Dear State Central Committee members:

I am so grateful for the feedback and support I’ve received in my bid to be re-elected State Democratic Party Chair. Hearing from all of you has been truly insightful and helpful in shaping my goals for Nevada’s Democratic Party over the next two years.

I am still looking for your feedback and would love to hear from more of you all. If you’re looking for ways to show your support and get involved, or have some input and would like to reach out, please send us a message here.

In my last message, I shared with you my vision for our party. I’d like to expand a bit on that by outlining our priorities. I think it is important to show you all how, with your help, we were able to accomplish the goals we laid out when I first ran for Chair and how we can build upon these objectives.

Please take a minute to read our priorities for the Nevada State Democratic Party:

1. Empowering County Parties and SCC Members

When I first ran for Chair, there was a bit of a disconnect among members following the 2016 election. That’s why I set out to ensure every member and every county felt heard and everyone felt empowered to become more active in our party operations. In 2017, I set out to create a fully interactive training program to empower SCC members to serve as organizers in their communities and provide County Parties with the training, tools, and authority to administer VAN so they are equipped to organize their communities year-round.

 One way we did this was in creating the RACE Committee--a committee designed to train our members and Democrats engaged in electing Democrats across the entire state of Nevada. We did this by developing 14 different training modules covering communications, event planning, field operations and organizing, fundraising, media (news and social), parliamentary procedure, party structure and member orientation, technology, operating VAN at various levels, youth engagement, and provided participants with a static candidate toolkit. The RACE Committee also offers live webinars of all the training programs and is working on new programs to be released later this year.

 These trainings are meant to empower members and help Democrats in every county reach voters through various means. I believe these trainings made a huge difference in the party’s efforts in 2018 and if we continue training all members, from leaders to new participants, we can continue to activate Democrats in every county. It is my plan to continue these trainings and expand them as needed.

2. Creating an Accessible and Welcoming Party

It is so important to me that every single SCC member and Democrat in Nevada feels like our party works for them and that everyone feels more engaged in our operations. In 2017, I set out to make our Party more accessible and make the Caucus to Convention process less confusing. Here’s what we did to create a more accessible and welcoming party:

 The Caucus to Convention Committee was established and designed with a focus on and objective of increasing the participation of Nevada residents who are registered Democrats in the presidential nominating Caucus to Convention process. To date the committee has held five meetings, each with a different focus and all with opportunities to hear from local stakeholders and experts in the subject matter. These meetings also included more than two hours of public comment to ensure the committee offers recommendations to the Party that reflect feedback from attendees.

 The Party also began hosting listening sessions in Clark County to help bring unity to the party and provide an outlet to those who felt their voice wasn’t being heard.

 It was also a priority of mine to make our SCC meetings more accessible. That’s why we began implementing video conference locations for each meeting so that every member is able to participate regardless of ability to travel. We also opened up voting in these meetings to both Washoe and Clark County.

3. Fostering a Culture of Respect and Transparency

In order to become a more unified party, we must operate in a way that encourages transparency as well as create a culture in which each SCC members feel respected.

 In 2018, we assigned each county a trained organizer to help better engage with Democrats across the state and increase participation in both our primaries and in November.

 The Party also opened its first-ever field office in the Historic West Side of that encouraged residents to become more active in the community and increase face-to- face interaction with voters. Additionally, the Party increased presence in our East Side office in Las Vegas, hiring High School students from the community to engage with their neighbors about the election. Because of this targeted work, last November we saw record turnout among millennials and minority voters compared to previous midterm elections.

 This cycle, I want to keep all members informed when it comes to how our caucuses will operate as well as how to participate in our caucus process. I plan to work with each county to both train members and new participants in our updated caucus process and get your feedback when it comes to finalizing our delegate selection plan.

We’re still working on designing more innovative ways to reach every county and I hope, with your help, we can establish a process that works for the specific needs of each county.

4. Ensuring Long-Term Sustainability

Our Party did great work in 2016 and we showed Republicans we weren’t backing down in 2018, but we cannot slow down now if we want to continue winning in 2020 and beyond. We need to establish long-term practices that allow our operations to continue year-round and keep members and voters engaged.

 Part of our success up and down the ticket in 2018 was due to our coordinated campaign efforts. This helped ensure a unified message among campaigns and established relationships that will increase success in 2020.

 The Party also remained active in 2017 in working--successfully--to push back on Republicans’ efforts to recall Assemblywomen and , bringing in funding for organizers to be on the front lines of our Decline to Sign campaign and collect thousands of signature removal forms.

 In 2017, I laid out the need to bring on year-round staff to keep our momentum going through legislative session and into the election year. This January we brought on a rapid response team including a Communications Director and Research Director to strengthen our message, maintain connections with press and follow Republicans we believe to be potential threats in 2020.

 Part of remaining sustainable includes continued fundraising. In 2018, our average online donation was just $19--a key sign of our grassroots support. We are proud of our grassroots support and in order to increase engagement during the off year, we are focusing on growing our email lists, working with our delegation to create a coordinated outreach effort that capitalizes on active donors within the community.

 We are also working to update our voter information database to create more detailed voter information to ensure we’re reaching active Democrats.

We have made tremendous strides to accomplish these goals, but I believe we can always do better. If we can build on all of our good work, we can make it so our elected Democrats are able to continue their good work on behalf of all Nevadans beyond 2018.

A large part of maintaining our success relies on hearing from all of our members and remaining united. If you have questions, ideas, feedback, please contact me at 702-481- 8139.

I hope to earn your support in the upcoming election on March 2 in Reno.

All the best,

William McCurdy II

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This message was produced and distributed by William McCurdy II, [email protected], 702-481-8139.