He served as Digital Content Director for Senator Amy Klobuchar’s 2020 Presidential Campaign, and prior to that served as Digital Director for Representative Dean Phillips’ first Congressional run.

Aswar’s expertise is in digital strategy, graphic design and video production — he’s looking forward to be an asset to the over 150 members of the DFAD coalition.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) working group was formed by the Campaign Committee to analyze the coalition’s diversity in both membership and leadership, and to make recommendations for improvement where needed. It is critical that our coalition includes the voices of all Americans, especially those in Black and Brown communities who are often the most negatively impacted by our broken political system. These perspectives are needed in order for the Declaration to achieve its mission of passing truly transformative democracy reform. This subcommittee will work to ensure that all coalition partners feel comfortable participating and taking leadership roles within the coalition, and that our strategies and messaging are reflective of the diversity of our membership. 

Chair

• Ria Thompson-Washington, National Democracy Manager – CPD: rthompsonwashington@populardemocracy.org  
• Isaiah Wilson, Senior Legislative Manager – SEIU: isaiah.wilson@seiu.org 

The Grassroots working group manages the coalition’s grassroots mobilization and strategies for advancing democracy reform. The team utilizes a variety of tactics, including netroots, phone calls, petition delivery, and in state events. Its goal is to demonstrate the overwhelming grassroots support for sweeping democracy reform, and to channel that energy into efforts to influence key decision makers to prioritize passing HR1 in the new Congress.

The Grassroots working group works closely with the Hill team to influence federal targets. Tactics include holding in-district (virtual) meetings, national days of action, rallies to demonstrate the broad support for democracy reform (virtual) or social distance compliant mobilizations, and putting the focus on democracy reform in key races to make it clear that this issue brings people to the polls. 

This group meets every Wednesday from 12-1pm est.

Co-Chairs

• Rio Tazewell, Senior Campaigns Manager – PFAW: rtazewell@pfaw.org 
• Aquene Freechild, Co-Director Democracy is for People Campaign – Public Citizen: Afreechild@citizen.org 
• Christine Wood, Field Coordinator – DFAD/Public Citizen: cwood@citizen.org
• Reginald Thedford, Deputy Political Director  – Stand Up America: reggie@standupamerica.com 

The Hill/Legislative team develops and implements outreach strategies to members of Congress, with the aim of educating them about the critical importance of bold reforms to strengthen our democracy, often through meetings and briefings. This working group’s objectives include building support among lawmakers for key pieces of federal legislation, including the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and statehood for Washington, D.C. The team meets on a monthly basis, or more as needed.

Co-Chairs

• Aaron Scherb, Director of Legislative Affairs Program – Common Cause: AScherb@commoncause.org 
• Mike Sozan, Senior Fellow – Center for American Progress: Michael Sozan msozan@americanprogress.org 
• Kadeem Cooper, Policy Counsel for the Public Policy Project, Lawyer’s Committee :kcooper@lawyerscommittee.org

The policy team developed our comprehensive list of democracy solutions based on the coalition’s Democracy Demands. Many of these policies were ultimately included in the For the People Act (HR1/S1). The Policy working group focused on expanding the knowledge of coalition members, allies, and the general public on HR1/S1 by developing coalition explainers, one-pagers, reports, and other resources needed to advance transformative democracy reform. The working group drafted a set of recommended executive orders on democracy reform and shared those with the Biden administration to encourage them to implement those measures as we simultaneously push Congress to pass sweeping democracy reforms. The team meets as needed.

Co-Chairs

• Jen Ahearn, Policy Director – CREW: jahearn@citizensforethics.org 
• Aaron Scherb, Director of Legislative Affairs Program – Common Cause: AScherb@commoncause.org

The Communications Working Group provides messaging guidance and materials to the coalition, aids coalition partners in their communications efforts, and works at both the national and state levels to advance our priorities. Its main objective is to elevate democracy reform issues and educate the public about the policy proposals in the For the People Act, John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and other legislation supported by the coalition.

