Back in May 2021, Democrats Abroad held elections, and Candice Kerestan was elected as International Chair of the organization. Months later, in August 2021, at the Young Democrats of America National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Eddie Aviles met her and Kenton Barnes, DAG Vice-Chair. In February 2021, Eddie Aviles interviewed Candice Kerestan. In the interview, Candice talks about her involvement in Democrats Abroad, what got her involved, the work she is currently doing, and her vision for the organization. For more information on Democrats Abroad please go to their website. https://www.democratsabroad.org/
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Eddie: To start, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Candice: Sure. My name is Candace Kerestan. I’m 28 years old, born and raised in central Pennsylvania. And I now serve as International Chair of Democrats Abroad and am based out of Munich, Germany. My background is in political science and German language studies. I did my bachelor’s in the US and studied abroad in Germany, loved it. And after graduation, I thought I’d come back. So, I did my master’s. And I also found Democrats Abroad, which is the largest organization for Americans living overseas and have worked at the chapter, the regional, and now the international levels. I am the second youngest state party chair in Democratic Party history. There’s only one person, the former chair of North Dakota, who was 26 when she was elected.
Eddie: Why did you decide to join Democrats Abroad?
Candice: I was always politically active back in the States. And it’s always kind of been a part of me, and I felt, especially as a young person, that we have a responsibility to mold our own future and take it into our own hands. And I didn’t want to miss out on that just because I was living outside of the United States. So, I found Democrats Abroad, which is a part of the Democratic Party, a lot of people don’t realize that. It’s nice that the party has prioritized giving a voice to the 9 million citizens outside of the US. What really called me, as I mentioned I’ve been politically active, was the Sanders campaign in 16. And there were tons of groups popping up outside of the US just from the energy around the 2016 election. And so, not just myself, but many people did get pulled into Democrats Abroad through that. We also worked very hard for Clinton in the generals because we knew how much was on the line. But for me, the actual moment that pulled me in was the 2016 primary.
Eddie: Can you talk a bit of how Democrats Abroad were involved in the 2020 election?
Candice: Yeah. There’s one point that ties into both years, actually, which is we do a thing called the Global presidential primary, just as every other state and territory holds a primary for the Democratic nominee, presidential nominee, we do that as well. We actually send delegates to the convention. So that was a huge part of 2016 and 2020 as well. We call it the Global Presidential Primary or GPP. That’s usually how we kick off the start of presidential election years. And that was the same in 16 and in 20. We had polling places, 43 of them in Germany, where people could go and actually submit a physical ballot. So that was the first quarter of the year primarily, and from there on out, we’ve got our eyes set on the general election. We did tons of in-person voter registration stands while we could. So in Munich, we have a little table in a tent, we go down by the Oktoberfest grounds, and we’ll be there trying to get people registered to vote. Digital ads, phone banking campaigns, postal mailings, a lot of the stuff that happens stateside with campaigns; we mirror that and do it abroad for overseas citizens.
Eddie: We have seen a lot of outcry over election integrity from the 2020 election domestically, is the same true for voters abroad?
Candice: First off, I would say the attacks on election integrity, also those that were targeted towards the overseas votes, which were the margin of victory; I know there were a lot of moving pieces and a lot of strong work from a lot of strong groups stateside started, statistically speaking, the increase in the votes from abroad in Arizona and in Georgia, were the margin of victory for the/ Biden Harris campaign, in those two swing states. So, for people to say that our votes don’t count is offensive to our community and to those stateside too who say your voice doesn’t count or isn’t valid. But as far as how that’s perceived, in the German media, I’m not German, so I don’t want to speak on behalf of the community as a whole, but it’s widely viewed as dangerous. I think, especially being here with the country’s past. I just watched the January 6 documentary last night, it’s just very alarming to see the repetition and the similarities between past events in history and what has taken place in our country in recent years, be that with just so much misinformation, coup attempts, whatever, you name it, we have had some variation of that under the past president. You know, and I guess I shouldn’t say this too, I’m not allowed to comment on foreign policy. But, the Germans had their Chancellor election in September and there were some far right parties who had clearly adopted Trump’s language. What happens in American politics is oftentimes mimicked in Europe a year or several years later, and that is something that they have picked up with the mail-in ballots and the legitimate questioning the legitimacy of the election. It’s certainly not as severe as it isn’t the US. But I’ve definitely observed again, not as my Democrats Abroad role, but as a private citizen, how some of these far-right parties are mimicking what the Republican Party is doing.
Eddie: Is there a plan for involvement for Democrats Abroad in 2022?
