NPI to provide live coverage of the 2016 Washington State Democratic Convention

This week­end, the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty will be hold­ing its 2016 Con­ven­tion, the last event in the par­ty’s bian­nu­al cau­cus and con­ven­tion cycle, at the Greater Taco­ma Con­ven­tion and Trade Cen­ter in the City of Destiny.

As we have in years past, NPI will be offer­ing live cov­er­age of the goings-on at the Con­ven­tion, which will span three days: Fri­day the 17th, Sat­ur­day the 18th, and Sun­day the 19th. Each day’s activ­i­ties will be different:

• On Fri­day, the par­ty will hold train­ings, work­shops, com­mit­tee meet­ings, con­stituen­cy cau­cus meet­ings, a tra­di­tion­al gala ban­quet and recep­tion, and hos­pi­tal­i­ty suites in the late evening.
• On Sat­ur­day, the par­ty will hold a morn­ing break­fast fundrais­er, to be fol­lowed by the con­ven­tion gen­er­al ses­sion. Del­e­gates will con­sid­er res­o­lu­tions, char­ter and bylaws amend­ments, final­ize this year’s plat­form, and select at-large pres­i­den­tial elec­tors to go to Olympia this December.
• On Sun­day, the leg­isla­tive mem­bers of the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (WSDCC) will choose the at-large and PLEO del­e­gates to the 2016 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion. Once the selec­tions have been made, the nation­al con­ven­tion del­e­ga­tion will meet for the first time.

Pre­vi­ous state Demo­c­ra­t­ic con­ven­tions were held in Spokane (2014), Seat­tle (2012), Clark County/Vancouver (2010), Spokane (2008), and Yaki­ma (2006). The Con­ven­tion was last held in Taco­ma twelve years ago for the 2004 cycle.

U.S. Labor Sec­re­tary Thomas Perez is the fea­tured speak­er for Fri­day’s gala ban­quet. U.S. Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley of Ore­gon, con­sid­ered to be the Pacif­ic North­west­’s most pro­gres­sive sen­a­tor and a Bernie Sanders sup­port­er, will be the keynote speak­er dur­ing Sat­ur­day’s gen­er­al session.

Appear­ances by U.S. Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray and Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee, among oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic elect­ed lead­ers, are expected.

Mul­ti­ple NPI projects will car­ry our live cov­er­age, includ­ing this blog (the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate), as well as In Brief and Pacif­ic NW Por­tal.