2021 DNC CONFERENCE 2021 - CORNELL MODEL UNITED NATIONS - Cornell Model UN Conference
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2021 DNC
CORNELL MODEL UNITED NATIONS
CONFERENCE 2021Copyright © 2021 by the Cornell Model United Nations Conference
All rights reserved. This document or any portion thereof may not be reproduced
or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
Cornell Model United Nations Conference (CMUNC) except when used for educational
purposes.
Commercial reproduction or reference to this document requires the express
written consent of the current Secretary-General of CMUNC. Further terms of use
for commercial purposes will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
For more information on CMUNC, use the Contact Us page located at: cmunc.net
2CMUNC 2021 Secretariat
Secretary-General
Malvika Narayan
Director-General
Bryan Weintraub
Chief of Staff
James “Hamz” Piccirilli
Director of Events
Alexandra Tsalikis
Director of Outreach
Akosa Nwadiogbu
Director of Communications
Annie Rogers
Director of Finance
Daniel Bernstein
Director of Operations
Andrew Landesman
Under-Secretary Generals
Robyn Bardmesser
Avery Bower
John Clancy
Mariana Goldlust
3From Your Chairs
Dear Delegates,
Welcome! We’re so glad that you chose to join us for a special meeting of the
Democratic National Committee. This committee will be chaired jointly by the
two of us (and yes, we’re related!)
Lauryn is a freshman in the College of Human Ecology studying Policy Analysis
and Management with a potential minor in Business, while Bryan is a senior in
the School of Hotel Administration, studying Hospitality Management with
minors in Real Estate, Public Policy, and Law & Society. We hail from
Westchester, NY and were both heavily involved in Model UN throughout high
school. Between the two of us, we’ve attended CMUNC four times as delegates
as four times as staffers!
Our committee will operate under traditional parliamentary procedure, but the
topics we’ll be discussing may be a bit more current that what you’re used to
from a typical committee. Your positions and the direction of the committee will
be shaped largely by events in the past few weeks and months, so we strongly
encourage you to take some time to read up on what’s been happening in the
political space since the 2020 election, particularly on the Democratic side.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns before the conference, please
don’t hesitate to reach out to Lauryn at lbw67@cornell.edu. We can’t wait to
meet you and look forward to a weekend of fun and productive debate!
Warmly,
Lauryn & Bryan Weintraub
4Introduction to the Committee
On January 20th, 2021, the Democratic Party regained unified control of the
United States government for the first time since 2008, with Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris in the White House and Democratic majorities in both houses of
Congress. Despite the successful 2020 election cycle, Democrats’ hold on power
is tenuous, with the slimmest of majorities in both the House and Senate and an
electoral college outcome decided by only tens of thousands of votes across a
few pivotal states.
Leaders across the party have assembled for a special meeting of the DNC to
craft a plan for the Democratic Party for the next four years and beyond. Your
goals are threefold—first, to expand Democratic majorities in Congress in the
2022 midterms. Second, to unite the various factions within the party to deliver
the positive change that you have promised the American people. Finally, to put
plans in place to ensure long-term success of Democratic candidates and
priorities in the years to come. You’ll have to navigate all this while the country
is still recovering from a global pandemic and Americans are more divided now
than at any time since the Civil War.
5Topic I: Expanding Democratic
Majorities in the 2022 Midterms
As of January 20th, 2021, at the start of the 117th Congress, the Democratic Party
held 221 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, three more than the 218 seats
needed for a majority. This is a slim majority, to be certain, but not quite as slim
as the majority that Democrats hold in the U.S. Senate, where seats are split
evenly between the parties (50-50) and Democrats have control thanks to the tie-
breaking 51st vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.1 There’s no doubt that these
majorities are fragile—losing one Senate seat and four House seats in the 2022
midterms could result in a total shift of Congressional power to the Republicans,
something that the party is aiming to avoid at all costs.
Historically, the party of the president tends to lose seats in Congress during the
midterm elections of the president’s first term. In the 2010 midterms, for
example, the Democrats lost six seats in the Senate and 63 seats in the House,
extinguishing the Democrat’s majority in the House and significantly shrinking
it in the Senate. President Obama called it a “shellacking.”2
Your task is to not only avoid the “shellacking” that the party experienced in
2010 but to expand the Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate
to provide President Biden with a more robust Democratic majority for the
second half of his term and support Democratic candidates up and down the
ballot. There are a number of opportunities for pickups, particularly in
competitive open-seat Senate races in states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina,
and Ohio, as well as a competitive race in Wisconsin, a state the President Biden
narrowly won in 2020. At the same time, Democratic candidates Mark Kelly and
Raphael Warnock will be on the defensive in Arizona and Georgia, respectively,
two seats that only just flipped blue in 2020.
