Charles R. Chamberlain | |
---|---|
Born | October 25, 1969 Los Angeles, California, US |
Occupation | Executive Director at Democracy for America (2013-present) |
Charles Robert Chamberlain is an American political leader. He is the executive director at Democracy for America (DFA), a progressive political action committee, headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.
Chamberlain grew up in California and has lived all across the country. He was born in Los Angeles on October 25, 1969. Charles married Alejandra Lorenzo, one of the original singers in the platinum recording group Exposé, on December 20, 1996. He has worked for several political organizations including Progressive Campaigns, Inc., [1] Capital Campaigns, [2] Democracy Resources, [3] and currently Democracy for America (DFA) headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.
On July 9, 2006 Chamberlain began as the political field director at Democracy for America (DFA), after spending three years as volunteer leader for DFA Miami-Dade. [4] As Political Director for DFA, Charles led campaigns for progressive candidates and causes. Some of his major accomplishments include Ned Lamont for Senate in 2006, the DFA Pulse Poll, the 2008 campaign to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, and pushing for the Public health insurance option in 2009.
In 2006 Chamberlain led the campaign for Democratic Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont. Lamont ran against Senator Joe Lieberman in the 2006 August Democratic Senate primaries. Both Lamont and Lieberman had opposing positions on the Iraq War: Lamont centered his campaign around his own anti-war views while Lieberman continued to support military involvement in Iraq. Lamont won the primaries, [5] but lost in the September general election to Lieberman. [6] Despite Lamont's loss in the general election, Charles saw the Lamont campaign as successful in another sense; it inspired Democrats across the country to run their 2006 campaigns on ending the Iraq War.
In 2008, Newsweek announced that a Democratic Party committee had tossed out a plan to take nominating power away from superdelegates. Chamberlain supported the original reform, which redefined a superdelegate's voting powers so that they were required to vote for a candidate assigned to them, based on the results of their state's caucus or primary. Charles voiced his opposition to the rules committee's decision to knock down the reform and replace it with a weaker one. The article quoted Chamberlain as saying, “Any reform that allows superdelegates to overturn the vote and will of Democratic voters nationwide is not real reform.” [7]
Beginning in 2008, Chamberlain led a DFA campaign to shut down Vermont Yankee as scheduled. DFA and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) aired a television advertisement on February 19, 2010, advocating that Vermont follow through with its plan to close the nuclear power plant in 2012. [8]
During the 2008 primary election, Charles ran the largest online primary poll, the DFA Pulse Poll. With over 150,000 votes cast, the Pulse Poll was the largest internet Chamberlain to date in the 2008 primary. [9]
In 2009 Chamberlain pushed senators to vote for the Public health insurance option. On August 28, 2009 Charles appeared on NPR's All Things Considered to discuss the Public Option, Senator Kent Conrad (Democrat, North Dakota), and Conrad's bipartisan co-op proposal. He criticized Conrad's proposal for being a political compromise, “Bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship is not worth of that bill. America needs real change when it comes to our health care reform. And we absolutely need to have the choice of a public option if we want to achieve that kind of change.” [10]
On the 2011 United States debt ceiling crisis, Chamberlain praised House minority leader Nancy Pelosi for standing up to GOP demands for cuts to Medicare and Social Security. “What we really need is a strong progressive caucus backing up Pelosi,” The Hill quoted Chamberlain as saying, “When it’s Nancy Pelosi versus the president, it’s a tough internal battle for Democrats. I hope they side with Pelosi because that’s what the American people want.” [11]
In a blog post from the French newspaper, Le Monde , Chamberlain provided insight into the 2011 Wisconsin Senate recall elections. “These elections will change the debate in Washington. The Republicans, wherever they are, will not be so eager to touch social programs if they find it gives rise to backlash,” said Chamberlain. [12]
Chamberlain publicly supported bringing progressive Democrat Russ Feingold back to the Wisconsin Senate in 2012. The Washington Current quoted Chamberlain, “I don't need to tell you about Russ or his progressive legacy -- the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, a national leader for campaign finance reform and against the war in Iraq, and so much more.” He pushed for Feingold to take an open seat after Senator Herb Kohl (Democrat-Wisconsin) retired in 2012. First elected in 1992, Feingold was defeated in 2010 due to a strong conservative turnout in the polls. Bringing him back to the Wisconsin Senate is seen as a win for Chamberlain and progressives who are opposed to Governor Scott Walker. [13]
In 2013, Chamberlain became the Executive Director of DFA. [14]
Chamberlain started out his career in 1995 managing local and statewide initiative campaigns for Progressive Campaigns, Inc. (PCI) [15] in Santa Monica, California. He worked to establish congressional term limits and allow medical marijuana, and campaigned for Raise Minimum Wage, to increase the US minimum wage. After working as Campaign Director for PCI, Chamberlain went on to work for Assemblyman Scott Wildman of California's 43rd State Assembly district. As Field Representative for Wildman he organized demonstrations and union picket lines, revitalized neighborhood watch programs and helped a community activist create neighborhood councils.
