1. Party Organization
Political Parties

2. How do political parties operate?
Organization
How do political parties operate?

3. Party Organization
Political Parties

4. Party Organization Organization Party Organization
The people who work for and run the political party
100
Party in the Electorate
The people who support the party by voting for it
Party in Government
The party members who won their elections and hold offices in government

5. Party Organization Organization National State Local
Organize the parties at the national level – try to coordinate state parties
100
State
Prepare the parties for state wide elections
Local
Operate at the county or city level

6. Party Organization Organization National Party Organization
They run the party between national conventions
They organize the national party conventions
100
They make the party platform for national elections
They attempt to organize the state primaries for election season
They coordinate national communication strategy day to day

7. Party Organization Organization Democratic Party
Democratic National Committee is responsible for promoting Democratic campaign activities
They focus on campaign and organizational strategy instead of policy goals
100
Democratic Party
DNC is made up of chairs and vice chairs of each state Democratic party
The Chairperson of the DNC is elected by its members & is currently Tom Perez

8. DNC sets rules for caucuses and primaries
Party Organization
Organization
Democratic Party
DNC sets rules for caucuses and primaries
DNC decides when, and what type of primary debate activities will occur
100
The DNC also works hard to raise money for election season and allocates it to the places where the party can win

9. Party Organization Organization Republican Party
Republican National Committee is responsible for promoting campaign activities of Republicans
RNC develops the party platform as well as coordinating fund raising
100
Republican Party
They supervise the Republican National Convention
The current chairperson is Ronna Romney McDaniel

10. Primary Systems
Political Parties

11. Party Organization Primary Frontloading
States may decide to hold their primaries earlier in the season to capitalize on the media attention
This can be helpful to political parties because they may decide on a candidate earlier in the year
This may help the party minimize party infighting during the primary season.
The party can focus on the opposition earlier instead of rifts inside the party.

12. Republicans use this method in some states
Party Organization
Primary
Winner Take All
In a winner take all primary, the person who gets the most votes in the primary gets ALL of the delegates
Republicans use this method in some states
This gives disproportionate support to the candidates winning the elections and gives nothing to those in second place and below

13. Party Organization Primary Winner Take All
This can help establish a front runner early in the primary season
After the first few states, one candidate may have a massive delegate lead
This might cause those with less support in the early states drop out of the race
This can make some states WAY more important to win than others.

14. Party Organization Primary Winner Take All
By settling on a nominee earlier, they can minimize the “fighting” between members of their own party
The party can unify earlier behind the candidate and focus on the Democrat
This might make the party look better to voters, or at least, they may have minimized negative attacks against their candidate

15. Party Organization Primary Superdelegates
Superdelegates are used only by Democrats – they have their own vote at the national convention
All DNC members are superdelegates
Current Democrat governors & members of Congress are superdelegates
Distinguished party leaders: old presidents & VPs, congressional leaders, & old DNC chairs are superdelegates for life

16. Party Organization Primary Superdelegates
This gives party leadership SOME role in choosing the nominee
Their votes would only matter in a very close primary race where no candidate gets the majority of delegates by themselves
Superdelegates typically announce their support early – creating a bit of a bandwagon effect among voters.
They are not officially pledged until the national party convention

17. State Party Organizations
Political Parties

18. Party Organization State Level Parties State Party Organizations
They organize and prepare for state level elections.
They will decide who the Electoral College delegates are for their states
They will decide if their party will have a primary or a caucus
They will decide when their state’s primary or caucus will be held

19. Party Organization State Level Parties State Party Organizations
They adapt to their citizens and their stances on issues.
They are not controlled by the national party – even on policy
Democrats in some places may be more conservative than in other states
Republicans in some places may be more liberal than in other states

20. Party Organization State Level Parties State Party Organizations
The state parties send representatives to the national parties
The national parties are just a loose alliance of all the state parties
State parties do what’s best to win state elections, even if that means they go against something the national party does.

21. Party Organization State Level Parties Local Party Organizations
The local parties are organized at the county or municipality level
They organize and prepare for local elections.
They play a much greater role in voter mobilization than the state or national party
They have to perform all the same roles as the national and state parties - fund raising, advertising, finding candidates

22. Party Organization State Level Parties Local Party Organizations
City level parties were the organizations that became party machines
At the local level they could give away jobs by patronage in return for loyalty
The party bosses – the mayors – used their control of jobs and services to reward party loyalty

23. Party Organization State Level Parties Local Party Organizations
Some cities choose individuals instead of elect by party
These are called nonpartisan elections.
All candidates are essentially running as independents but the parties may endorse their desired candidate.
This happens in cities – like Memphis – where the overwhelming majority of voters may be Democratic voters.

24. Party Conventions
Political Parties

25. Party Organization National Convention Nominating Conventions
They used to be the place where the delegates actually met and decided on the party’s nominee
Over recent decades they have really become glorified pep rallies
They give the parties a week of media attention and basically free commercials on news networks for their nominees

26. Nominating Conventions
Party Organization
National Convention
Nominating Conventions
The delegates have already been committed to vote for candidates based on primaries and caucuses
The nominee has likely been apparent for months by the time of the convention
The one non ceremonial task of the party at the convention is to decide on the party platform.
Party members from all around the country will debate and decide on the party’s stances on issues

27. Nominating Conventions
Party Organization
National Convention
Nominating Conventions
The platform is settled and is officially announced for voters. They can see where the party stands on every issue
The nominee is officially announced after official voting from the delegates
The “keynote address” is a high profile speech given by an old “party hero” or an up and coming young leader
Other high profile speeches are given each night by the candidate’s spouse, running made, and the candidate

28. Bigly Ideas
Beliefs & Behaviors

29. Party Organization Wrap Up Party Organization Superdelegates
State Party Freedom
Superdelegates
National Convention
Focus on these things: