Responsibilities of a Political Party
Responsibilities of political parties at the national, state, and local level
The top authority of the political party is the National Presidential Convention.
Although each major party has a headquarters in Washington, DC, many local party offices can be found in the most common of places such as store fronts.
Local, Grassroots Political Party Headquarters
Democratic Party Headquarters
Douglas County, Roseburg, Oregon
Republican Party Headquarters
Alexander County, Taylorsburg, North Carolina
The National Presidential Convention formally:
ratifies (approves) the Presidential nominee
adopts party platform and party rules
showcases potential Presidential candidates
unifies factions of the party.
Even though the delegates do not actually choose presidential candidates, and we, the voters decide in presidential primaries and more democratic caucuses, the national presidential conventions do help to unify the party, particularly after a bloody primary season as in Republican candidate Bob Dole’s 1996 race. Some of you may remember that Steve Forbes spent some of his fortune running attack ads advocating the “flat tax” and Pat Buchanan tried to attract social conservatives through negative advertising.
Also, delegates have the opportunity to amend their party platforms during the three- or four-day convention.
GET WRITING HELP HERE
HUMAN-WRITTEN
AND
PLAGIARISM-FREE
The National Committee – “it runs the everyday operations of a political party of the national level”.
The National Committee
:
raises money for national, state, and local candidates through fund-raisers and membership dues
organizes the Presidential Convention
recruits and trains candidates
provides expertise on issues and campaign strategy
provides opposition research
Responsibilities of a Political Party
On February 1, 2025, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) elected a new Chair, Ken Martin from Minnesota. He served as Vice Chair of the DNC for eight years. He is a progressive who has headed the Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmers-Labor Party (DFL) for over a decade. He has supported progressive candidates during the years and focused issues such as the environment, conservation, the arts in Minnesota. Ken Martin has a wife and two children. To learn more about Ken Martin, go to
and
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/politics/democrats-to-pick-new-chair/index.html
.
Under pressure of then former President Donald Trump and the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Ronna Romney McDaniel stepped down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) on March 8, 2024 ( Peoples, Steve. “
RNC chair making way for Trump loyalists
,” DDNs, February 27, 2024). Historically, the presidential nominee will select his choice to run the national party organization but she had been under pressure to step down by Trump supporters. Once of the criticisms of her work was that she was having difficulty raising money for GOP candidates. Ms. McDaniel was the longest serving national committee chairperson since the Civil War. President elect Trump had rewarded her for helping him to win Michigan in 2016 with this post and GOP grassroots supporters asked her to stay after he lost the 2020 presidential race. In January 2024, she won a tough re-election race to retain her chairmanship.
On January 17, 2025,
Michael Whatley was re-elected as Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). He was formerly North Carolina Republican Party chair and General Council of the RNC prior to becoming chairman of the RNC and K. C. Crosbie takes Lara Trump
, former President Trump’s daughter-in-law’s position as co-chairman of the national committee place when Lara Trump stepped down from her position as co-chairman. Both have the responsibility of raising dollars for national, state, and local GOP candidates. To learn more about Michael Whatley and K. C. Crosbie, go to
Republican National Committee 2025 Winter Meeting General Session | C-SPAN.org.
Didn’t Congress prohibit the RNC
and DNC from raising soft money
for getting out the vote?
Party Organization from the Inside
Interested in a cool summer job? Want to actually make a difference in your community? Consider an internship at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or Republican National Committee (RNC). Both organizations offer internship programs for college students who want hands-on experience working in community outreach and grassroots organizing. While many internship opportunities are based at the national headquarters in Washington, DC, openings may exist within state party organizations Responsibilities of a Political Party
Internship positions can be very competitive; most applicants are juniors or seniors with high grade-point averages and strong recommendations from their faculty. Successful applicants get an inside view of government, build a great professional network, and have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of their friends and families.
Visit the DNC or RNC website and find out what it takes to be an intern. While there, also check out the state party organization. Is there a local leader you feel you could work for? Are any upcoming events scheduled in your state?
OOCAPG Resource
The Problem of Soft Money
I often share with my students the following “snowman” picture to illustrate the problem of soft money used for T.V. ads that indirectly benefited presidential candidates in the past:
Textual Description Week 8 – Money to Parties
This image shows a snowman as an allegory for political party money.
The tophat of the snowman is black and contains grey dollar signs.
The top sphere is blue in color and titled “Hard Money Account.” The eyes are labeled as individuals and PAC. Underneath the eyes reads:
Limited and disclose to FEC
Individual contributions up to $25,000 prior to 2002
PAC contribution up to $15,000 prior to 2002
There is an arrow pointing from this section with the following text: $’s go to individual political candidates National, State, & Local.
