Reorganization

Caucus Mission Statement

The mission of the Rural Caucus is to nurture connections between communities of people who may, or may not yet, vote Democratic in Virginia’s non-urban areas, to engage local people to determine the issues and priorities that matter to them, and to ensure sustainable rural life and progressive values throughout all of Virginia.

Call to Caucus

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Call to Caucus *

CALL TO CAUCUS TO REORGANIZE THE RURAL CAUCUS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VIRGINIA 

The RURAL CAUCUS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VIRGINIA, herein referred to as RURAL CAUCUS,  will hold an online assembled caucus, Tuesday December 9th, 2025, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM via ZOOM for the purpose of electing the new membership of the RURAL CAUCUS pursuant to the Democratic Party of Virginia Party Plan.

A meeting of the membership will be held on Saturday, December 13th, 2025, at 10:30 AM via Zoom, for the purpose of electing officers of the Rural Caucus.

 

I. Candidate Filing:

Each person seeking to become a member of RURAL CAUCUS completed and returned the RURAL CAUCUS Membership Filing Form to the RURAL CAUCUS between NOVEMBER 1, 2025 and December 1, 2025 at 5:00PM via GOOGLE FORMS. Only those candidates who  timely and properly filed the Membership form will have their names placed in contention.

No filing fee was or is required, however an optional suggested annual dues of $20.00 was described within the membership filing form.

 

II. Qualification of Candidates:

The Membership Form, which all candidates for membership signed, included the following written declaration:

 

By agreeing below, I am affirming that I:

  • Am a Democrat; am registered to vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia;

  • Believe in the principles of the Democratic Party;

  • Do not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election.

III. Notice:

The RURAL CAUCUS shall provide notice of this caucus by placement of a general notice of the caucus, including noticing the caucus date, time, and location, along with the Call to Caucus, on the Democratic Party of Virginia, the RURAL CAUCUS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VIRGINIA website and social media platform, by email notification to current RURAL CAUCUS members and through other reasonable means that will disseminate information about the caucus to registered voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition, reasonable actions shall be taken to promote participation in the caucus in accordance with the Affirmative Action provisions of the Party Plan of the DPVA.

 

IV. Participation

Every Rural Democrat who is a registered voter in Virginia is urged to attend and participate. If an individual does not appear on the Registered Voter List, they will not be allowed to participate. Participants who have not already completed the Membership Form will be required to sign a Caucus Participation Form stating that they:

A. Are a Democrat;

B. Are a registered voter within the Commonwealth of Virginia

C. Believe in the principles of the Democratic Party; and

D. Do not intend to support any candidates opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election.

 

V. Conduct of the Caucus

The caucus will be conducted online via ZOOM. The ZOOM WAITING ROOM will open at 6:45 PM. Only those participants who are in the Zoom waiting room by 7:00 PM will be permitted to participate.

 

VI. Affirmative Action

It shall be the duty and goal of all members of the RURAL CAUCUS to seek out and encourage the broadest possible participation within the committee, and in its membership, of all duly qualified citizens without regard to race, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic identity, disability, or economic status.

 

VII. Officer Elections

 

The election of Officers for the Rural Caucus will be conducted online and made available to all eligible members of the caucus. Voting will take place on Saturday, December 13, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 4 PM, through an Election Buddy ballot administered by the Democratic Party of Virginia.

 

Members seeking to run for office must complete the Rural Caucus officer filing form by Monday, December 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM.

 

Following the closing of the Rural Caucus officer filing form deadline, all members of the newly elected Rural Caucus will receive an email with a short bio and campaign statement from each officer for election.

 

During the online meeting for officer elections each candidate will be allotted 2 minutes to speak to attendees. After candidates have spoken, the voting period will be opened at 12 PM by the Democratic Party of Virginia and ballots will be sent out. At 4:00PM, the Democratic Party of Virginia will close voting and no ballots submitted after will be accepted.

