National Democratic Training Committee (NDTC) is a

527 __NOTOC__ Year 527 ( DXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mavortius without colleague (or, less frequently, year ...

political action committee formed in 2016 to train American

Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

candidates at all levels of government to run for public office.

History

NDTC was founded in 2016 by Democratic operative Kelly Dietrich. In 2018, the group launched online training for NGP VAN's "VoteBuilder", the voter database used by the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. In 2019, NDTC launched their Staff Academy program to provide training for Democratic campaign staff. NDTC trained a group of 60 new Democratic campaign staff through an eight-week training, which featured both in-person and online components. NDTC partnered with state and national party committees to recruit trainees for the program, which saw more than 600 applicants. The program was developed to provide Democratic campaigns with "high-quality, diverse, and trained staff members" for the 2020 election cycle. According to its FEC report, NDTC raised $7.35 million during the 2018 election cycle.

Format

The training has taken the form of on-site as well as online classes with students ranging from activists, campaign volunteers and staff, and candidates. The group partners with state Democratic parties, as well as similar groups like Run for Something and EMILY's List. NDTC trainings cover topics like communications, campaign finance, and

canvassing Canvassing is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroots fundraising, community awareness, membership driv ...

Reception

The group claims its trainings helped elect more than 170 Democrats in the

2018 United States elections The 2018 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. These midterm elections occurred during Republican Donald Trump's term. Democrats made a net gain of 41 seats in the United States House of Representatives, gaining a majo ...

, including three Congressional candidates. The group has been generally welcomed by state Democratic parties, with former head of the

North Dakota Democratic Party The North Dakota Democratic Party was a political party in North Dakota that existed from the state's formation in 1889 until 1956, when the party merged with the Non Partisan League to form the modern North Dakota Democratic NPL Party. For most ...

Kylie Oversen Kylie Oversen (born February 3, 1989) is an American politician in the Democratic-NPL. She served as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives, representing the 42nd district from January 2013 to December 2016. The 42nd district is lo ...

stating the group has helped state parties encourage potential candidates to run for office. The Washington Post said that some Democrats have called the group's primary fundraising consultant, Mothership Strategies, "unethical," because of its "aggressive and sometimes misleading tactics," such as claiming that President Trump was preparing to fire the special counsel. Mothership charges some clients a commission of 15 percent, higher than the industry standard of 7 to 10 percent. Their fundraising tactics are effective, in raising large amounts of money, but the Democratic critics of Mothership Strategies worry that the company’s profits are built on exaggerating fears, and could erode trust among small donors needed in the future.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evebw7/the-sessions-where-working-class-democrats-learn-to-take-down-the-gop , title=The Sessions Where Working-Class Democrats Learn to Take Down the GOP , last1=Cheadle , first1=Harry , last2=Jenkins , first2=Gavin , date=February 19, 2019 , website=Vice , language=en-US , access-date=May 28, 2019 United States political action committees 2016 establishments in the United States Democratic Party (United States)