Welcome to 2023, John.

We're fired up and ready to start the New Year and there is so much work to be done. After what seems like an eternity, we finally have a Speaker of the House. Our folks in Virginia and New Jersey are gearing up for their off year state legislative elections, while many of us have our eyes set on defending the White House, taking back the House, and defending the Senate in 2024. 

Most importantly, we are 157 days away from our National YDA Convention in Las Vegas, NV. Over the next few months, we will be rolling out information, Q&A Sessions, and everything you need to be a successful delegation at YDA Vegas. So keep your eyes out as we head to reorganization together! 

Upcoming Events: 

• January 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• February 2 - 4: DNC Meetings in Philadelphia
• February 20 - President's Day
• March TBD - Virtual YDA Meeting 
• June 18 - June 21: YDA Vegas Convention 

Updates:

The 2023 National Convention of the Young Democrats of America will take place June 18th through June 21st in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the MGM Grand Hotel.

All information pertaining to YDA Vegas can be found at yda.vegas. 

This website will be updated with more information surrounding the Convention over the next few weeks and months, but you can reserve your room today. 

The DNC will be hosting their winter meetings from February 2 to Saturday February 4, 2023. The Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown is now accepting reservations for our 2023 Winter Meeting. Please book your room by Thursday, January 12.

If you were lucky enough to attend the Resume workshop led by our very own 2nd VP Nnedi Stephens in Buffalo, we wanted to pass along materials that they wanted you all to have. And even if you weren't able to, these are still very helpful resources to have as we enter into a new cycle of hiring! Check it out here. 

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have seen the news about the 2nd runoff election that Senator Raphael Warnock won December 6th, 2022. But what you may not have heard are some of the key players in the race: the Young Democrats of Georgia, the College Democrats of Georgia, the High School Democrats of Georgia, and Students for Warnock. 

Between the numerous canvass launches, the phone banks, the text banks, the social media pushes, the campus voter registration drives, and everything else, this youth coalition put together an impressive runoff campaign effort, not to mention the impressive General Election campaign effort that forced the runoff to take place. 

Because of these efforts, Young Democrats of Georgia President Bryce Berry was even featured in an interview with Teen Vogue back on November 30, 2022:

A law passed in 2021 cut the time between the general election and the runoff from nine weeks to four, adding to the pressure for students, like Berry, who need to balance holiday breaks, final exams, and political organizing. Berry laughs when asked about maintaining that balance – as he nears the end of his collegiate career, he estimates he’s missing two or three classes a week. But he doesn’t see another way. “As a student, I should be focused on school,” he says, “but I’m focused on saving democracy as well.”

Berry and many other progressive organizers believe the shortened runoff timeframe is meant to disenfranchise voters. “The shorter time is by design,” Berry asserts. “It’s made to suppress young voters and depress turnout. We’re out-organizing voter suppression, but we shouldn’t have to.”

YDA (and the country for that matter) owe a tremendous debt to the Young Democrats of Georgia and all of the work they did to get us to a 51 seat majority in the Senate with the re-election of Senator Warnock (even if one person in Arizona wanted to take the wind out of our sails for a few days.) 

Do you know a YDA chartered unit that should be highlighted in our next newsletter? Email us at [email protected] to let us know which unit and why! 

YDA Design Request Form

With our new branding, there are obviously going to be needs for new graphics. Our Comms Team is willing and able to help with the majority of requests coming from YDA. These are for official YDA use by YDA Officers, YDA Regions, or YDA Caucuses. The team urges you to have all information in this form completed before you request a design. 

Please allow 3-5 working days for a request to be fulfilled. If a request is urgent, please email Matt Royer at [email protected]. Requests may be edited for grammar and tone, brevity, or brand consistency. 

Don't Forget Your YDA Merch! 

Now's your chance to get your piece of the YDA Rebrand. We have shirts, totes, buttons, and can coolers. Get yours now! 

Go to store.yda.org now! 

Join the YDA Discord!

We're still on Discord! Make sure to join to communicate with fellow YD's across the country! 

Currently, the server will be available for National Committee Members, Appointed Officers, Regional/Caucus Officers, and active members of YDA Constituency Caucuses.

The invite for the YDA Discord Server can be found here.*

Please note that this link may expire in the near future, and subsequent server invites will be emailed out or can be requested to one of the server moderators.

Please note that participation in our Discord server is entirely optional, and no official communication from YDA will occur on this server.

We also recognize that many individuals may be unfamiliar with Discord, which is entirely okay. With that in mind, we encourage you to review this beginner guide to answer many of your questions - many of our moderators on our server are also available to answer questions.

In the News: 

APNews  - January 2, 2023 - 2024 contest comes into view with hurdles for both parties

• Quentin Wathum-Ocama, president of the Young Democrats of America, has been critical of Biden in the past but said he’s “good” if Biden wants to run again.
• Even if young people are not overly excited about the Biden administration, he said, they feel a “sense of duty and obligation” to support the party because of the threats to democracy that Trump and his allies represent.
• “We’re not always going to be super enthused, but we’re going to show the hell up,” Wathum-Ocama said. “We’re obligated to show up because we know what happens next — and that could be something even scarier than what we saw on Jan. 6.”

Arkansas Times  - December 13, 2023 - Young Democrats in Arkansas celebrate Respect for Marriage Act

• The Young Democrats of Arkansas and the Young Democrats of Arkansas Stonewall Caucus dropped a press release this afternoon to let us all know they’re celebrating the Respect for Marriage Act. Signed into law by President Biden today, the act codifies legal protections for same-sex and interracial couples.

Teen Vogue - November 30, 2023 - Young Georgians Are Getting Out the Vote for the December 6 Senate Runoff 

• Bryce Berry, 21, a senior at Morehouse College, was at Reverend Raphael Warnock’s election night party in Atlanta when it became clear that the Georgia Senate race was heading to a runoff. As the clock inched closer to midnight, the mood shifted. Berry’s first thought came with a flash of irritation: How could anyone vote for the Republican candidate, Herschel Walker? Berry went home and went to bed. But after a good night’s sleep, he reset. He was ready to start organizing again.