Reorganization Transparency

    • When a person fills out the online Google 2026-2027 Rural Caucus Membership form and hits send, they automatically receive an email with a copy of the Google form with their responses. This lets them know their form was received.

    • Three (3) members of the Rural Caucus Executive Committee receive an email stating there was a form submitted with access to the form responses.

    • The contact information for the person who submitted the Google form is then automatically transferred to a spreadsheet that three (3) members of the Executive Committee have access to.

    • At that point, two (2) members of the Executive Committee work together to review the forms and verify that the person is registered to vote in Virginia, is likely a Democrat and as those two (2) members have access to the MailChimp email account, they add the registrant to the email list. As that happens an autogenerated email from MailChimp goes to the person welcoming them to the Rural Caucus. This part is a bit time consuming so it can take a while to get through them as we are all volunteers.

    Considerations for any members who registered before November, 2025

    • We have had instances where we have had to reach out to people and ask for information that was missing on the form or information that generated from their use of autofill which is often a convenience but not a perfect science. We asked each person that had that happen to them to resubmit a corrected form which they graciously resubmitted. It was always a phone number issue. The Rural Caucus will always seek to remedy any missing contact information as we know good communication strengthens our Democratic institutions.

    • We also went into the form and changed said line of the form where it would only accept numbers as the answer and by doing so corrected the use of autofill on that line. 

    Note - Earlier in the year when the membership form was created, the creator didn’t realize that the responses would not autogenerate to them but this was corrected before this November’s Membership Drive.

    • On the membership form there is an optional, suggested annual dues of $20 along with the ActBlue link and a mailing address of the P.O. Box for the Rural Caucus for those who prefer to send a paper check. The Rural Caucus is NOT a pay to play organization as many local committees, Congressional committees and other caucuses use similar suggested donations in their annual dues requests. Membership preferences are not given on the basis of donation status.

    • Three (3) Executive Committee members have access to  the VADEM Rural Caucus ActBlue account.

    • The bank account for the Rural Caucus has two (2) Executive Committee members that have access to it. 

    • When the yearly Rural Retreat planning begins, the Executive Committee meets and determines the budget amount for the Rural Retreat. That amount is relayed to the Events Planning Subcommittee and if it appears they might go over budget, usually based on increased ticket sales increasing plates per person cost for food, they go back to the Executive Committee and budget adjustments are made.

    • The Rural Caucus has monthly expenses for MailChimp, Zoom, and Squarespace for our website. Note - All caucus expenses are voted on and approved by the executive committee per the Rural Caucus statement of organization.

    • There are three (3) members of the Executive Committee that have access to the form, and the responses. Those three (3) Executive Committee members receive notification that a form has been submitted. 

    • We have asked each person filing to run for an officer position to also submit via email a short bio, less than 200 words, along with a headshot, that we will send out to all the caucus members after the Officer filing deadline. 

    • Independent from all operations of the Rural Caucus, DPVA will be administering the Officer election portion of the reorganization via email on December 13, 2025. It will be done through a program called Election Buddy that is the same program that DPVA used in the 2023 Rural Caucus Officers Election. All current rural caucus officers are prohibited from interfering in the administration of officer elections for the following term.

    • There will be a short Zoom on Saturday, December 13 at 10:30 AM explaining how Election Buddy works from DPVA and each person running for an Officer position will be given a few minutes to introduce themselves.  Their time limit to speak may change based on the amount of Officer candidates we have. Shortly thereafter the voting window will open and each Rural Caucus member will get ONE code via email to vote electronically for Officers. When the voting window closes and DPVA receives the results (this is a pretty quick process) they will announce the results.

    • The Rural Caucus Membership list is not shared. It is our member’s contact information. In 2023 it was not shared with the Rural Caucus members who ran for Officer positions and we are continuing that practice. 

    • Information provided about each Officer candidate will be shared to the membership via email after the December 9 meeting. This is the reason for the above mentioned request for a short bio and headshot from each candidate.

