Democratic State Convention Elected Positions
State Convention Elected Positions
What can I run for?
At 3:00 pm on Friday, each Senate District Caucus meets at their posted location in the Convention Center. All delegates are in attendance here, both Clinton and Obama.
At the Convention each Senate District Caucus elects one member to each standing committee and recommendations for Electors and SDEC.
(1) Credentials Committee
(2) Platform Committee
(3) Resolutions Committee
(4) Rules Committee
(5) Nominations Committee for SDEC officers and SDEC members recommended by Senatorial District Caucuses, and in presidential years, members of the Democratic National Committee and Presidential Electors
(6) Recommendation for SDEC Committeeman
(7) Recommendation for SDEC Committeewoman
(8) Nominations Committee for At-Large Delegates to the National Convention
(9) Recommendation for Presidential Elector(s) as allotted to those Caucuses under these Rules This year every SD will make on recommendation, and the remaining three are recommended by the three largest districts: SD 14, SD 23 and SD 13.
(10) Delegates and Alternates to the National Convention as allocated to them
At this point, the Obama and Clinton delegates divide into their respective caucuses to elect their allocated delegates and alternates as determined by the March 4th Primary.
Here is a list of the Committes and a bit about what they do. If you are interested in serving on the temporary committees prior to the Convention, contact the State Party Chair at the Texas Democratic Party.
The duties of the Permanent Committees shall be as follows:
(1) The Permanent Credentials Committee shall make recommendations to the Convention as to the final resolution of all challenges regarding the credentials of Delegates to the State Convention.
Note: The Party Chair will have appointed a Temporary Credentials Committee that will have met prior to the Convention, heard testimony and made most of the Credentials recommendations. This committee serves as the final arbiter if there are still contests.
(2) The Nominations Committee shall nominate the officers of the SDEC and the SDEC members recommended by their respective Senatorial District Caucuses and, in presidential years, the DNC Representatives.
Note: This committee recommends the Officer slate: Party Chair, Vice Chair, Vice Chair of Finance, Treasurer. Each Senate District recommends a State Committeeman and State Committeewoman and the Committee nominates those recommended people to be the Executive Committee. Each Senate District will hold an election at their caucus for these two recommendations. The committee will also recommend nominations for the Texas seats on the Democratic National Committee. It nominates Presidential Electors (each Senate District makes recommendations for Elector).
In presidential years, the duties of the Nominations Committee for At-Large Delegates to the National Convention shall be those implied by its title or as assigned by the National Party Rules.
Note: This committee will meet on Saturday to recommend the 67 At Large Delegates and 3 Add On Unpledged Delegates. After the Senate districts have made their selections to this committee, there will be some Obama supporters and some Clinton supporters elected. The presidential primary poll will have allocated the number of At Large and Pledged Party and Elected Official delegates for Obama and Clinton. Traditionally, the Obama committee members will caucus to recommend the Obama delegates and the Clinton committee members will recommend the Clinton delegates.
(3) The Platform Committee shall write and recommend to the Convention a Party platform for the November General Election.
Note: Traditionally the Chair appoints a broad based committee of interested individuals who meet in the weeks before the Convention to draft a Platform document. This committee takes that draft, and reworks it and make final edits.
(4) The Resolutions Committee shall consider and recommend all resolutions submitted to the Convention, other than those within the proper jurisdiction of the Platform Committee.
Note: There is a temporary resolutions committee appointed by the Chair that sifts through the thousands of resolutions, decides which ones are appropriate topics to be referred to the Platform Committee or the Rules Committee. There are days of logistics work to organize these documents and the temporary committee does that work.
(5) The Rules Committee shall consider and recommend any proposed amendments to the permanent Party Rules and shall assist the Convention Chair and Parliamentarian, at their request, in interpreting the applicability of these Rules to questions of organization and procedure at the Convention.
