About Pacific palisades democratic club
Our Story
The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club (aka PaliDems, or PPDC) has come a long way since a group of politically active Palisadians incorporated a local Democratic club in 1953 (yep, just celebrated our 70th anniversary). We remain just as committed to meaningful change today — in California, the nation and the world — as we were on day one.
We’re among the most influential Democratic clubs in the country. We’re proud to have led the founding and running of the Westside Democratic Headquarters, opening brick-and-mortar Santa Monica locations every presidential election year — drawing, training, and managing thousands of volunteers to become one of the top-performing in-person campaign centers nationwide from 2004 through 2016. The HQ has expanded and will open a physical space in SM again in September! More on that below.
And two of our board members founded and lead another sister organization, the Grassroots Democrats / Grassroots Democrats HQ, now a year-round, preeminent GOTV operation that’s quickly grown to be among the most successful in the country.
Most importantly, the club has a membership base that supports Democratic ideals. They donate to the cause, attend events, and show up for canvassing, phone banking, and advocacy of local, state, and national issues and candidates.
HISTORY OF THE WESTSIDE DEM HQ
In 2004, the PaliDems began spearheading the work of opening an in-person Westside Democratic Headquarters in Santa Monica — with plans to reopen a WDHQ every Presidential election year. This effort has grown into an amazing multi-club partnership that includes our friends at the Santa Monica Dem Club, West L.A. Dems, Malibu Dem Club, Heart of L.A. Dems, Stonewall Dems, Westchester-Playa Dems, and many others (click for the list). and has expanded to cover midterms and other ongoing battles.
Why do this, and why in Santa Monica? To maximize the number of volunteers who come help SAVE DEMOCRACY because we’ve made it fun and easy — and because it gives Westsiders outsized NATIONAL influence. At the HQ we’re able to contact millions of voters around the state and across the country! Being in a politically safe blue state and city allows us concerned citizens in L.A. to focus on turning purple areas BLUE.
These HQs train and equip thousands of volunteers to make calls and texts to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) in swing states for national races, and in California for local ones … host candidates and ballot proposition forums … feature debate-watch and other parties and events … charter trips to Las Vegas for voter registration and canvassing … and provide a gathering place for anyone who wants to make a difference and help Democrats win.
They’ve also hosted our famed collections of election swag, featuring a bigger in-person selection of election merchandise than you’re likely to find anywhere else in L.A.
A REVERSE CHRONOLOGY
2024 Presidential election year
Opening in August at 1241 Third St. Promenade in santa monica!
Soft opening event Thursday, August 22: watch party for Kamala Harris’s DNC nomination acceptance speech. CLICK here TO RSVP
WDHQ grand opening SUN., SEPTEMBER 1. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR INFO
2022 midterms & 2020 Presidential: Covid kept us online but we sure worked hard
2018: Blue Wave Midterms HQ (the start of something new)
With the stakes higher than ever, we tried something new and supported a physical HQ space in a non-presidential election year, deep in the heart of Westwood. So many volunteers, buses to neighboring districts, calls, parties, etc. — boy, did we GOTV!
2016 Presidential: Our WDHQ on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica was a huge success on several fronts
The thousands of volunteers who pitched in made ours one of the top — on many days the #1 — election HQ in California for calling and texting to Get Out The Vote for the Hillary campaign. We were instrumental in helping keep Nevada blue and putting Catherine Cortez Masto in Harry Reid’s US Senate seat. We helped California get even bluer, reelecting Rep. Ted Lieu and Assemblymember Richard Bloom … putting Kamala Harris into Barbara Boxer’s vacated US Senate seat … winning a majority of the ballot measures we backed … and securing supermajorities in the CA legislature.
PPDC brought into the HQ the West L.A., Santa Monica, and Malibu Dem Clubs to make it a true Westside coalition, and we’re most grateful for their support and the hours they put in to mount events and make the place hum.
Thanks to you, it was your very own Pacific Palisades Democratic Club that led the charge: finding, setting up, staffing, organizing, and, impossible without your help, providing the vast majority of funding for the HQ space, supplies, and personnel.
2012 Presidential: Third St. Promenade HQ
Thanks in no small part to our members and volunteers, 2012 was a tremendous year for California Democrats generally and for the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club in particular:
Barack Obama and Joe Biden were re-elected. Henry Waxman, Fran Pavley, and Julia Brownley were victorious.
Proposition 30 was passed and Prop 32 defeated. And the results on seven other state ballot measures were in line with our endorsements.
Over a thousand volunteers came together at our Westside Democratic Headquarters on the Third St. Promenade to make it all happen. We registered more than 1200 new voters, made around a million calls, and organized swing-state trips.
The HQ was visited by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama (pictured above, along with HQ co-manager Gary Bettman on the right). Others from the national campaign followed, to observe and to thank us for our efforts. We also played host to inspirational speeches and appearances by too many elected officials and dignitaries to list — Henry Waxman, Richard Bloom, Eric Garcetti, and Wendy Greuel among them.
