Issued March 20, 2019
Lia Weintraub, Center for Popular Democracy Action
Beth Allen, Communications Workers of America
Benjamin Halle, Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Sara Lonardo, SEIU
Amanda Torres-Price, 32BJ SEIU
Jonathon Berman, Sierra Club
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Six Democratic presidential hopefuls will join leading national progressive membership organizations on April 1 in Washington, D.C. for the We the People membership summit. During the summit, candidates will preview their policy priorities and make commitments to reform our democracy and economy for all people in this country, whether white, black or brown. Around 1,000 members of the Center for Popular Democracy Action, Communications Workers of America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 32BJ SEIU, and the Sierra Club will be in attendance.
Progressive leaders including Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren, Governor Jay Inslee, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, among others, will give remarks and then field questions from members in the audience.
This event comes as attacks on our democracy are specifically aimed at limiting the participation of working and low-income people, and people of color. People in this country face numerous barriers to democratic participation. Some elected officials are more concerned with their own power than representation and have rigged our democracy through gerrymandering, voter suppression laws, voter roll purges, disenfranchisement of people with a felony conviction, census interference and more. We need to fix this and ensure that America’s democracy is inclusive of all Americans regardless of their skin color, gender or income. This erosion of democracy has a real impact on people's lives and has led to a government that does not reflect the will, priorities, or needs of the people. We cannot make it easier for working people to join a union, ensure access to health care, protect our environment, or have a fair economy without structural democracy reform.
Everyone deserves a government that protects each and every American's right to vote and ensures a reflective and responsive government. The only way that we can take our democracy back into our hands is through democratic action — through raising our voices and speaking our priorities. This is the only way that we will ensure that all people have the right to join a union no matter where they work, that health care is available for all, that our environment is safe for generations to come and that corporations are held accountable.
Democracy reform, from the ballot box to the workplace, is the crux of the progressive agenda.
Candidates running for president, need to make commitments to expand voting rights, ensure fair representation for all, restore legitimacy to the Supreme Court, get corporate money out of elections, and more.
About We the People
In addition to the summit, the groups will be joined by organizations that are a part of the broader We the People coalition to host a training the night before the summit. Those groups include MoveOn, Indivisible, Demos Action, and the NAACP, as well as Working Families Party, United We Dream, End Citizens United, National Domestic Workers Alliance, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the League of Conservation Voters.
The We the People membership summit will be held on April 1 in Washington, DC from 11:00AM to 6:00PM. Media interested in attending can apply for credentials here. Space will be limited and outlets will be contacted individually to confirm availability.