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Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a New York-based left-of-center political action committee and advocacy group which focuses on encouraging the Democratic Party to support public education reform and charter schools. [1]
DFER emerged around the same time as the Education Equality Project. [2] Whitney Tilson and Kevin P. Chavous are among the group's co-founders. [3]
DFER claims to support five policy areas: resource equity, teacher quality and preparation, accountability, public school choice, and higher ed quality and affordability. In 2018, the Colorado Democratic Party asked the Colorado DFER chapter to stop using "Democrats" in its name. [4]
Shavar Jeffries, one of the charter school sector's most prominent Black leaders, became the president of the organization in 2015. [5] [6] [7] Since 2023, the organization is led by Jorge Elorza, former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. [8]
In Washington D.C., DFER sent out attack ads against Janeese Lewis George, a progressive candidate for D.C. city council. After conducting polling that showed voters were concerned about crime, DFER ran mailers that claimed that George would defund the police. [9] After the election, DFER apologized for its efforts. [10]
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises funds and organizes races in districts expected to yield politically notable or close elections. The committee consists of the Chairperson, their staff, and other Democratic members of Congress in various executive roles.
David Adam Segal is an American politician, activist, and writer who was a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 2 from 2007 until January 2011. Prior to that, he served as Minority Leader of the Providence City Council from 2003 until 2007, elected at the age of 22 as the first and only member of the Green Party ever elected in Rhode Island. Segal was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in the state's 1st congressional district on September 14, 2010. He serves as the executive director of the online organizing group Demand Progress.
The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for Washington, D.C. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter schools in the city.
Hakeem Sekou Jeffries is an American politician and attorney who has served as House minority leader and Leader of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023. He has been the U.S. representative for New York's 8th congressional district since 2013 and was a member of the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Michelle Ann Rhee is an American educator and advocate for education reform. She was Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools from 2007 to 2010. In late 2010, she founded StudentsFirst, a non-profit organization that works on education reform.
In American politics, a libertarian Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party with political views that are relatively libertarian compared to the views of the national party.
Kevin Pernell Chavous is an American lawyer, author, education reform activist, and former Democratic Party politician in Washington, D.C., in the United States. He served as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from January 1993 to January 2005, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of the District of Columbia in 1998.
On November 2, 2010, Washington, D.C., held an election for its mayor. The primary elections occurred on September 14. Vincent Gray won the general election by a wide margin, although many voters wrote in incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty, whom Gray defeated in the primary.
Ras Jua Baraka is an American politician, author, and educator. A member of the Democratic Party, Baraka is the 40th and current mayor of Newark, New Jersey. First elected in the 2014 election, he was sworn into office on May 13, 2014, and was reelected in 2018 and 2022.
Eva Sarah Moskowitz is an American historian, politician, and education reform leader who is the founder and CEO of the Success Academy Charter Schools. A member of the Democratic Party, Moskowitz served on the New York City Council, representing the 4th district on the eastside of midtown Manhattan and the Upper East Side, from 1999 to 2005. Moskowitz interviewed to be Donald Trump's Secretary of Education, but decided not to pursue the position.
The 2014 Newark mayoral election took place in Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, on May 13, 2014. The race was characterized as a contest between two candidates, Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries, both from Newark's South Ward. Elections for all seats on the nine member Municipal Council of Newark also took place. Luis A. Quintana, who had become Mayor of Newark following the resignation of Cory Booker, did not seek the seat.
Shavar Jeffries is an American civil rights attorney who in January 2023 became the CEO of the KIPP Foundation, a nonprofit which trains and develops educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources and training for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organizations. Previously, he was the president of Democrats for Education Reform, which promotes more charter schools, school funding and stricter teacher evaluations to revamp public education. A former assistant state Attorney General, he was a candidate in the 2014 election for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, after which he became a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in August 2014.
The District of Columbia State Board of Education (SBOE) is an independent executive branch agency of the Government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The SBOE provides advocacy and policy guidance for the District of Columbia Public Schools, and works with the Chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools and the District of Columbia State Superintendent of Education. Charter schools are overseen by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board.
Briahna Joy Gray is an American political commentator, lawyer, and political consultant. After writing for The Intercept in 2018 she started her political career as the National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. She was the co-host of The Hill's web program Rising from September 2022 to June 7, 2024, when she was fired. She is the host of the Bad Faith podcast.
Janeese Lewis George is an American lawyer, politician, and activist in Washington, D.C. She is the Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 4. George is a member of the Democratic Party.
In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan advocating for reallocating funds from police departments to non-policing forms of public safety and community support initiatives, such as social services, youth programs, housing, education, healthcare, and other community resources. The goals of those using the slogan vary; some support modest budget reductions, while others advocate for full divestment as part of a broader effort to abolish contemporary policing systems.
Mondaire Lamar Jones is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Jones was the U.S. representative for New York's 17th congressional district from 2021 to 2023.
Cori Anika Bush is an American politician, nurse, pastor, and Black Lives Matter activist who served as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 1st congressional district from 2021 to 2025. The district includes all of the city of St. Louis and most of northern St. Louis County.
The police abolition movement gained momentum in the U.S. city of Minneapolis during protests of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and culminated in the failed Question 2 ballot measure in 2021 to replace the city's police department with a public safety department. The measure would have removed minimum staffing levels for sworn officers, renamed the Minneapolis Police Department as the Minneapolis Department of Public Safety, and shifted oversight of the new agency from the mayor's office to the city council. It required the support of 51 percent of voters in order to pass. In the Minneapolis municipal election held on November 2, 2021, the measure failed with 43.8 percent voting for it and 56.2 percent voting against it.
On November 8, 2022, a general election was held for the Council of the District of Columbia. Elections were held in four ward districts as well as for chairperson of the council and two at-large seats. Democrats remained in control of the council, electing six out of the seven positions that were on the ballot. Independent Kenyan McDuffin, formerly the Democratic councilperson for Ward 5, was also elected.