Dear Young Democrats —

As many of you know, after his birthday in October, our former committeeman Dunixi Guereca became ineligible to complete the remainder of his term. I want to thank him for his service and dedication to the Young Democrats of America and commend his advocacy for young people, the Latino community, labor unions, and rural America. I wish him great success as a freshman senator in the great state of Nebraska.

I am excited to announce that I am appointing Katherine Jeanes of North Carolina as interim Democratic National Committee Representative for the Young Democrats of America. Katherine currently serves as a member of the DNC Youth Council. They have also previously served as a National Committee representative for the Young Democrats of North Carolina and as YDA Communications Director.

As many of you know, the next chapter of the Democratic National Committee is an important one. There were many great applicants for this appointment, and it was important to me that the person who took on this role understood the burden of responsibility imparted on all DNC members as we vote on the next leadership team of the DNC, especially our next Chair — I am confident that Katherine is the right person for this moment.

When I met them at our convention in Cincinnati, I saw a new young Democrat who was motivated and driven but also tired of fighting for their seat at the table and pissed off at the powers that be. Most of us are. Over time, for many of us, we grow to accept what we can’t change.

But KJ never settled. I saw their team transform the Young Democrats of North Carolina into a fundraising and organizing powerhouse. I watched them set their sights higher, helping their National Committee counterpart, Anderson Clayton, run an underdog campaign and win, becoming the North Carolina Democratic Party chair and the youngest chair in the nation.

This year, North Carolina became the only state to flip a single statewide office from red to blue, and they did it twice. The North Carolina Democrats did all of this without compromising on our values of standing with the underrepresented and the marginalized—without throwing trans kids under the bus, without blaming immigrants for our economic and societal ills. When some of us said, “We’re not going back,” we meant it.

Katherine knows what real power building looks like. They’ve proved how our fight to build a better party on the inside has a tangible impact on our results at the ballot box. As we vote on the next leaders of our party,  I want someone who knows what our state parties need from our national leaders to be successful. I want their voice as a nonbinary person at the forefront as some of our leaders try to put trans rights up for negotiation. I want a proven fighter for young people on our side.

I’m proud to be able to add Katherine to our national leadership team and to have them join our delegation to the DNC. I look forward to the National Committee confirming their appointment at our meeting this coming weekend in Boston.

If you want to reach out to Katherine about anything, especially to touch base about the upcoming DNC chair vote in February, you can reach them at [email protected] or @katherinejeanes on Twitter (@katherinejeanes.com on Bluesky).

Best Regards,

Quentin Wathum-Ocama
President, Young Democrats of America