DNC Representation

On June 4, 2020, at the Texas Democratic State Convention, after staff advised that a quorum had been reached at 4:00 p.m., during our properly noticed caucus meeting before the AANHPI State Delegation, the Executive Board presented a petition to the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, urging him not to ignore the democratic elective process and to seat the AANHPI caucus’s duly elected representative as a DNC member*—our DNC member.

At the same time, while the Executive Board was conducting our caucus meeting, a poll was held by TDP staff. Prior to the conclusion of our meeting, at 4:54 p.m., we were informed that 89% of AANHPI state delegates had voted overwhelmingly to approve our petition.

As a result, we voted to reject the committee report of the Nominations for Party Officials.

Petition to Appoint Duly Elected Representative of the AANHPI Caucus

TO THE HONORABLE TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR:
COMES NOW, the PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT of the Asian American Democratic Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, hereby submit this petition, to wit:

WHEREAS, the Texas AANHPI Caucus through its State Delegates voted by clear majority of 51.68% for AJ Durrani in the first round to be re-elected as its 2020 Democratic National Committee (DNC) representative;

AND WHEREAS, AJ Durrani’s democratically chosen nomination was overruled by the Nominations Committee;

AND WHEREAS, this overruling was done by failing to consistently apply the Texas Democratic Party (TDP) rules between the AANHPI Caucus as compared to the Rural/Non-Urban Caucus and the Labor Caucus, which were permitted to appoint the candidate of their choice via a vote of their Board/Executive Committee, not through election via their State Delegates like other caucuses are required to do;

AND WHEREAS, ignoring the vote of a minority constituency proposed seating is against principles of democratic representation and fairness;

AND WHEREAS, the Nominations Committee for Party Officers successfully proposed seating the single representative from the AANHPI caucus last by seating representatives in order of Caucus total vote counts while ignoring the actual vote size of Rural/Non-Urban Caucus and the Labor Caucus;

AND WHEREAS, the AANHPI Caucus supports the DNC gender balance rule as a general rule but believes the vote of the AANHPI Caucus must be respected;

AND WHEREAS, if the Committee was not going to seat the AANHPI caucus’ duly elected representative, they should have gone back to the AANHPI Caucus to name a majority elected non-male.

THEREFORE, the AANHPI Caucus petitions the Texas Democratic Party Chair to not ignore the democratic elective process and to seat the AANHPI’s duly elected representative as a 2020 DNC member. If that cannot be attained, the TDP Chair shall request the DNC Chair to appoint AJ Durrani, the duly elected Texas AANHPI caucus representative, as one of the DNC Chair’s 75 at-large appointments.

Approved on June 4, 2020

*DNC members from Texas serve as representatives to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).