Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party
Democratic Party
Chairperson	Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL)
Founder	Andrew Jackson
Secretary	Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (MD)
President of the United States	Barack Obama (IL)
Vice President of the United States	Joe Biden (DE)
Senate leader	Minority Leader; Harry Reid (NV)
House leader	Minority Leader; Nancy Pelosi (CA)
Founded	1801
Ideology	Liberalism; Progressivism
Website
	www.democrats.org

The U.S. Democratic Party is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States. The other is the Republican Party. The U.S. also has several smaller political parties known as "third parties." Supporters of this party are known as Democrats.

Every four years the party holds a National Convention where they agree on their candidate for President. The Democratic National Committee coordinates most of the activities of the Democratic Party in all 50 United States. There have been 15 Democratic presidents, the most recent being Barack Obama, who became President in 2009.

Philosophy and role in government[change | change source]

Modern Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. In the United States, each of the political parties are large coalitions that cover many different kinds of ideology. A mostly Democratic state is sometimes called a "blue state".

Democratic beliefs[change | change source]

Generally Democrats support:

Progressive income tax, increasing overall tax income
Higher corporate taxes and recapturing income from overseas profits
Expanding spending on government programs
Spending on business, education, infrastructure, clean-energy
Limited rights to Abortion
Restrictions of weapons use through government oversight
Universal healthcare
Regulating business and the economy
Same-sex marriage

Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, Northwest and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.

Symbols[change | change source]

The symbol of the Democratic Party is the donkey.

The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.^[source?]

Democratic Presidents[change | change source]

Presidents during the 19th century

President James Monroe was a famous 19th century Democrat.

Thomas Jefferson (1801- 1809)
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Andrew Jackson (1829 – 1837)
Martin Van Buren (1837 – 1841)
James K. Polk (1845 – 1849)
Franklin Pierce (1853 – 1857)
James Buchanan (1857 – 1861)
Andrew Johnson (1865 – 1869)
Grover Cleveland ( 1885 – 1889)

President Bill Clinton

Presidents during the 20th century

Woodrow Wilson ( 1913 – 1921)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 – 1945)
Harry S. Truman (1945 – 1953)
John F. Kennedy (1961 – 1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 – 1969)
Jimmy Carter (1977 – 1981)
Bill Clinton (1993 – 2001)

Presidents during the 21st century

Barack Obama (2009 - present)

Other famous Democratic Politicians[change | change source]

President Barack Obama

Vice President Joe Biden

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Former senator Daniel Inouye

Joe Biden (Delaware), Vice President
John Kerry (Massachusetts), Secretary of State, former Senator, former Presidential candidate
Patrick Leahy (Vermont), President Pro-Tempor, Senator, and Dean of the Senate
Hillary Clinton (New York), former Secretary of State, former Senator and former First Lady
Jim Clyburn (South Carolina), Representative and Assistant Democratic Leader
Howard Dean (Vermont), former Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
Christopher Dodd (Connecticut), former Senator
Mario Cuomo (New York), former Governor
Dick Durbin (Illinois), Senate Whip
George Moscone (California), former Mayor of San Francisco
Chuck Schumer (New York), Senator.
Harvey Milk (California), Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
William M. Daley (Illinois), candidate for Governor of Illinois, former White House Chief of Staff
Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey), former Senator
Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois
Paul Simon (Illinois), former Senator
Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania), former Senator
Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Senator
Richard M. Daley (Illinois), former Mayor of Chicago
John Edwards (North Carolina), former Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate
Richard J. Daley (Illinois), former Mayor of Chicago
Al Gore (Tennessee), former Presidential candidate and Vice-President
Robert F. Kennedy, former Senator, former Presidential candidate, and brother of John F. Kennedy
Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), former President Pro-Tempor, former Senator, and former Dean of the Senate
Steny Hoyer (Maryland), House Minority Whip
Robert Byrd (West Virginia), former President Pro-Tempor, former Senator, and former Dean of the Senate
Tim Kaine (Virginia), Governor and former head of the Democratic National Committee
Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Representative
Janet Napolitano (Arizona), Secretary of Homeland Security
Nancy Pelosi (California), former Speaker of the House
Brian Schweitzer (Montana), former Governor
Harry Reid (Nevada), Senate Majority Leader
Rahm Emanuel (Illinois), Mayor of Chicago, former White House Chief of Staff
Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (Virginia), former Senator
Bill Richardson (New Mexico), Governor
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Florida), Representative and head of the Democratic National Committee
Eliot Spitzer (New York), former Governor
Mark Warner (Virginia), Senator and former Governor
George Wallace (Alabama), 45th Governor of Alabama