Endorsements
The Dane County Democratic Party offers candidates in nonpartisan spring elections the chance to apply for an endorsement from our membership.
Guidelines for Spring 2025 endorsements
The Dane Dems Endorsement Committee will meet in February and/or March to make recommendations for endorsements, which will be voted on by the membership at the February 5 and March 12 meeting(s).
Candidates seeking endorsement should submit an endorsement questionnaire by January 24 at 11:59 PM. The questionnaire is currently available at: https://tinyurl.com/2025EndorsementQuestionnaire. Please note that we understand not every question is equally pertinent to every position and that answers can be as brief or as long as you wish. If a question is not pertinent to your race you can mark it N/A.
– If you are a candidate in a race with no primary and you have not been previously endorsed by Dane Dems for that position, we will schedule an endorsement interview with you in February or in March.
– If you are a candidate in a race with a primary and you have not previously been endorsed by Dane Dems for that position we will likely wait until after the primary to schedule an interview with you, depending upon how many endorsement requests we receive. This may be in late February or the first weekend in March.
– If you are a candidate who was endorsed by Dane Dems in the previous election cycle for the seat you are currently running for the Committee will review your questionnaire and let you know whether they wish to interview you.
— If you have a primary in which 2+ Democrats are running and there are fewer seats available than people running, we will not be endorsing until after the primary. Our governing documents prohibit us from making an endorsement in a primary under those conditions. It does not matter if you have been previously endorsed for the same seat or not.
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- All endorsement interviews will be conducted over Zoom on February 1, February 22. February 23. and/or March 1, depending upon how many interviews we need to conduct.
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- You must be a member of the Democratic Party or we will not conduct an endorsement interview. Click here to join the Democratic Party of Dane County, which also makes you a member of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
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- Recommendations made by the Endorsement Committee will be voted on by the membership at our February and March meetings. Completed candidate questionnaires will be posted for the membership to review before the vote. Candidates recommended for endorsement need a simple majority of the membership votes to receive endorsement.
- No Board members that are candidates currently running spring elections will participate in endorsement interviews or vote on any candidate running to serve on the same body.
- If you miss the deadline to submit a questionnaire or provide proof of membership, or if you are not recommended for an endorsement by the Endorsement Committee, you may seek an endorsement from the floor.
To seek an endorsement from the floor, you must: 1) provide proof of current membership before the membership meeting, 2) notify the Chair that you are planning to seek an endorsement from the floor before the start of the membership meeting, and 3) have a motion and a second from people who have active memberships. Candidates seeking an endorsement from the floor require a 2/3 majority of the membership votes to receive endorsement.
- Recommendations made by the Endorsement Committee will be voted on by the membership at our February and March meetings. Completed candidate questionnaires will be posted for the membership to review before the vote. Candidates recommended for endorsement need a simple majority of the membership votes to receive endorsement.
Questions? Contact us at [email protected]