Hello fellow Democrats in Australia.

I am Evan Lorendo and I am running for Vice-Chair. While I am new to Melbourne, I am not new to
politics. I grew up in Georgia in one of the most conservative districts in the country. It was a place
that was so steeped in bigotry that Oprah did a special show in the town discussing the issue of race.
Being a Democrat carried with it a strong negative connotation, but I was raised to be open about
who you are regardless how popular it may be. Being a liberal family in the traditional South brought
with it some social headaches but that didnt stop us from standing up for what we believed in.

I continued to define my beliefs while in college in Chicago by working on now Senator Tammy
Duckworths first congressional campaign. While she lost the election in the wildly conservative
suburbs, it propelled her to the national spotlight. I was then offered a position working with Senator
Dick Durbin as an Urban Development Fellow. During my time in D.C. I saw the very best of what it
meant to be a Democrat and the very worst.

I had a desire to live abroad and took a scholarship opportunity to get my Masters Degree from the
American University of Beirut. This led me on a professional journey across the Middle East and Africa
with stops in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, and Tanzania while working in a further dozen countries. I
took this time to stay active in American politics through Democrats Abroad, if and where I could. I
was involved as much as possible in getting Americans to vote during the last election cycle and was
shortlisted by the Sanders campaign to be a delegate at the DNC.

While in Africa I met my Australian partner, Linda, and after a few years together we decided that it
was time to put roots down somewhere and we decided on her home in Melbourne. I am very
excited to get involved with such a vibrant and active Democrats Abroad community.

I am running for the Vice-Chair because I want to bring new ideas and energy to the group. I am a
natural conduit and I want to connect as many people as possible to the group as well as letting them
know that they can still be involved with American politics. I want to expand the organization across
Australia. The current leadership worked hard to get the group this far. We are now at a critical mass
that needs to be pushed forward and expanded.

I also am a strong believer in holding yourself accountable. I want to be better than the side that we
are criticizing. I do not believe in spending time and energy by arguing over how orange the
President looks or how bad his suit fits. Instead, I want to fight his misogyny and bigotry.

Thank you for reading this about me. I welcome any questions that you have and I really hope to be
your next Vice-Chair. You can contact me on 0431160269 or ewlorendo@gmail.com if you have any
questions.