NDTC founder and CEO Kelly Dietrich during a training session. Photo courtesy of NDTC
The National Democratic Training Committee (NDTC), which makes a free online candidate training program, plans to spend $4 million in 2018 in the hopes of getting 50,000 Dems to use their services to run for office.
Why it matters: The digital approach could help the party attract younger candidates — ultimately helping address the Democrats' old-people problem.
Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos is supporting NDTC in their efforts to assist Dems in claiming some of the 518,000 elected official positions next year, all in the hopes of helping the party regain some of the seats they've lost to Republicans at every level over the last 10 years.
By the numbers:
- Some of the $4 million will go toward creating more interactive training sessions for the group's free online training program, but an estimated $600,000 of that will be used for NDTC in-person training sessions inspired by Rep. Bustos' "Build the Bench" program.
- The seven states the group is targeting in the first few weeks of 2018 include Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, Idaho, Missouri and Wyoming.
- More than 10,000 Dems have signed up for NDTC training since the group started in 2016.
What they're saying: "Democrats clearly have momentum on their side," said Kelly Dietrich, founder and CEO of NDTC."While we can ride the momentum, we can't rely on it. We need to recruit candidates for every race up and down the ballot, but just as importantly we must stand with and invest in those who we recruit."