MoveOn to Host Democratic Presidential Candidate Forum in November

Clinton, O’Malley, and Sanders have been invited to engage with the 8-million-member strong MoveOn community on key progressive issues.

MoveOn.org Political Action announced today that it will host what is thus far the only scheduled grassroots online candidate forum of the Democratic presidential primary. The mid-November forum will focus on progressive issues and feature questions submitted from MoveOn’s 8 million members nationwide.

Bernie Sanders has confirmed his attendance; other candidates — Hillary Clinton, and Martin O’Malley — have been invited but not yet confirmed.

Said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action: “This forum will help Democratic candidates engage with millions of progressive Americans who constitute an influential part of the party’s base and who will play a significant role in the coming primaries and caucuses. The forum will give candidates an opportunity to respond directly to grassroots progressives asking about the issues that matter most, from protecting and expanding Social Security to keeping fossil fuels in the ground, to addressing systemic racism and ending mass incarceration.”

While the MoveOn digital forum is not a Democratic National Committee event, the DNC also celebrated the spirit of having Democratic candidates engage with voters committed to progressive values.

Said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee: “Candidate forums like this one hosted by MoveOn.org are important opportunities, along with town halls, living room conversations, county fair visits, and DNC debates all across the country, where our Democratic candidates get to engage with voters and highlight their vision for moving America forward. The stakes couldn’t be higher with a Republican field promising to take our country back to the same policies in place when we were losing 750,000 jobs a month and when the middle class was being devastated. I know MoveOn’s event will help our candidates continue to have substantive discussions about the issues voters care about most.”

MoveOn members have stood alongside candidates up and down the ballot who fight for poor and middle-class families and who stand against the rigged system in Washington.

In July 2007, all eight candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination participated in MoveOn’s virtual town hall, which focused on how to end the Iraq war and other issues facing the country at the time. Months later, just before 2008’s Super Tuesday, MoveOn members’ endorsement of then-Sen. Barack Obama delivered a substantial boost to his campaign. After endorsing, MoveOn drove 1 million volunteers to the Obama campaign. When Elizabeth Warren ran for the Senate in 2012, MoveOn members bundled more than $1 million in small contributions to her campaign. Collectively, MoveOn members have made millions of phone calls, contributed hundreds of millions of dollars, and run TV and other advertising on behalf of MoveOn member-endorsed candidates.