During the 40 years preceeding 2004, Door County and northeast Wisconsin was a dominantly Republican area with virtually all contested political offices held by Republicans. The Democratic Party ofDoor County (DPDC) was then small and had internal divisions that restricted its growth.
In 2004, some local party members, along with an influx of recently settled retired members, gathered to reorganize, and renew this local unit to make it an effective voice in the political arena. Ben Meyer was elected Chairman and Kathy Navis was elected vice-chair. Under their leadership, the difficult task of reorganization and establishing a functioning county-wide system, focused on addressing public concerns, finding candidates for public office, and informing the membership of news and views from state and national Democratic Headquarters.
After two years, Ben and Kathy stepped down and were replaced by Estella Lauter and Mary Horn as co-chairs, and Bill Perloff as vice-chair in 2006. The new team added a monthly newsletter, which is edited and published by Bill Perloff, and several standing committees to do the work of this organization.
In 2010, Allin Walker was elected Chairman of DPDC,. Bill Perloff remained as Vice-Chair and Editor of the Newsletter. During this period, DPDC recruited and supported several candidates for local and state offices. While the public support grew for Democratic candidates, none have been elected to state offices. Doctor Steve Kagan was elected Congressman from our district in 2006, and re-elected in 2008.
The DPDC (we’ve been known to call ourselves Door Dems) is an active and vigorous organization focused on electing Democrats to local, state, and Federal offices in an area dominated by Republicans in the past. The DPDC has grown with good leadership and experience and is an effective voice in the political dialogue.
submitted by Phil Hansotia
