Democrats Abroad: The Blue Vote Café

Carl Weinschenk joins David and Rachel to talk about his blogging and video efforts to communicate President Biden's substantial accomplishments to undecided voters in the swing states. With some discussion of the race to fill George Santos's vacant seat, a long-ago glimpse of the young Donald Trump in Jamaica Estates NY, a little of Carl's family history, and the Cafe's first ment...

Kathy Tullos (Chair, DA Spain) and Andrew Anderson (Vice Chair, Veterans and Military Families Global Caucus) join Rachel and David from DA Spain to talk about DA Spain's recent growth, and its new community-building initiatives. Kathy's leadership style evokes a quote frequently misattributed to Ghandi; Andrew gives an update on the progress with addressing complications with educational...

David and Rachel talk to Steve about the resolutions he posted on The Journal of the Plague Years on January 1, 2024. Click to read the post. The conversation touches on the dangers of confusing imperfect choices for clear ones; the shift from James Carville's "it's the economy, stupid" to what Steve sees as our current reality ("it's the culture, stupid"); and how...

Wayne Liebman joins David and Rachel to explain Blue Voter Guide, an organization founded to make voting easy. When you enter your voting address at https://bluevoterguide.org/, up pops your ballot, linked to endorsements from progressive organizations. With shoutouts to Her Bold Move, Vote Mama, and the Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada.

Dr. Dan Barkhuff joins David and Rachel to talk about the organization he founded, Veterans for Responsible Leadership ( vfrl.org ). The conversation delves into the concepts of duty and honor, the downstream effects of the shift 50 years ago to all-volunteer military, and Trump's inability to understand the military and unfitness to serve as the country's leader. We also touch on the poli...

Jason Berlin joins Rachel and David to talk about Field Team 6, the partisan voter registration organization he founded to register Democrats. Jason talks about Field Team 6's focus on unregistered voters, about the gaps in the traditional approach to voter registration, and the cost per voter.

Annika Krovi and Henry Pahlow, National Chair and Vice Chair of High School Democrats of America, join David and Rachel to talk about engaging voters and potential voters when they are still enrolled in high school. Neither Annika nor Henry is eligible yet to cast their own votes, but they speak like veteran political operatives about canvassing, phone-banking, and participating on campaigns--and...

Rachel and David make social media darling Brittlestar laugh at his own jokes, and discourse seriously (and at least semi-intelligently) with his alter ego Stewart Reynolds on his recent book (Welcome to the Stupidpocalypse: Survival Tips for the Dumbageddon); on the objective perspective on the U.S. afforded to Canadians and to American citizens living outside the country; and on the challenge of...

Ashley Houghton, FairVote's Senior Director of Programs and Policy, sat down with David and Rachel to talk about election reform in general, and ranked choice voting in particular. FairVote is a nonpartisan organization that researches and advances voting reforms in the hope of making democracy more functional and representative.

A former chair of Ohio Democratic Party, David Pepper is the author of several books, including Laboratories of Autocracy and Saving Democracy. You may have caught him in a short segment with Rachel Maddow or Morning Joe. The day after Issue One was defeated in Ohio in August, 2023, he joined Rachel and David on the pod to talk about how the Democrats' strategy differs from the Republicans&#39...

Democrats Abroad member Amerika Garcia Grewal joins Rachel and David to talk about a return visit to her home town: Eagle Pass, Texas. She has now witnessed the horrible situations that migrants trying to get into the United States face as they try to cross the Rio Grande river. Amerika recently was a part of a group that went onto the river to see the newly installed barriers made out of floating...

Leedonal "Jazz" Moore and Martha McDevitt-Pugh, candidates for the office of Democrats Abroad's International Chair, answer questions compiled by the Nominations and Elections Committee. Presented by the Democrats Abroad Nominations and Elections Committee. Hosted by The Blue Vote Café, with Rachel Eugster and David Schellenberg, in one of the BVC's first video episodes. More inf...

Joshua Van der Ploeg, candidate for the office of Democrats Abroad's International Treasurer, answer questions compiled by the Nominations and Elections Committee. Presented by the Democrats Abroad Nominations and Elections Committee. Hosted by The Blue Vote Café, with Rachel Eugster and David Schellenberg. More information on Democrats Abroad's upcoming elections can be found at ⁠⁠https:/...

Anne Brady and Heather Stone, candidates for the office of Democrats Abroad's International Legal Counsel, answer questions compiled by the Nominations and Elections Committee. NOTE: this episode will be updated when answers have been received from Summer Tillman, who was given an extended deadline to respond due to circumstances beyond her control Presented by the Democrats Abroad Nominations...

Karen Frankenstein, Renee Clarke, and Susan Mackenzie, candidates for the office of Democrats Abroad's International Secretary, answer questions compiled by the Nominations and Elections Committee. Presented by the Democrats Abroad Nominations and Elections Committee. Hosted by The Blue Vote Café, with Rachel Eugster and David Schellenberg. More information on Democrats Abroad's upcoming e...

Art Schankler, Jennifer von Estorff, and Steve Nardi, candidates for the office of Democrats Abroad's International Vice Chair, answer questions compiled by the Nominations and Elections Committee. Presented by the Democrats Abroad Nominations and Elections Committee. Hosted by The Blue Vote Café, with Rachel Eugster and David Schellenberg, in one of the BVC's first video episodes. More in...

What you need to know when you find out that the President of the United States is coming to your town!

Wisconsin voters Liz Blackbourn and Annie Graul explain the importance of this current election. They outline why they are supporting liberal Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz.

March 22, 2023 will mark 100 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced. And it still has not been passed.

Tricia Augustine-Hamilton picks up the story where John Baumlin left off (listen to "The quest to restore New Jersey's overseas voters' rights, with John Baumlin" to hear Part One). Tricia shares with David and Rachel the inside story on how a team from around the world worked for three years to see legislation through to passage. She pulls back the curtain on Candice Kerestan&#3...

After nearly a year of negotiations, Democrats Abroad has been formally admitted into the Young Democrats of America (YDA) structure. Brent Jamsa, a member of DA's Youth Caucus Steering Committee, and Quentin Wathum-Ocama, President of YDA, join David and Rachel to talk about this new alliance, a first in both organizations' histories. Brent and Quentin talk about how DA and YDA can work together...

Three weeks into the job, Jarryd shares with David and Rachel what he hopes to accomplish as DA's new Executive Director. Amongst the cat talk and the banter about who is whose boss, Jarryd's role is distilled into "tending, water, and weeding--but not mowing--DA's grass roots." The conversations also explores voting as an expression of values, DA's Africa Task Force, relational organizing, Wiscon...

Democrats Abroad State Teams are working to make sure that everyone gets their ballots.

If you're a Georgia voter living outside the U.S., here is all the information you need about the upcoming runoff election. Georgia voter Deirdre O’Brien and Democrats Abroad Vote from Abroad Coordinator Heidi Burch sit down with David and Rachel to talk about how to vote from abroad, where to get help if you need it, and the need for speed. Hear about complications stemming from the new legislati...

If you follow PoliticsGirl, you know where Leigh McGowan stands. But do you know how she got there? Leigh sits down with Rachel and David to talk about how her love of democracy led to the creation of her persona as Politics Girl. She talks about how her early non-partisan blog posts about basic civics made that her realize that when people understand what's going on, they get engaged. She traces...