Candice: So, we spent 2021 planning, and now that we’re in the year, we’re executing that plan. It follows the primary schedule. We don’t do a primary for midterm years, like our own primary, but we’re contributing to those happening stateside. So, Texas is first up. This weekend, we’re launching our phone-banking campaigns to all Texans living abroad. They’re also getting texts and postal mails and emails, the whole nine yards. And that will continue then, based on the primary schedule for North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, being the next ones up in May, and it continues in variations of phone banking, texting, and all of that. But we’re also looking to engage more with partners stateside and other organizations such as yours, looking at options with the Georgia Democrats. One other thing is we’re launching state teams. And so, for example, we’re trying to form Georgians Abroad, Texans Abroad, just to build this community of people from a certain state, particularly with the battleground states, to build this community and help us find more voters. Not to talk your ear off about voting, but overseas voting turnout is traditionally very low. I mentioned that 9 million number in 2016, in 2020, less than 8% of eligible overseas voters voted from abroad. So, we’re really laser-focused on how can we increase that by 8%. And we see these state teams as a really good avenue to do that. To bring people together, get them to talk in their networks, forging relationships, bringing in the youth. Really, you know, anything and everything we can do to find more voters and help them make sure that they get their ballot in.
Eddie: Is there a notable difference in voter turnout abroad? From presidential elections to the midterms that you have seen?
Candice: Definitely. It does follow the pattern just like you see stateside as well, where the high levels of engagement in presidential election years that does taper off a bit in midterm years. But we’re really trying to keep that number up. I do think that among the community, especially living abroad, that there is still this sense of urgency, rather, to make sure that we win as many seats as we can in the midterms. I think a lot of people are still really concerned about American democracy. So, it’s our hope, combined with the efforts we’re taking as an organization and people’s general concern about their home country, that we still have a very sizable midterm turnout.
Eddie: You mentioned some partnerships with different organizations and looking to make new partnerships. Are there any other organizations that you’re working with right now?
Candice: Yeah, I think in terms of organizations we’re working with a lot more than we have in the past is state parties in particular. We are a state party within the Democratic National Committee. But we’re really looking to have it be a close relationship with, for example, the Georgia Democrats, the Georgia Young Democrats, that was the whole point when we met each other is just building these bridges so that people stateside know that we’re here that we’re organizing and that we want to work together. So, connecting with the state teams we’re looking at partnering with the state parties to do some candidate events to do some information exchange events; we just did one with the Wisconsin chair where Wisconsin Democrats meets Democrats Abroad. That’s where a lot of our focus has been, is particularly with the state parties.
Eddie: Lastly, is there any message or anything you want to share with the readers?
Candice: I want every reader to know if they’re a US citizen that, they have a right to vote in all US federal elections. Depending on your state, most likely also in a lot of your state elections. You can get your ballot at votefromabroad.org. This applies to dual citizens, even if you’ve never voted before if you’ve never lived in the US. Maybe you have an American parent; that counts as long as you have a US passport. People turning 18 By November 8, 2022, can also register to vote. So younger readers do that as well. I guess besides my vote from abroad pitch, I just want people to be empowered by their age, rather than discouraged by it. I think that as someone young in politics it’s easy to be discouraged or to be put down by. kind of this is the way we’ve always done it. But the fact is that not just our party, not just any organization, but really our country and our world as a whole need new, innovative ideas. We’re the driving force behind that. So, anyone who’s thinking about running or, you know, getting more involved, now’s the time.
Eddie: One more thing, you mentioned age should not be a discouragement for people to get involved. And I’m curious if there is like a certain age group that is more predominant or engaged in Democrats Abroad.
Candice: As an organization, we skew older. We are an all-volunteer-run organization. So, every person from my position to someone who just joined, we are all volunteers. Because of that, we do see greater engagement, particularly from older retirees. And we’re very grateful to have their support, too. But oftentimes, we see that young professionals, college students, for example, might not have time commitments or might not have the time to engage very heavily. So, some of the ways we’re trying to change that are just looking at the volunteer opportunities that we offer and making them manageable bite-sized volunteer tasks. Because we know that so many people want to help out too, and it’s just, how can we make that happen? For example, with our phone making program, you can get on at any time of the day and call, like if I’m up at three in the morning in Germany, I could be calling someone in Vancouver, or I could be calling someone in Tokyo, where it is an appropriate time of the day to call. That’s one option. I just have to say, for me, it also starts with who people see in positions of leadership. And I think that was really so important for me when I was making my decision to run for this position. You know, it is a time commitment. But it’s my hope that we as an organization can model that young leadership is not only possible but worthwhile. My hope is that when people see a younger leader that does inspire others under 35s to also step up and run for something, be that within Democrats Abroad or outside of it.