Between 2001 and 2002 Chamberlain ran campaigns for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) at Democracy Resources [16] in Oregon. With SEIU he campaigned for Universal Health Care. With AFL-CIO he worked a second time for Raise Minimum Wage.
Chamberlain was elected as Volunteer Leader at the Miami branch of Democracy for America (DFA Miami-Dade) [17] in 2003. In 2005 Charles fought and won to protect his freedom of expression, after almost being arrested for handing out anti-war pamphlets in Easterlin Park. As Volunteer Leader, he teamed up with STAND (Students Toward a New Democracy) to get University of Miami custodial workers unionized in the University of Miami 2006 custodial workers' strike.
On January 15, 2005 Chamberlain and Jody Finver, another DFA member, tabled at the South Florida Folk Festival handing out small fliers about a protest against the Iraq war that DFA was planning. Shortly after the festival began, a park manager told them it was illegal to discuss politics or distribute political information in a public park, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The park manager told them that they must leave or they would face arrest. Charles and Jody complied, but brought the matter before the ACLU. The ACLU ultimately determined that Broward County Parks are considered “traditional public forums,” where freedom of expression is allowed, including political discussion and distribution of political pamphlets. [18]
Joseph Isadore Lieberman is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2000 election. During his final term in office, he was officially listed as an independent Democrat and caucused with and chaired committees for the Democratic Party.
Russell Dana Feingold is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S. Senate seat he had previously occupied. From 1983 to 1993, he was a Wisconsin State Senator representing the 27th District.
The 2004 Democratic presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 United States presidential election.
Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007 and as U.S. Representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007. He is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, although he has a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career. Sanders unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and 2020, finishing in second place in both campaigns. Before his election to Congress, he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates include party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs).
Democracy for America (DFA) is a progressive political action committee, headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont. Founded by former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean in 2004, DFA leads public awareness campaigns on a variety of public policy issues, trains activists, and provides funding directly to candidates for office. The organization has more than a million members in the United States and internationally.
The 2006 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, 2006, with all 33 Class 1 Senate seats being contested. The term of office for those elected in 2006 ran from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2013. Prior to the election, the Republican Party controlled 55 of the 100 Senate seats.
The 2006 United States Senate election in Washington was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democrat Maria Cantwell won re-election for a second term.
Edward Miner Lamont Jr. is an American businessman and politician serving as the 89th governor of Connecticut since January 9, 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Greenwich selectman from 1987 to 1989. He ran for the United States Senate in 2006, defeating incumbent Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary, but losing to him in the general election, when Lieberman ran as a third-party candidate.
The 2006 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman lost the August 8 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, but then formed his own third party and was reelected to a fourth term. Lieberman and Lamont both faced Alan Schlesinger, a Republican.
Howard Brush Dean III is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009. Dean was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election. His implementation of the fifty-state strategy as head of the DNC is credited with the Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Afterward, he became a political commentator and consultant to McKenna Long & Aldridge, a law and lobbying firm.
Steven A. Elmendorf is a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., was a senior advisor to House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt for 12 years, serving as his chief of staff after 1997. Elmendorf was also deputy campaign manager for U.S. Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president.
Yvonne Katrina Swett is the President of the Lantos Foundation. She is also an American educator and the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2012 to 2013, and then in 2014 to 2015. She ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district during the 2002 United States midterm elections.
Brian Patrick Moore is an American politician and founder of antiwar organization Nature Coast Coalition for Peace & Justice. He was the presidential nominee of the Socialist Party USA for the 2008 United States presidential election. He waged several campaigns for mayor and city council in Washington, D.C. and twice ran for the United States House of Representatives from Florida's 5th congressional district, winning none. He ran for the Democratic Party nomination for Governor of Florida in 2010, but lost in the primary election.
The 2008 Connecticut Democratic presidential primary took place on Super Tuesday, February 5, 2008, with 48 delegates at stake. The winner in each of Connecticut's five congressional districts was awarded all of that district's delegates, totaling 31. Another 17 delegates were awarded to the statewide winner, Barack Obama. The 48 delegates represented Connecticut at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Twelve other unpledged delegates, known as superdelegates, also attended the convention and cast their votes as well.
The 2008 United States House of Representatives Elections in Florida were held on November 4, 2008 to determine who would represent the state of Florida in the United States House of Representatives. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected served in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincided with the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 6, 2012, in conjunction with the 2012 U.S. presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Primaries to elect Senate candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties were held on Tuesday, August 14, 2012.
Arshad Hasan was the executive director of ProgressNow. He was previously executive director for Democracy for America.
Faiz Shakir is an American Democratic political advisor. Most recently the campaign manager for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, Shakir previously worked as an aide to Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, was an editor-in-chief of the ThinkProgress blog, and was the political director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Raised in Florida by Pakistani immigrants, Shakir is a progressive liberal and an advocate for Muslim American communities.