When it comes to the House, all eyes will be on the outcome of the 2022
redistricting cycle, in which state lawmakers will redraw congressional maps
based on the results of the 2020 census. The outcomes of these maps could make
or break the party’s chance at retaining control of the House.
1
Ballotpedia.
2
The Guardian. “Barack Obama admits he needs ‘to do a better job’ after midterms defeat.” 3 Nov 2010.
6The 2022 midterms may seem like they’re far off, but the race for control of
Congress will be in full swing in a matter of months. What steps will you take to
help our candidates win and buck the trend of losing seats in a midterm
election?
As you debate this topic, consider the following:
• What did we learn from the 2020 election? What did we do well, and what
do we need to change?
• How can we increase voter turnout for the midterm elections and develop
enthusiasm for Democratic candidates?
• How can we effectively communicate to the American people what the
Biden administration and a Democratic majority in Congress has
delivered (and will continue to deliver) to the country?
• What types of candidates might be most effective in certain states? How
will our messaging differ from state to state?
• How can we combat Republican-led voter suppression efforts to ensure all
Americans can exercise their fundamental right to vote?
• How can we empower on-the-ground organizers in the lead-up to the
midterms?
• Can the current leadership of the party effectively carry us through the
midterms without losing our majorities?
7Topic II: Delivering Positive Change
for the American People
Democratic candidates, across the board, made clear to the American people
that if the White House and Congress was delivered to the Democratic party,
Americans could expect to see significant action on important issues like
healthcare, climate change, voting rights, policing and criminal justice reform,
infrastructure, the economy, and much more. Now that we have unified control
of the federal government, the American people are expecting to see the changes
that our candidates made a cornerstone of their campaigns.
Already, great strides have been made in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and the
resulting economic fallout, with the passage of the American Rescue Plan, which
delivered much-needed relief to American families in the form of $1,400
stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits. The American Rescue
plan also included funding for vaccine distribution, school reopenings, state and
local governments, rental assistance, and small businesses, among other areas.
Furthermore, the plan’s expanded and restructured child tax credit provides
guaranteed income to the overwhelming majority of American families with
children, a provision that’s projected to cut the childhood poverty rate in half.3
The American Rescue Plan was a major legislative accomplishment, but it would
not have been possible without the use of a Senate parliamentary tactic known
as budget reconciliation. Reconciliation is a process that allows the Senate to
pass legislation related to government spending, revenue, and the federal budget
with a simple majority vote. Typically, most legislation in the Senate is
effectively subject to a 60-vote threshold due to the filibuster. The filibuster has
evolved over the years (and, contrary to popular belief, was not always a part of
the Senate) but in its current form, it means that legislation with fewer than 60
votes is dead on arrival in the Senate.
The House of Representatives has already passed a number of major bills, like
the For the People Act (H.R. 1), the Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R. 8),
the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (H.R. 842), the Equality Act (H.R. 5), and
the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 1280), among many others that are
scheduled on the legislative calendar.4 These bills represent many of the
3
NPR. “Here’s What’s In The American Rescue Plan.” 11 Mar 2021.
4
Congress.gov “Bills passed by the House in the 117th Congress.” 16 Mar 2021.
8campaign promises that Democratic candidates made to the American people,
yet they face exceedingly long odds in the Senate under current rules.
What will the party’s strategy be for moving legislation through the Senate? Will
you seek out compromise with Republicans, even if it means losing key
provisions on important bills? Or will the caucus come together and develop a
plan for modifying Senate rules such that legislation can be passed more easily
with a simple majority, thus enabling the 50-seat Democratic majority to pass
legislation with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris?
As you debate this topic, consider the following:
• Do the American people care about the legislative process if they’re happy
with the legislative results?
• What concessions might need to be made to get the entire caucus onboard
on a modification of Senate rules?
• How can other members of the party (outside of the Senate) help in the
effort to enact the party’s legislative priorities?
• Are there routes to accomplishing the same goals without going through
the Senate? How might the American people view these efforts?
• How much are you willing to compromise on key pieces of legislation?
What provisions won’t you budge on? What positions might you be
willing to modify to gain bipartisan support?
• How will the productivity of the 117th Congress play into the 2022
midterms? The 2024 presidential race?
9Topic III: Developing Infrastructure
for Long-Term Party Success
The world was watching with bated breath on the night of January 5, 2021, when
the unimaginable happened—Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock
flipped two Republican-held Senate seats in Georgia to give the Democrats a
majority in the Senate. Within the span of three months, Georgia had gone from
a reliably red state for nearly 30 years to one that delivered 16 electoral votes to
Joe Biden and two new Democrats to the U.S. Senate, including the first Jewish
Senator ever elected from Georgia (and the first millennial ever elected to the
Senate), as well as the first Black Senator from Georgia (and the first Black
Democrat to represent a Southern state).