2008 Presidential: our election headquarters on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica expanded to house the Obama campaign and become one of the top-performing Obama/Biden headquarters in the country
2004: our first HQ appeared on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica! The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club — in coalition with the Santa Monica Democratic Club, West L.A. Democratic Club, and Malibu Democratic Club — inaugurated the Westside Democratic Headquarters in support of Kerry and Dems in key California Congressional districts. Action items include trying to win our closest neighboring swing state, Nevada, by organizing work/play combo trips to Las Vegas
The 2004 appearance of our flagship HQ merchandise/apparel store (which has popped back up at every HQ since) set a precedent: The community soon knows where to come to find all things Democratic, from lawn signs to collectibles
PPDC finds the most engaging speakers, from political leaders to journalists to newsmakers, to keep you in the loop on critical issues. We’ve brought you (partial list)
Senior Advisor to President Obama Valerie Jarrett, Clinton Labor Sec. Robert Reich
Sen. and VP candidate Kamala Harris, Sen. Barbara Boxer
Reps. Ted Lieu, Maxine Waters, Julia Brownley; Henry Waxman
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Controller John Chiang, Insurance Comm. Dave Jones
State Sen. Ben Allen, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, State Sen. Fran Pavley
L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Sup. Zev Yaroslavsky
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa and Richard Riordan
City Councilmember Mike Bonin, City Attorney Mike Feuer, City Controller Ron Galperin, fmr Controller & current L.A. Homeless Services Auth. Comm. Wendy Greuel, fmr CM & current GM L.A. Economic & Workforce Development Dept. Jan Perry
Academy Award® winner Michael Moore, Peabody Award winner Robert Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize winnerMichael Hiltzik, cartoonist/author Brad Parker, Webby Award winner & TruthDig founder Robert Scheer, Nat’l Book Award winner Gore Vidal, Radio/TV host/author & Orwell Award winner Bill Press, commentator/authorJohn Dean, Emmy & Human Rights Award-winning author/activist Mike Farrell, NextGen America & Need to Impeach founder Tom Steyer, comedian Paula Poundstone, American Prospect Executive Editor Dave Dayen
Every couple of years we hold our special Political Courage|Human Rights Awards events, honoring, among others:
Sen. Barbara Boxer; Campaign for a Healthy California co-chair Dr. Paul Song
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Dolores Huerta, JFK Library Profiles in Courage Award winner Mikey Weinstein
Author/activist Ron Kovic and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg
Ambassador Joe Wilson, CIA Operative Valerie Plame, and new-media mogul Arianna Huffington
Emmy Award winner Phil Donahue, National Board of Review Best Documentary winner Ellen Spiro
These are unforgettable events, with newsmakers speaking passionately about their work. You won’t want to miss the next one.
Board meetings
Board meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month, 6:30 – 8:30 PM, on Zoom. These meetings aren’t open to the public — we hold many other public meetings and events, all listed here on the website and posted on our PaliDems social media accounts — but if you’re interested in attending, with an eye toward perhaps being invited to join our board, call 310-230-2084 or click here to email us
Our platform
Abortion & Contraception
We support the majority of Americans who understand that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion.
Education
Forty years ago California voters approved Proposition 13, a bill designed to help homeowners avoid huge property tax bills. Unfortunately, it extended the same protection to corporations, creating a $9 billion loophole. If we want to improve the woeful state of our public education system, we need to close this loophole.
Environment & Climate Change
We must diligently protect our environment and aggressively fight climate change. We need to set and meet more ambitious, urgent targets including 100% renewable energy for California by 2035.
Citizens United & Money in Politics
America can’t get corporate money out of politics until we overturn Citizens United.
Education
40 years ago California voters approved Proposition 13, a bill designed to help homeowners avoid huge property tax bills. Unfortunately, it extended the same protection to corporations, creating a $9 billion loophole. If we want to improve the woeful state of our public education system, we need to close this loophole.
Reduce Wealth Disparity
America now has more wealth and income inequality than any other major developed country on earth, with the gap between the richest and poorest Americans wider than at any time since the Great Depression. To fight income inequality we must do several things at once. First, we must demand that the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes.
Scientific Research & Development
Science has been under attack, often for ideological reasons, often at the behest of major donors of Republican Party and the right wing (to obfuscate the damages caused by the fossil fuel industry, to block research on gun violence statistics, etc.). We need to return to the days of unbiased, unobstructed science.
Gun & Ammunition Safety Legislation
Despite California’s strict gun-control laws, it is important to augment them with still-stricter laws. We need to continue to support a ban on assault weapons as well as devices such as bump stocks used to turn rifles into automatic weapons.
Healthcare
Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. A single-Payer/Medicare for All healthcare system would cover all California residents at a cost savings of $37 billion dollars a year to the state — while providing ALL medically necessary care.
Living Wage
We need to increase the Federal Minimum Wage, and to tie that wage to inflation.
Voting Rights
Fair and free elections and an open government are necessary for a free society
Social Security
Protect and Expand Social Security and the Social Safety Net. We believe that it is imperative to oppose mandatory retirement while strengthening pensions, and extending housing, healthcare, and unemployment benefits to individuals 55 and older so that they can are guaranteed a dignified retirement. We oppose any attempts to privatize Social Security.
Immigration
California Democrats support comprehensive immigration reform that is consistent with American values of freedom, opportunity, compassion, and respect for human rights. In that regard we are leading the nation with the California Dream Act: Students brought here as children can qualify for financial aid for college.
Peace & Diplomacy
We are global citizens in a nuclear age, and so must live in peace and harmony with our neighbors. We demand that the Democratic Party renew its focus on diplomacy at home and abroad and that it function as a leader in both areas.
Social, Economic, & Racial Justice
Justice can only be achieved through understanding the connections between systemic racism, chronic poverty, environmental devastation, and war economics.