Resolution to Endorse Candidates in 2025 School Board Election

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF DENVER

Resolution to Endorse Candidates in 2025 School Board Election

Passed Unanimously by the Executive Committee on May 20, 2025

Whereas elections for Denver school board occur in November of odd-numbered years and historically have low voter turnout:

• Over 55% of registered Democrats (106,473) did not cast a ballot in the 2023 School Board Election, compared with only 16% (32,085) in the 2024 Presidential Election.

• Denver’s “Inverted L” is prominently reflected in voter turnout. Over 91% of registered Democrats in one precinct west of the “Inverted L” did not cast a ballot in the 2023 School Board Election.

• Over 73% of registered Democrats (43,440) aged 34 and under did not cast a ballot in the 2023 School Board Election.

• Over 11% of ballots cast in the 2023 School Board Election included an undervote for school board;

Whereas arch-conservative special interest groups such as Moms for Liberty, Ready Colorado, Advance Colorado, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are influencing local school board elections, advocating for private-school vouchers, removing Diversity Equity & Inclusion programs, ending collective bargaining agreements, and banning books;

Whereas the Denver Republican Party recommended candidates for the 2023 City Council, Mayoral, and School Board Elections, and eleven of the sixteen candidates recommended won their elections;

Whereas Shad Murib, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, has stated that “We will reimagine how we organize from our phone screens to the doors, and compete aggressively in every race — including for school board and city council — because every election matters”; now, therefore, be it

Resolved that, in an effort to increase voter turnout and inform voters of the Denver school board candidates that best share the Democratic Party of Denver’s values, the Executive Committee of Democratic Party of Denver proposes that the Party endorse candidates for member of the Denver school board in the 2025 School Board Election and, accordingly, acts as follows:

1. requests that the Permanent Organization Committee of the Democratic Party of Denver develop a voting process for the members of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Denver to, at the September 2025 Central Committee Meeting, endorse one or more candidates for member of the Denver school board in School Board Districts 2, 3, 4, and At-Large in the 2025 School Board Election and include the same in their report within the following parameters:

   1. Only members of the Central Committee who were members of the Central Committee as of the Biennial Organizational Meeting on February 15, 2025, shall vote on whether to endorse candidates for member of the Denver school board in School Board Districts 2, 3, 4, and At-Large.

   2. Those members of the Central Committee shall vote “yes” or “no” on whether to endorse each candidate. A blank vote shall be counted as a “no” vote. Candidates who receive at least 60% “yes” votes shall receive the Party’s endorsement. If no candidate in a race receives at least 60% “yes” votes, the Party shall not make an endorsement in that race.

   3. The Credentials Committee of the Party shall make public the vote counts at the September 2025 Central Committee Meeting; however, how individual members of the Central Committee voted shall remain confidential.

   4. The Chair of the Party shall decide all issues relating to the Party’s endorsement of candidates not governed by law or Democratic Party rules;

2. directs the Captain At-Large for Communications of the Democratic Party of Denver to, in consultations with members of the Communications Committee and County Officers of the Party, develop and publicize regulations governing endorsed candidates’ use of the Party name, logo, and endorsement on their websites, literature, and other campaign materials as allowed by law and Democratic Party rules. Those regulations shall include a provision that endorsed candidates may not publicize the vote counts at the September 2025 Central Committee Meeting on their websites, literature, and other campaign materials;

3. directs the Captain At-Large for Communication of the Democratic Party of Denver to, in consultations with members of the Communications Committee and County Officers of the Party, develop and execute a plan to publicize the endorsed candidates’ names and races through all available media, including press releases, social media posts, emails, sample ballots, and the Party website; and

4. resolves that the Democratic Party of Denver shall make no monetary contributions to the campaigns of endorsed candidates.