While the historic and momentous events of January 5th were quickly
overshadowed by the insurrection at the Capitol the following afternoon, we
would do well not to forget that what happened in Georgia was not simply an
anomaly, but the confluence of over a decade of on-the-ground organizing, voter
registration and outreach, and investments in the state-level Democratic party.
Leaders like Stacey Abrams, of Fair Fight, and Nse Ufot, of the New Georgia
Project Action Fund, as well as countless other organizers and volunteers
throughout the state of Georgia over the past ten years, made January 5th
possible.
The importance of party-building work cannot be understated—while difficult,
it is the surest path towards continued future success for the Democratic party.
Party-building requires money, time, coordination, volunteers, and great
leaders. While certain state parties have done a great job of building up the
important infrastructure that is necessary to win competitive elections, others
are woefully underprepared.
As a group, we need to develop a strategy for ensuring continued electoral
success for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Some of the most
important governing takes place at the state and local level, where Republicans
often dominate the conversation. Building infrastructure and organizing
capacity from the ground up allows us to target not only national races, but also
the critically important state and local races across the country.
10As you debate this topic, consider the following:
• Which states are most in need of significant party-building work?
• How will party-building strategies differ across different states and
different communities?
• What steps can we take now to invest in the future of the party?
• How can we further emphasize the importance of voting to Americans and
instill a greater appreciation for voting?
• How should we look at candidate recruitment over the next decade?
• How can we further emphasize the importance of state and local races?
• What changes do we need to make to our messaging today to enable
success in the future?
• How can we invest more in preparing and cultivating organizers and
leaders across the party?
• What technological tools might we want to invest in to further party-
building?
11Committee Positions:
All delegates in this committee will be representing a real-world Democratic
politician. These individuals are all fairly vocal in the public sphere, and, with
the exception of a select few, have political records going back years that you can
research to learn more about their positions on the issues.
Learn about each politician’s city, state, or district. Learn about their elections—
were they close? Do they tend to face tougher campaigns during the Democratic
primary or during the general election? What motivates each politician—what
are the issues they care most about? What bills have they sponsored?
If your politician hasn’t made a public statement on a particular issue that you
wish to take a side on, base your judgement on the politician’s other public
positions and what you know of their voting habits and record.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Mayor Eric Garcetti Senator Sherrod Brown
Mayor Lori Lightfoot Senator Bob Casey Jr.
Mayor Muriel Bowser Senator Bernie Sanders
Senator Tim Kaine
Governor Gretchen Whitmer Senator Joe Manchin
Governor J.B. Pritzker Senator Tammy Baldwin
Governor Laura Kelly
Governor Andy Beshear Representative Terri Sewell (AL-7)
Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17)
Secretary Pete Buttigieg Representative Adam Schiff (CA-28)
Representative Beto O’Rourke Representative Val Demings (FL-10)
Mayor Michael Bloomberg Representative Lucy McBath (GA-6)
Governor Steve Bullock Representative Lauren Underwood (IL-14)
Andrew Yang Representative Jared Golden (ME-2)
Stacey Abrams Representative John Sarbanes (MD-3)
Sara Gideon Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-8)
Theresa Greenfield Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-7)
Representative Elissa Slotkin (MI-8)
Senator Tammy Duckworth Representative Ilhan Omar (MN-5)
Senator Kyrsten Sinema Representative Cori Bush (MO-1)
Senator Jon Ossoff Representative Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8)
Senator Raphael Warnock Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14)
Senator Elizabeth Warren Representative Tim Ryan (OH-13)
Senator Amy Klobuchar Representative Conor Lamb (PA-17)
Senator Jon Tester Representative Veronica Escobar (TX-16)
Senator Cory Booker Representative Abigail Spanberger (VA-7)
12Suggested Reading
Below, we’ve compiled a large list of potential reading materials that may aid
you in preparing for the conference, gaining a better understanding of the
current political landscape, and help you learn more about your assigned
politician.
• Publications
o FiveThirtyEight
o New York Times
o Washington Post
o Politico
o The Atlantic
o Cook Political Report
o CNN Politics
o Vox
• Reference Websites:
o NYTimes Election Results
o 270 To Win
o Ballotpedia
o Congress.gov
• Podcasts:
o FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast
o NYTimes The Daily
o NPR Politics Podcast
• Twitter:
o @AJentleson (Adam Jentleson), author of Kill Switch
o @mkraju (Manu Raju), CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent
o @kaitlancollins (Kaitlan Collins), CNN Chief White House
Correspondent
o @maggieNYT (Maggie Haberman), NYTimes Washington
Correspondent
o @Redistrict (Dave Wasserman), Editor of the Cook Political Report
o @NateSilver538 (Nate Silver), Founder of FiveThirtyEight
o Your politician!
13You can also read
