21st Century Democrats was an American political organization founded by Senator
Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Pa ...
, commentator
Jim Hightower
James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, progressive political activist, and author.
From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture.
He publishes a mon ...
and Congressman
Lane Evans
Lane Allen Evans (August 4, 1951 – November 5, 2014) was an American attorney and politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007, representing the 17th District of Illinois. Eva ...
to help elect "
progressive candidates” until its termination 2023.
Background
21st Century Democrats started out relatively small, surpassing $1 million in contributions for the first time in the 1996 election cycle.
By the 2004 election cycle, according to the Political Money Line, it was the 13th largest
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 ...
(PAC) in the United States, raising nearly $7M. Among
progressive ideological PACs, it ranked fourth behind
America Coming Together
America Coming Together (ACT) (founded in 2003) was a progressive, political action 527 group dedicated to get-out-the-vote activities. ACT did not specifically endorse any political party but worked almost exclusively on behalf of Democratic c ...
,
EMILY's List
EMILYs List is a left-leaning American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "E ...
, and
MoveOn.org
MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest and most i ...
. However, since 2004 its contributions gradually fell, to under $2.2M in 2010 and under $1.2M in 2014.
Unlike traditional PACs, 21st Century Democrats focused on recruiting, training, and hiring field organizers to organize grassroots campaigns on behalf of candidates for local offices, statewide office, and even targeted presidential
swing state
In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often refe ...
s.
The group had ties to
Democracy for America, which grew out of
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 ...
's presidential campaign.
Partner organizations
In 2009, 21st Century Democrats joined
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of m ...
,
MoveOn.org
MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest and most i ...
, and
Daily Kos
Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal American politics. The site publishes blog posts, polls, election and cam ...
in a new effort called Accountability Now PAC. This new political action committee promised to use party primaries to challenge Democratic incumbents that PAC members do not support.
See also
*
Democracy for America
References
External links
*
{{authority control
United States political action committees
Democratic Party (United States) organizations
Political organizations established in 1986
Defunct progressive organizations in the United States
Political advocacy groups in the United States
1986 establishments in the United States