Reorganization FAQs

  • The Caucus will meet on December 9, 2025 at 7pm to vote in the membership body. Zoom link is forthcoming.

    Caucus officer elections will be held on December 13, 2025. The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) will be administering the election. The Caucus will send out a Zoom link for the meeting that begins at 10:30am and DPVA will email the electronic ballot when the voting window opens soon after the conclusion of the Zoom meeting.

  • The Caucus shall be composed of members who have an interest in furthering the Caucus’ goals, who are registered to vote in Virginia, who support the DPVA, and who complete a membership form each biennial period. All members of the Caucus will be voting members.

    To participate in reorganization, you must fill out our membership form by December 1, 2025. Dues are voluntary, but are appreciated to help the Caucus!

  • Caucus officers shall have two-year terms and be elected at the general reorganization meeting held at the end of odd numbered years. Vacancies among the Officers shall be filled by appointment of the Chair until the end of the 2-year term.

    The Executive Committee should strive to include representation from each of the five regions: Shenandoah Valley, Piedmont, Southwest, Southside, and Tidewater.

    The officers of this Caucus shall be:

    • Chair

      1. The Chair shall preside at all meetings and have such other duties as are usual to the office of Chair or that may be required by this organization.

    • Vice Chair

      1. The Vice Chair shall assist the Chair in the discharge of their duties and shall temporarily assume the duties and responsibilities of the Chair in their absence.

    • Secretary

      1. The Secretary shall keep an accurate record and minutes of the proceedings of all meetings. They shall keep and preserve all the books, documents, correspondence, records, minutes, effects, and any other property of this organization, and when a new secretary is elected the past secretary shall forthwith deliver to the newly elected secretary all the aforesaid items kept and preserved during their tenure of office. The Secretary shall see that proper notification is given of Caucus meetings.

    • Treasurer

      1. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the Caucus’ financial receipts and disbursements subject to the Executive Committee’s approval. Caucus funds shall be deposited in banks and shall be drawn upon only by checks signed by or electronic payments executed by the following officers: Chair and Treasurer. The Treasurer shall make financial reports to the Executive Committee and the Caucus. When a new Treasurer is elected, the past Treasurer shall forthwith deliver to the new Treasurer the funds and all the books and records kept during their tenure in office.

    • Vice Chair for Community Engagement

      1. The Vice Chair for Community Engagement works to raise Democrats' visibility and engagement in rural areas of Virginia and increase turnout for Democratic candidates up and down ballot, and provide support to Local Committees in rural areas including mentoring, networking, training, and membership development including younger voter outreach.

    • Vice Chair for Training & Elections

      1. The Vice Chair for Training & Elections shallwork to advance the recruitment, support, and election of Democratic candidates from rural areas for local, state, and federal office.

    • Vice Chair for Policy & Communications

      1. Vice Chair for Policy & Communications shall dentify and promote issues that matter to rural Virginians through events, social media, and policy platform highlights.

    • Vice Chair for Membership 

      1. Vice Chair for Membership shall work to increase Caucus membership across all rural areas of the Commonwealth.

    • Vice Chair for Development and Fundraising

      1. The Vice Chair for Development and Fundraising shall design and implement fundraising campaigns, events, appeals, and cultivate donor relationships.

    • Vice Chair of Labor

      1. The Vice Chair of Labor shall work to build community among workers, unions, and rural Democrats to advance the needs and concerns of workers in rural Virginia.

    Officer filing form can be found here. Members seeking to run for office must complete the Rural Caucus officer filing form by Monday, December 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM.

  • The Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) will be administering the election. The Caucus will send out a Zoom link for the meeting that begins at 10:30am and DPVA will email the electronic ballot when the voting window opens soon after the conclusion of the Zoom meeting.

    You do not need to attend the meeting via Zoom to vote. Further information, ballot, and Zoom link, will be sent to everyone who has filled out the membership form.