The 2025 Steering Committee Elections
Filing for the 2025 Center for New Liberalism Steering Committee has opened. Before filing to run, please be sure to read this entire post, as the election rules and structure are laid out in the post.
This year’s elections will take place online and in-person at the New Liberal Action Summit in Washington, D.C. Online voting will open on October 13, but anyone planning to vote in-person should plan to vote at the conference.
About the Steering Committee
The Center for New Liberalism’s Steering Committee exists to ensure that the interests of chapters and members are represented and to provide a voice and forum for the direction of organization-wide initiatives to promote liberal ideas in the United States and worldwide.
The 2024-2025 Steering Committee has voted to keep the current Steering Committee size of 9 at-large members, including seven members from domestic chapters in the United States, and a minimum of two designated international members.
Beginning with the 2025 election cycle, Steering Committee members will serve two-year terms. To provide continuity, the committee will be divided into two staggered “classes.” Five Class I members will initially serve two-year terms ending in 2027, while four Class II members will initially serve one-year terms ending in 2026. Thereafter, both classes will serve full two-year terms on alternating cycles. The two required international member seats will be split between the two classes. As before, there remains open space for additional international members beyond the minimum requirement.
This change does not alter the number of seats up for election in 2025—nine at-large members will still be elected. However, election results will also determine class placement: the top five vote-getters will be assigned to Class I, while the remaining four will be assigned to Class II. To ensure the international requirement is met, the following rules will apply:
If all top five vote-getters are from the United States, the highest-ranking international candidate will replace the fifth-place domestic candidate in Class I.
If all four remaining elected candidates are from the United States, the second-highest international candidate will replace the ninth-place domestic candidate in Class II.
All steering committee members are elected at-large, and the committee itself elects its own officers. Staff from the Center for New Liberalism organization leadership sit in on the committee in a nonvoting, observing capacity. Each year, the Steering Committee serves a term lasting from the date of their inauguration through the next election held at our annual conference. The committee is responsible for the following:
Advising CNL staff on strategy, vision, and initiatives throughout the year
Proposing and executing on special steering committee initiatives, including projects, endorsements of candidates or legislation, and organization-wide statements.
Producing briefs and feedback documents on the performance of the national organization and makes recommendations to it.
Election Procedures
The Center for New Liberalism will hold this year’s elections to coincide with the New Liberal Action Summit in Washington, D.C. The elections will be structured as such:
Candidates will have the opportunity to declare their candidacy from today until 11:59 PM on Thursday, October 9th 2025.
A list of all eligible candidates along with their statements will be sent via email to eligible voters on Friday, October 10th, 2025.
Ballots will be sent out via email on Tuesday, October 14th 2025 to all eligible voters (dues-paying members and active chapter leads). NOTE: there will be in-person voting at the New Liberal Action Summit in Washington, D.C., therefore anyone planning to attend the conference should make plans to vote in person.
Online voting will end on Sunday, October 19th 2025, at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time (3:59 AM GMT).
Winners will be announced and inaugurated on Monday, October 20th at the members’ retreat of the conference.
Candidates are encouraged to provide a short biography, and write a motivation statement as to why they are interested in running for a seat on the Steering Committee; such a statement must be limited to 500 words and cannot contain a link to a longer statement.
Voting will be done via Approval Voting where voters can select as many candidates as they feel comfortable having a seat on the Committee, and the top nine candidates will be elected.
The top nine candidates will be elected, with final class placement determined as outlined above to satisfy the international member requirement.
The new Steering Committee will serve from inauguration through the next election at the annual conference, with Class I and Class II serving staggered terms as detailed above.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Corrine Jeffries or Tobin Stone.