I am running for the Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee (SCC).

I am running because I have seen that the party still has many areas where we can improve. For example, the party treats those with money differently than those without money. We have fundraisers and events that exclude people who don’t have $50 to $75 to give to the party to participate in these events. Additionally, we seem to favor our incumbents and claim that primaries and open discussion of the issues are somehow divisive. Frequently, I hear party officials discourage the discussion and challenge to status quo.

I firmly believe that if we want change to occur we must step up to the challenge and create the change.

I believe that we need to consider and include ideas from everyone, not just those who have been involved in the party for years. As we know we must make our party more open and inclusive and we must face the fact that a greater number of young people and the next generation of voters are independents. Therefore, we need to listen to those voters especially since we rely on them to win general elections.

I know we need to reach out and bring back the 4.4 million Obama voters who voted in 2012 but stayed home in 2016. Of these 4.4 million, 43 percent were not contacted by any candidate in 2016 because it was believed they would be reliable Democratic voters.

I understand that we must update and modernize the way we are campaigning. We must put more emphasis on digital advertising and social media. We must follow the example of those already using social media and live streaming technologies to reach people. As Senator Bernie Sanders has done with live broadcasting his town halls. We are able to reach millions more than conventional online videos. We could use this tool to live broadcast many of our events and especially our fundraisers which in turn would include more people.

I believe that I am uniquely qualified to be on the SCC because of my work on issue and advocacy organizations such as the Cystinosis Research Foundation and the Cystinosis Research Network. And because of living with cystinosis I learned at an early age to be organized, to advocate for myself, and to be responsible especially when it came to managing my health and navigating health care coverage.

I hope I can count on your support at the Iowa Congressional District 2 Democratic Party Convention.

If you have any questions or concerns contact me at mika.j.covington@gmail.com