Our Story

History of the Westside Democratic HQ

In 2004, the PaliDems began leading the charge on opening an in-person Westside Democratic Headquarters in Santa Monica — with plans to reopen a WDHQ every Presidential election year. This effort has grown into an amazing multi-club partnership that includes the Santa Monica Dem Club, West L.A. Dems, Malibu Dem Club, Heart of L.A. Dems, Stonewall Dems, Westchester-Playa Dems, and many others. and has expanded to cover midterms and other ongoing battles.

Why open Presidential-year centers in Santa Monica? To maximize the number of volunteers who come help SAVE DEMOCRACY because we’ve made it fun and easy — and because it gives Westsiders outsized NATIONAL influence. At the HQ we’re able to contact millions of voters around the state and across the country! Being in a politically safe blue state and city allows us concerned citizens in L.A. to focus on turning purple areas BLUE.

These HQs train and equip thousands of volunteers to make calls and texts to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) in swing states for national races, and in California for local ones … host candidates and ballot proposition forums … feature debate-watch and other parties and events … charter trips to Las Vegas for voter registration and canvassing … and provide a gathering place for anyone who wants to make a difference and help Democrats win.

They’ve also hosted our famed collections of election swag, featuring a bigger in-person selection of election merchandise than you’re likely to find anywhere else in Los Angeles.

2024

2024 Presidential election year
Opening in August at 1241 Third St. Promenade!

2022

2022 midterms & 2020 Presidential:
Covid kept us online but we sure worked hard

2018

2018 midterms (the start of something new):
Blue Wave Midterms HQ in Westwood

With the stakes higher than ever, we tried something new in 2018 and supported a physical HQ space in a non-presidential election year, deep in the heart of Westwood. So many volunteers, buses to neighboring districts, calls, parties, etc. — boy, did we GOTV!

2016

2016 Presidential: Our WDHQ on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica was a huge success on several fronts

The thousands of volunteers who pitched in made ours a top — on many days the #1 — election HQ in California for calling and texting to Get Out The Vote for the Hillary campaign. We were instrumental in helping keep Nevada blue and putting Catherine Cortez Masto in Harry Reid’s US Senate seat. We helped California get even bluer, reelecting Rep. Ted Lieu and Assemblymember Richard Bloom … putting Kamala Harris into Barbara Boxer’s vacated US Senate seat … winning a majority of the ballot measures we backed … and securing supermajorities in the CA legislature.

The Pacific Palisades Dem Club brought into the HQ the West L.A., Santa Monica, and Malibu Dem Clubs to make it a true Westside coalition!

2012

2012 Presidential: 3rd Street Promenade HQ

Thanks in no small part to our members and volunteers, 2012 was a tremendous year for California and national Democrats 

Barack Obama and Joe Biden were re-elected. Henry Waxman, Fran Pavley, and Julia Brownley were victorious.

Proposition 30 was passed and Prop 32 defeated. And the results on seven other state ballot measures were in line with our endorsements.

Over a thousand volunteers came together at our Westside Democratic Headquarters on the Third St. Promenade to make it all happen. We registered more than 1200 new voters, made around  a million calls, and organized swing-state trips.

The HQ was visited by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama (pictured below, along with HQ co-manager Gary Bettman on the right). Others from the national campaign followed, to observe and to thank us for our efforts. We also played host to inspirational speeches and appearances by too many elected officials and dignitaries to list — Henry Waxman, Richard Bloom, Eric Garcetti, and Wendy Greuel among them.

2004

2004: our first WDHQ appears on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica!

The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club — in coalition with the Santa Monica Democratic Club, West L.A. Democratic Club, and Malibu Democratic Club — inaugurates the Westside Democratic Headquarters in support of Kerry and Dems in key California Congressional districts. Action items include trying to win our closest neighboring swing state, Nevada, by organizing work/play combo trips to Las Vegas.

The appearance of our flagship HQ merchandise/apparel store (which has popped back up at every HQ since) sets a precedent: The community soon knows where to come to find all things Democratic, from lawn signs to collectibles.