The New Democrat Network (NDN) was an American

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

that promoted

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

candidates for the Democratic Party. NDN was a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

membership organization that functioned in collaboration with two subsidiary organizations, the NDN Political Fund, a non-federal political organization ( 527), and NDN PAC, a federal

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

. The organization was dissolved by Rosenberg in March 2024. The group was officially named the New Democrat Network from 1996 to 2004 and NDN from 2004 to 2024.

Founding

NDN was led and founded by Simon Rosenberg in 1996, after his split with the

Democratic Leadership Council The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation that was active from 1985 to 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, it argued that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it had ...

(DLC), for which he worked. Before founding NDN, Rosenberg worked as a television news writer and producer and a political strategist for the

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

presidential campaigns and the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

. NDN has offices in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. In 2000, the NDN was characterized as "a group of pro-business Capitol Hill Democrats who borrow freely from the metaphors and values of the New Economy in their quest to modernize their party and wean it away from the labor unions and old-line liberals." Simon described the group as "a venture capital fund for the Democratic Party."

Involvement in the 2004 presidential election

The NDN, while not supporting or embracing 2004 Democratic presidential primary candidate

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

, pointed to his online network of small donors, volunteers, and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

gers as the model to emulate for the Democratic Party. In 2003, the NDN was described as challenging the DLC and becoming an increasingly influential player in the party's politics. In the

2004 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney, were re-elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated ...

, NDN led an effort to turn out

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

voters for

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

. Also in 2004, Rosenberg announced his candidacy for Chairman of the

, but eventually withdrew from the race after it became clear that he would lose to eventual Chairman Howard Dean. Rosenberg then supported Dean's campaign.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

New Politics Institute website

NDN's Hispanic Strategy Center website
(2008)
Opensecrets.org
s summary of NDN's PAC contributions by cycle
Report on NDN's spending
by the Center for Public Integrity (2003) 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations 527 organizations Factions in the Democratic Party (United States) Organizations established in 1996 Democratic Party (United States) organizations Third Way

Founding

Involvement in the 2004 presidential election

See also

References

External links