The Role of a District Leader in the
Village of Hastings-on-Hudson

 

​

What are District Leaders?

 

"District Leaders" are members of the Democratic Party (the official title is "Westchester County Committeemen/women"). They can be elected or, in the event of a vacancy, appointed to this internal party office. Two District Leaders are assigned to each Electoral District, which may or may not be the District in which they live.

 

Together, the sixteen District Leaders representing the eight Electoral Districts in Hastings-on-Hudson (18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 52nd, and 59th) make up the Hastings Democratic Committee. The Hastings Committee elects its own Executive Committee at the start of each term in office, which all District Leaders serve on the same two-year cycle.

 

The Hastings Democratic [Village] Committee is a component of the Greenburgh Democratic Town Committee, along with the committees of the other village and unincorporated areas in the Town of Greenburgh. In turn, the Greenburgh Committee is a component of the Westchester County Democratic Committee, along with the other towns and cities in Westchester County.

 

All Hastings District Leaders are automatically members of the Greenburgh Town and Westchester County committees and may vote at their conventions. The Hastings Chair is automatically a member of Greenburgh's Executive Committee; the Greenburgh Chair is automatically a member of Westchester's Executive Committee.

​

​

How Are District Leaders Selected?

 

A District Leader must stand for re-election every two years. For each two-year term, a District Leader candidate must file a nominating petition containing sufficient, valid signatures of registered Democrats living in the Electoral District the candidate hopes to serve.

 

Technically, the petition will place the candidate on the ballot, however District Leader positions do not come up for a vote unless there is a primary challenge within an Electoral District. Any registered Democrat can make a challenge for the position of District Leader by also collecting sufficient valid signatures on a petition in an Electoral District. If nominating petitions are certified for more than two people within the same Electoral District, the winner is decided on the ballot of the New York State primary election in June.

 

If a District Leader resigns or is removed from office before a term has been completed, replacement is governed by local Committee rules, not State law. (The government will not spend resources on a special election for an internal party position, nor will most political parties.) Usually, per the By-Laws of the Hastings Democratic Committee, the Chair will appoint a replacement. Anyone appointed outside the regular election cycle will be up for election—and face a potential primary challenge, just like all other District Leaders—in the next year that District Leaders are elected.

​

Note: One advantage of being a registered member of a political party in New York State is that you can sign party petitions and vote in primaries, and thus help select Democratic candidates from District Leader up through President.

​

​

What Do District Leaders Do?

​

District Leaders have four main functions:

 

1. The largest part of the job is "getting out the vote."
   
   In advance of every party primary, general election, or referendum, District Leaders engage in various activities to reach the voters in our districts, using publicly available voter rolls. We host meetings and events, bring literature door to door, make phone calls, send emails, put up (and clean up!) posters and signs, place ads and letters to the editor in local newspapers, and talk to people at every opportunity about the candidates, issues, etc. 
   
   The Hastings Democratic Committee works to keep the community informed about our activities and elections through our website and Facebook page, and by sending monthly emails to our subscriber list of local Democrats. To receive our updates, Hastings Democrats are invited to sign up here.
   
   District Leaders may also host "coffees" or "meet-the-candidates" forums, either in our homes, at a local meeting place like the James V. Harmon Community Center  or on a remote platform. Each of us is primarily responsible for reaching the voters in our own district—which is one reason we try to get to know Democratic voters between elections—but we all work together on community-wide efforts to get Democratic and sympathetic independent voters to the polls.
    

2. Perhaps the most important aspect of our work is interviewing and nominating candidates for local village office. 
   
   Starting in November, the Hastings Democratic Committee advertises for and interviews potential candidates for Village Trustee, Village Justice, and Mayor. We try to recruit people who have been active in community affairs, even if not in the Democratic Party, for these offices.
   
   The entire Committee, constituted as a Nominating Committee, interviews potential candidates and decides whether to endorse them and, as a result, assist in getting them on the ballot through the designating petition process. If the Democratic candidates and Village Committee agree, the Committee plans and implements their campaign strategy.
   
   Sometimes, the Village Committee also sponsors "Issues Forums" featuring local and regional experts on especially critical problems, such as the actual impact of additional residential development on local tax revenue. Educating and informing voters about such issues is, we believe, one of the best strategies for building voter engagement and turnout.
    

3. District Leaders are expected to participate to some degree in internal "party politics," such as the conventions of the Greenburgh Democratic Town Committee and Westchester County Democratic Committee.
   
   The Hastings Chair is automatically a member of the Greenburgh Executive Committee. Hastings District Leaders all have a vote at the conventions held by the Greenburgh Committee, as well as on certain decisions made at conventions of the Westchester County Democratic Committee, such as selecting candidates for County judgeships and delegates to the State Democratic Convention. Our votes are public and part of the record of each committee.
   
   Not all District Leaders choose to engage in internal party politics outside these occasions, but it is important that enough do to ensure that Hastings’ views are represented in Town, County, and State Democratic Party decisions about candidates, and that the Democratic Party platform and candidates give appropriate attention to and take good positions on issues important to Hastings-on-Hudson Democrats (such as we have done in the past on the issue of funding the State Superfund for toxic clean-ups). Telling District Leaders your views is one way to get them transmitted to the higher levels of the Democratic Party.
    

4. Finally, Democratic District Leaders are expected to build and maintain the structure of the Democratic Party in our village.
   
   The Committee holds monthly meetings, usually at 8:00 pm on the first Wednesday of the month (except August). These meetings are usually held at the James V. Harmon Community Center, but are sometimes held via Zoom. The meetings usually have a “public” segment that registered Democrats may attend to exchange ideas and meet with elected officials. The balance of the meetings are members-only discussions of internal procedures and party strategy. Although Committee meetings are not required to be public by either State law or party rules, the Committee chooses to do so to foster communication with voters and our local leaders. To receive notices of our meetings, Hastings Democrats may send an email request to hastingsdems10706@gmail.com.
   
   The Committee may endorse candidates for Greenburgh, Westchester County, or New York State office. Before such endorsements, candidates or their representatives visit our meetings, giving us an opportunity to inform them of our views and question them on their positions.
   
   Of course a certain amount of mundane work is associated with keeping a political party going: fund-raising and managing the bank account; preparing materials for mailings to voters or flyers to give out at the train station or petitions; organizing a party presence at village-wide events; filing financial and other statements in compliance with the election law; certifying District Leaders to the Town and County Committee chairs; etc. On Election Day, in addition to urging people to vote, District Leaders check the voting machines and voters' lists at each polling place at the beginning of the day (to make sure that they are "zero") and at the end when the results are compiled. In Hastings this is something of a ritual, but unfortunately, in many places it is necessary and important to prevent election fraud.

 

​

When Do I Contact My District Leaders?

​

You should never hesitate to contact any District Leader, not only with questions about where or when to register or vote, but with thoughts about topics that Democrats should include in our platform; questions about candidates' qualifications and positions on issues; or for general information about community resources and needs. As citizens who hope to make a positive difference not only in the Democratic Party, but in all aspects of our village life, we really need to understand what Hastings residents think.

 

We wouldn't be doing this work if we were not very interested in your ideas and concerns. The most gratifying part of being a District Leader is the one-on-one contact with community members (i.e, constituents) and being able to offer information and help.

 

Please see the list of all current Hastings District Leaders. You can request that any email to hastingsdems10706@gmail.com be forwarded to them.

​

​