College Democrats is an organization located on several college campuses. Their main focus is to elect Democratic Party candidates and provide networking and leadership opportunities for student members. The chapters have served as a way for college students to connect with the Democratic Party and Democratic campaigns, and has produced many prominent liberal and progressive activists.
Many of these chapters are organized under the College Democrats of America, the official youth outreach arm of the Democratic National Committee, which claims over 100,000 college and university student members from across the United States. Other chapters are organized under the Young Democrats of America and its College Caucus.[1]
Immediately leading up to election day, chapters are expected to participate in get out the vote (GOTV) activities, both on-campus and in surrounding communities.
Other activities are not centrally determined, and thus vary from chapter to chapter. Typical activities might include inviting guest speakers (often elected officials or party activists) to campus, organizing issue advocacy and lobbying efforts (like letter-writing campaigns or phone banks), and arranging service activities for members to attend.
College Democrats chapters also often organize social events (like sporting competitions with College Republicans chapters) and other recruitment activities.
During the election season, campus chapters typically partake in campaign work. These efforts generally include voter registration drives and dorm storms to register youth voters that have just gained voter eligibility. They also include providing youth manpower to campaigns for canvassing and phone banks. During presidential election years, chapters have organized proxy debates and run mock elections.
Many chapters of the College Democrats took part in the 2016 Democratic Primary between Secretary Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). In the run-up to the campaign's launch, many students participated in Ready for Hillary PAC's efforts to build support for Clinton. The statewide organization in California actively supported the PAC and recruited supporters while many chapters hosted the PAC's Hillary Bus on their campuses to build support for Clinton.[2] [3]
| Name | Notability | Campus | |
| Madeleine Albright | former United States Secretary of State | Wellesley College | |
| Bryce Bennett | member, Montana House of Representatives | University of Montana | |
| Evan Bayh | former U.S. Senator from Indiana | ||
| Howard Berman | former U.S. Representative from California | University of California, Los Angeles | |
| Edward Casso | former member, Colorado House of Representatives | University of Colorado Boulder | |
| David Cicilline | U.S. Representative from Rhode Island | Brown University | |
| Mark B. Cohen | member, Pennsylvania House of Representatives | University of Pennsylvania | |
| Lee Fang | investigative journalist | University of Maryland, College Park | |
| Kirsten Gillibrand | U.S. Senator from New York | Dartmouth College | |
| David J. Hale | United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky | ||
| Marina Keegan | author, playwright, and journalist | Yale University | |
| Chris Kelly | former Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook | ||
| John F. Kennedy Jr. | son of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy | Brown University | |
| Amy Klobuchar | U.S. Senator from Minnesota | Yale University | |
| Paul Krekorian | member, Los Angeles City Council | ||
| Matt Lesser | former member, Connecticut State Senate | Wesleyan University | |
| Scooter Libby | former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney | Yale University | |
| Marko Liias | member, Washington State Senate | Georgetown University | |
| Seth Magaziner | U.S. Representative from Rhode Island | Brown University | |
| Terry McAuliffe | Governor of Virginia and former chair of the Democratic National Committee | Catholic University of America | |
| former Kentucky State Treasurer | |||
| John E. Moss | former U.S. Representative from California and California State Assembly Majority Leader | ||
| Glenn Nye | former U.S. Representative from Virginia | Georgetown University | |
| Nancy Pelosi | U.S. Representative from California and Democratic Leader, Speaker of the House | Trinity Washington University | |
| Dan Pfeiffer | former senior advisor to President Barack Obama | Georgetown University | |
| Hannah Pingree | former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives | ||
| Mark Pocan | U.S. Representative from Wisconsin | University of Wisconsin–Madison | |
| Jason Rae | member, Democratic National Committee | Marquette University | |
| Stephanie Herseth Sandlin | former U.S. Representative from South Dakota | ||
| Brad Sherman | U.S. Representative from California | ||
| Eric Swalwell | U.S. Representative from California | ||
| Levar Stoney | Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia | James Madison University | |
| Mark Takano | U.S. Representative from California | Harvard University | |
| Jesse M. Unruh | former speaker of the California State Assembly and State Treasurer | ||
| Alex Wagner | American Journalist | Brown University | |
| Mark Warner | U.S. Senator from Virginia | ||
| Steve Warnstadt | former member, Iowa Senate | Drake University | |
| Debbie Wasserman-Schultz | Chair of the Democratic National Committee and U.S. Representative from Florida | University of Florida | |
| Henry Waxman | U.S. Representative from California | ||
| Nan Whaley | Mayor of Dayton, Ohio |