The purpose of an Assembly is to nominate primary candidates for public office and to adopt a platform. Assemblies are held every two years and are run by the County Chair.

 

At the County Assembly, delegates elected at Caucus select primary candidates for State House, State Senate and the Denver District Attorney. State House members are elected every two years, while State Senate and other state office holders are elected every four years.  The Denver District Attorney is also elected every four years.

 

Delegates are elected at the County Assembly to represent Denver at the Congressional and State Assemblies. The County Assembly also discusses and ratifies the Denver Platform based on a majority vote from the precinct caucus.

 

At the Congressional District 1 Assembly (CD1), delegates elected at the County Assemblies will select primary candidates for the U.S. House (Congress), State Board of Education and CU Board of Regents. At the State Assembly, delegates elected at each of the County Assemblies select primary candidates for any statewide race (such as Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, CU Regent At Large and U.S. Senate). The State Assembly also discusses and ratifies the Colorado Democratic Party  Platform, which comes out of the Denver Assembly.

 

Conventions are held every four years, during presidential election years, in conjunction with the corresponding Assembly. The purpose of the Convention is to elect delegates based on support for presidential candidates on up to higher political conventions.

The Denver County Convention delegates are elected based on precinct support for presidential candidates determined at Caucus. At the County Convention, delegates to the CD1 Convention (April 11, 2012) and State Convention (April 15, 2012) are elected.

 

At both the Congressional and State Conventions, delegates are selected to nominate presidential electors, and to nominate candidates to fill vacancies in unexpired terms in the U.S. House. In every presidential year conventions are also held in congressional districts to select delegates to the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

 

Finally, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) nominates the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and approves a National Democratic Party Platform. In 1908 and 2008 the DNC was held in Denver.