--- title: Democracy for America Votes on Presidential Endorsement description: Democracy for America will start polling its members on Monday for an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary. canonical: https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-07T05:01:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:50.823Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democracy for America to Vote on Presidential Endorsement og:description: But the group has a high bar. og:url: https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d19e958b36f1447/698871275f570f1504b1e56b/clinton-sanders-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2810 og:image:height: 1581 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Clinton walks past Sanders during a break at the second official 2016 U.S. Democratic presidential candidates debate in Des Moines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democracy for America to Vote on Presidential Endorsement twitter:description: But the group has a high bar. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d19e958b36f1447/698871275f570f1504b1e56b/clinton-sanders-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democracy for America Begins Voting for Presidential Endorsement > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 7, 2015 5:01 AM UTC  Hillary Clinton walks past fellow candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders during a break at the second Democratic debate in Des Moines, IO on Nov. 14, 2015. Hillary Clinton walks past fellow candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders during a break at the second Democratic debate in Des Moines, IO on Nov. 14, 2015. Jim Young—Reuters by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Dec 7, 2015 5:01 AM UTC Democracy for America will start polling its members on Monday for an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary, a process that could result in the first presidential endorsement for the organization and a major boon for either Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders or Martin O’Malley. The grassroots organization’s one million members will have an opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate, and if one candidate receives a supermajority of votes—67%—DFA will officially endorse. In the 2008 primary, no candidate received a supermajority. An endorsement from DFA could mobilize the group’s members in key primary states to make phone calls and canvass, lending the chosen candidate an advantage. “If we do endorse in the primary, we’ll work hard for your chosen candidate,” said executive director Charles Chamberlain in an email. “But we won’t tear down other Democratic Party candidates in the process. Our goal will be to run a 100% positive campaign that will put the nominee in the strongest position to beat Donald Trump—or whomever the Republicans nominate—on Election Day.” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is more than 25 percentage points behind former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in national polls, but he is well-liked by the Democratic base that make up DFA’s membership. The vote closes at midnight on December 15. **Read Next:** [_#BlackLivesMatter: Liberal Activists Shift 2016 Endorsement Rules_](http://time.com/3971905/black-lives-matter-democracy-for-america/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/"},"headline":"Democracy for America Begins Voting for Presidential Endorsement","datePublished":"2015-12-07T05:01:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:50.823Z","description":"Democracy for America will start polling its members on Monday for an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary.","url":"https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Bernie Sanders","Martin O'malley"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d19e958b36f1447/698871275f570f1504b1e56b/clinton-sanders-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d19e958b36f1447/698871275f570f1504b1e56b/clinton-sanders-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Clinton walks past Sanders during a break at the second official 2016 U.S. Democratic presidential candidates debate in Des Moines","caption":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Clinton walks past Sanders during a break at the second official 2016 U.S. Democratic presidential candidates debate in Des Moines","creditText":"Jim Young—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4137980/democracy-america-endorsement/","name":"Democracy for America Begins Voting for Presidential Endorsement"}}]}] ```