these elections to decide the state’s ruling party’s policy.

After the 2022 midterm elections, consider casting your vote for the ADEMs, as it may end up making a more significant difference.

Appointed Delegates ADEMS

County Central Committees