The lower sphere is red in color and titled “Soft Money Account” and underneath is days:
Wealthy Individuals
Labor Unions
White House Coffees
“Party Building Activities” – Get out the vote
Unlimited and undisclosed contributions
Interest groups
Lincoln bedroom
Foreign Contributions
Corporations
There are two arrows emanating from this section. One to the text: TV ads that indirectly benefit presidential candidates and the other text: National parties can no longer raise “soft money” – McCain-Feingold Bill.
Since the RNC and DNC can no longer raise soft money, nonprofit organizations,
“527s
” like Moveon.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth stepped in to fill the gap. During the 2004 presidential election, they raised these donations to register voters, get out the vote, and educate the public. 527’s were
not
contributing these dollars to political candidates and as a result, were not prohibited from raising unlimited and undisclosed funds. They were not barred by McCain-Feingold from raising these dollars. We saw the rise of “SuperPACs” in recent presidential elections and are actively supporting our 2020 presidential candidates. To learn more go to
The 2020 presidential race might be remembered as when the dam broke on money in U.S. politics – Fortune.
As you know, it is very expensive to run for president, and Republican candidates have found that they need these outside groups to raise soft money for advertising on their behalf or to defeat other candidates. Even though President Obama had a goal of raising $1 billion for his 2012 re-election campaign, a group of supporters established a “SuperPAC” on his behalf as well. They have discovered that it is wealthy individuals that contribute to these “SuperPac’s” and not corporations and unions that many feared would happen as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that declared the section of the McCain-Feingold that prohibited corporations and unions from putting on political (“electioneering”) type ads 30 days prior to a primary and 60 days before the general election. You may remember the Court also struck down part of the Taft-Hartley Act that banned corporations and unions from using independent expenditures–“vote for or against” ads on television. The Court held that it violated corporations and unions’ First Amendment “political speech.”
As Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), opponent of the McCain-Feingold bill, once said the decision would strengthen special-interest groups and weaken political parties.
“Soft money is not gone, it has just changed its address
(“Opponents” 18A)
.” Responsibilities of a Political Party
State Committee
-“it raises money for
state
candidates”
— e.g., Governor, state senator, state legislator, etc.
Cincinnati lawyer and former chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party Alex Triantafilou was sworn in as the new Ohio Republican Party chairman on January 6, 2023. He served as a judge in Hamilton County until 2008 (the youngest judge in that county to serve in that position),
About the Chairman – Ohio Republican Party
. He replaced Bob Paduchik who helped candidate Trump elected to the presidency in 2016 and who also ran his re-election effort in 2020. Mr. Paduchik stepped down after the 2022 election.
The Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee selected Liz Walters as their new Chairperson when David Pepper stepped down from the chairmanship in late 2020 after serving in this capacity since 2015. Ms. Walters is from Summit County and is the first woman to be elected to this position by this state committee. To learn more about her background, go to the Columbus Dispatch article at
Ohio Democrats picked a new leader. Here’s what you need to know – Columbus Dispatch
. Also,
review the Ohio Democratic Party website’s article about Chairwoman Walters at
Elizabeth Walters and Andre Washington Chair and Vice Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party
. She was re-elected to a four-year term in 2022,
Ohio Democratic Party Chair Walters Announces New Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director – Ohio Democrats
.
Here are the websites for Ohio’s Republican and Democratic Parties:
Ohio Republican Party
Ohio Democratic Party
County
Committee
-“it recruits candidates to run for
local
office,” e.g
.
mayor, city council, sheriff, etc.
Phil Plummer is the Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman and former Montgomery County Sheriff who is currently serving his second term as a state representative for the 40th House District in the Ohio House of Representatives (Plummer Biography, Ohio House website ).
The Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman is immigration attorney and former Dayton School Board President, Mohamed Al-Hamdani. He was elected by the Montgomery County Democratic Party’s central committee in June 2022 and the first Muslim to chair a county Democratic Party in Ohio. Chairman Al-Hamdani replaces Mark Owens who retired from his position after serving for fifteen years (Balduf, Jen. “
Former Dayton school board president new Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair,
” DDN, June 10, 2022 ). Here are the websites for the Montgomery County Republican and Democratic Parties:
Montgomery County Republican Party
Montgomery County Democratic Party
Wards and Precincts
– grassroots level-“get out the vote.”
Precincts
are made up of several city blocks or neighborhoods.
Wards
are made up of a number of precincts in a city. Precinct and Ward leaders are responsible for getting their supporters in their neighborhoods to the polls to vote for party candidates. Grassroots party supporters put signs in yards; pass out campaign literature; monitor elections.
Although the wards and precincts are at the “bottom” rung of the ladder in our decentralized party system, this does not any way diminish their importance. Without party activists on the ground urging voters to register to vote and go to the polls, it makes it more difficult for the party’s candidates to win on Election Day.
Leave a Reply