About

Vote For The Democrat is a small side project from me, Joey Castillo. I made the stickers in advance of the 2018 midterms, and in January 2019 revamped the site as a portal for general positivity about all the Democrats running in 2020.

If you thought the 2016 primary was bad in terms of chaos, vitriol and noise, buckle up, buckaroo! It’s only January of the year before, and we’re already looking at between seven and twelve thousand likely candidates. Yet as we argue over which one is more progressive, wiser, more aspirational, more practical or just plain better, it’s going to be important not to lose sight of the bigger picture, which is that one of the candidates in this primary is going to be the nominee in November, and we’re all going to need to vote for that Democrat, full stop.

If you don’t vote for the Democrat, you could end up with a Republican representing you for the next two to six years, and it’s a virtual lock that that Republican is going to be less progressive, less wise, less aspirational, less practical and worse in every way than the Democrat would have been. So you should make sure to vote for the Democrat, every time, and especially in 2020. It really is that simple.

Sometimes people need a sticker to remind them.

About the Website

It’s focused on the Presidential primary for the moment, and only includes candidates that have formally announced or formed an exploratory committee. As of March 2019 I’m working on expanding into Senate races! Check here for states and candidates you can help out with.

If you want to edit a candidate bio or add a candidate, you can fork the website on Github and open a pull request. If you don’t know what that means, look around campaign HQ for the kid with one of these stickers on their laptop; they’ll know what’s up.

About the Stickers

They’re stickers, measuring 5½” × 2⅛”, printed on high quality white vinyl by the fine folks at Sticker Guy. They’re ideally sized for you to stick on your truck, to leave in a coffee shop, or to put on that one wall in that one restroom that’s covered floor to ceiling in stickers. They’re also priced cheaply enough that after you’ve done all those things, you’ll probably have some leftover to give your friends and family.

You could also, y’know, buy a bunch and sell them outside the local Green Party convention for $2 a pop — it’s a profit opportunity, AND an opportunity to be passive-aggressive with people who voted for Jill Stein. It’s entirely up to you. For my part, all profits will go toward making more stickers, promoting the message or doing more with the website. So far it’s made like negative $750 so I have a few stickers to sell to get out of the hole.

Have Questions About Voting For The Democrat?

Here be answers:

There’s a primary in my district / city / state, and there are two Democrats running for the nomination. Which one should I vote for?

First of all, this is great! Two Democrats running means that there are probably a variety of great ideas being discussed by both campaigns. You should definitely vote for one of them in the primary. After that, there will be a general election. You should vote for the Democrat.

There’s only one Democratic candidate running in my district, and I’m worried that they aren’t progressive enough. What should I do?

You should vote for the Democrat.

There’s only one Democratic candidate running in my district, and I’m worried that they’re too progressive. What should I do?

You should vote for the Democrat.

I want to vote for the Democrat, but I can’t make it to the polls on Election Day.

You should vote absentee for the Democrat.

I’m not sure which Democrat is running to represent me.

You can use this tool to find out which Democrats you can vote for.

I’m phone banking and knocking on doors for one particular candidate in the Democratic primary. If my candidate doesn’t win, should I still vote for the Democrat?

This one is more complicated. First off, you should definitely look into the candidate that did win in the primary. Do important research, like finding the phone number for their local campaign office. Call that number and ask how you can volunteer for that Democrat. Then knock on doors and phone bank for them until you’re convinced that you’ve done everything in your power to get everyone you’ve met along the way to vote for that Democrat.

Then, on Election Day, you should vote for the Democrat.

What if there is no Democrat running in my district?

Run for office as a Democrat. Then refer here.