The working group also conducts rapid response efforts around the news of the day that is relevant to advancing a pro-democracy narrative, employs story-telling tactics to amplify how Americans have been negatively impacted by deliberate barriers to participating, influences news stories and editorial boards, and helps coalition partners to place high-profile thought pieces.

The comms team meets every week on Thursday from 2-3pm EST.

Chair
Spencer Olson, Associate Director for Democracy – ReThink Media: spencer@rethinkmedia.org

During the 2020 election, this group was focused on creating a ‘democracy arms race’ amongst presidential candidates and ensuring that democracy reform was the number one priority of the next administration. Activities included sending letters to the DNC urging a democracy focused debate, pressuring moderators to #AskAboutDemocracy during the debates, and holding meetings with all of the candidates to push them to prioritize democracy reform.

The Working Group is now regularly engaging with the Biden administration to encourage them to implement strong executive branch democracy policy, as well as engaging them around ongoing vocal communications in support of The For the People Act (S1/HR1).

This group meets monthly an as needed basis and conducts mainly C4 work.

Co-Chairs

• Adam Smith, Strategic Partnerships Director – ECU: adamsmith@endcitizensunited.org 
• Lisa Gilbert, Executive Vice President – Public Citizen: lgilbert@citizen.org

This group will work in 2021 to firm up support for the small donor, public matching funds system contained in H.R. 1 and S. 1 with targeted members of the House and Senate who have supported these bills in this Congress, as well as new members of CongressThe group also develops background materials to use in educating the public and opinion makers, and targeted Members and candidates on the critical importance of the small donor-based financing system to combating big money in American politics.

Co-Chairs

• Fred Wertheimer, President, D21: fwertheimer@democracy21.org
• Matt Keller, Vice President, D21: mkeller@democracy21.org
• Celina Stewart, Senior Director of Advocacy and Litigation, LWV: cstewart@lwv.org 

A true democracy is one in which the people choose the representatives who make the critical policy decisions that guide the direction of our country and communities. A democracy requires that its cornerstones, from a free press to our right to protest to access to justice, to our right to free speech, remain intact. It requires that our basic human and civil rights be protected under the law, where no concentration of power is allowed to threaten the people’s rights.

A Democracy for the People must ensure every eligible voter can participate in our elections without barriers, confusion, or intimidation. Our electoral system must be designed to ensure all voices are heard. We must eliminate discriminatory voter suppression policies, realize fair representation through enfranchisement and fair districting, and enact national standards for our elections to ensure every eligible voter can easily cast their ballot and trust that their vote will be accurately counted.

A Democracy for the People serves all of us, rather than the self-interests of those who govern. This requires government transparency and binding rules for Congress, the President, and the courts to root out conflicts of interest. In addition to oversight, we must have enforcement mechanisms to hold individuals accountable – regardless of who they are or what position they hold. Our democracy requires comprehensive safeguards that prevent self-dealing and ensure no one in power, whether a President, judge, or Member of Congress, can use public office to advance their own personal or financial interests.

A Democracy for the People responds to the needs of people and their communities. The voices of the people should not be drowned out by billionaires or corporate interests who use their wealth to buy access, curry favor, and shape policy and elections. We must root out the corrosive influence of big money in politics and address the various ways special interests work to influence Members of Congress and government officials – whether through campaign cash or funding pet projects. A true democracy amplifies community voices and makes it possible for everyday people to run for office.

A Democracy For the People depends on a system of checks and balances. We must add safeguards and accountability mechanisms to prevent government overreach and to reinforce the powers allocated to each branch of government by our Constitution. We must stop abuse of power from the executive branch and ensure other branches have sufficient means to hold an administration accountable. This includes putting protections in place to ensure nonpartisan civil servants can do their jobs as mandated by Congress without purges or politicization, and preventing the weaponization of independent government agencies. The courts must pursue equal justice under the law, not partisan political agendas. Whether a president, a judge, a member of Congress, a CEO, or anyone else, no one is above the law.