Who is Running?
Running for President
Paige Brice
University of Central Florida
Class of 2013
Hello, my name is Paige Brice and I am running for President of Florida College Democrats. I am in my third year at the University of Central Florida studying Political Science and German. I have been an active member of College Democrats at UCF for the past three years and have served as the Black Caucus Chairwoman for FCD for the past year. I have served as Historian of Voices for Planned Parenthood at UCF, President of German Club, and have been active in both the National Organization for Women and Student Labor Action Project. Currently I work as an intern for Ruth’s List Florida doing research and planning fundraisers across the state. Like most students, I am extremely excited for the elections in the fall. As President, I will work towards numerous goals, initiatives and reforms that include building strong relationships between FCD and chapters, membership growth, empowering caucuses, community involvement and, most importantly, reelecting President Obama. It is important that we establish chapters that are built on strong foundations and will continue to develop a progressive future. I would be honored to serve you as the next president of Florida College Democrats.
Tim Mason
University of Florida College of Law
Class of 2013
Tim Mason is a second year law student at the University of Florida. A native of Orlando, Tim began his undergraduate studies at Valencia Community College, and continued at UCF, where he graduated with a degree in political science with honors . While at UCF, Tim became involved in the 2008 campaign to elect President Obama, and also worked on the Jim Martin senate campaign. Tim was involved in a variety of other activities at UCF, including SGA, Housing and Residence Life, LEAD scholars, and more.
Tim is the recipient of the prestigious Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship, a non partisan program that places students in executive agencies of the state government. While with the Florida Department of Education, Tim drafted administrative code and gained a detailed knowledge of the challenges facing Florida’s education system.
After beginning his studies at UF Law, he continued his political activism by joining the UF College Democrats. He volunteered on the Vote 2010 campaign for Alex Sink and Kendrick Meek. Tim currently serves as the chair of the Constitution Committee for the UF College Democrats. He anticipates taking the bar in July of 2013.
[Visit Tim's website to learn more about his platform.]
Running for Vice President
Savanah Goodland
University of South Florida
Class of 2013
Savanah is a senior at the University of South Florida and the current Vice President of the College Democrats at USF. She is double majoring in Humanites and American Studies with a minor in Public Administration. She has been an active member of College Democrats for the last 3 years. Prior to serving as the vice president, she served as the Vice Vice President, an honorary title that encompassed a number of tasks, such as event coordination, assisting other positions within her chapter, and filling in for the vice president when he wasn’t available. Savanah has attended a number of conferences on behalf of USF and the Florida College Democrats at both the state and national levels with other College Democrats from chapters nationwide. She has worked on a number of campaigns, from Tampa mayoral races to the 2010 OFA campaigns for Kendrick Meek, Alex Sink, and all the other democratic candidates. She is a leader in activism in her community, with issues ranging from student related causes and tuition raising legislation, to minority and women’s rights. As vice president at USF, Savanah has overseen many meetings, press conferences, rallies and events on and around USF Tampa. She is also in charge of USF’s nine caucuses, as well as, the event and voter registration coordinator positions. As FCD VP, Savanah plans to use her experience with her own chapter’s caucuses to reach out to the chairs and leaders at other FCD chapters to help effectively coordinate and respond to issues relating to the individual caucuses. Savanah also plans to incorporate more FCD board involvement with the individual chapters. As a group, Savanah would also like to see more statewide events for both activism and to build camaraderie between different chapters.
[Visit Savanah's fan page to learn more about her platform.]
Elana McGovern
Florida State University
Class of 2014
Originally from Central Florida, I am now studying Political Science and Communications at Florida State University. I joined the College Democrats right away, and in the the fall of my freshman year became the statewide Secretary for the FCD Women’s Caucus. It was through that opportunity that I got the chance to meet and work alongside College Democrats from across the state. This past year, I have served not only as the Vice Chair for the Women’s Caucus, but also the Director of External Public Relations for our FSU College Democrats and an Organizing Fellow with Organizing for America. I have many goals for FCD including focusing on sustainable activism, bridging the gap between our caucus chairs and chapter presidents and further developing state solidarity.
[Visit Elana's website to learn more about her platform.]
Running for Chief Financial Officer
Michael McCombie
University of Central Florida
Class of 2013
I’m a junior studying International Relations and International Business at the University of Central Florida. In 2008, I organized a school-wide mock presidential election and debate for my High School in Tampa, FL. This past year I served as the Director of Political Affairs for the College Democrats at UCF. As CFO, I plan to make this organization more sustainable by managing our finances responsibly, increasing the role of the finance committee, securing more online donations, and coordinating with chapters in order to ensure that they have the resources they need for this upcoming election.
Katherine Sands
Santa Fe Community College
Class of 2013
My name is Katherine Sands. I am a Psychology and Music double major with a minor in political science and international relations. I currently serve as the Student Body Treasurer for the Santa Fe College Student Government. I also serve as the President of 2 organizations, the Director of Programming for another, and the treasurer for the Santa Fe Chapter of College Democrats. In the past, I have served as Treasurer and Fundraising Director of the Musicians United organization, and aided them in fundraising $14,000 that year for a trip and program that dealt with music’s effect on the education of autistic and handicapped children. I have also served as the Fundraising Director for SF Student Government, raising about $1,000 for Relay for Life, and as Fundraising Chair in my High School Band, where I single-handedly raised over $36,000 for new instruments and an equipment trailer. In addition to the many fundraising and treasurer positions, I have worked as a Peer Leader for SF Student Life, which entailed organizing and hosting a variety of events. I hope to be able to aid all chapters in fundraising, and event planning, so that chapters can raise funds for the Obama 2012 campaign and host events to become more vocal in their communities.
Running for Director of Political Affairs
Fernando Machado
Florida International University
Class of 2014
Hi, my name is Fernando Machado and I am a proud college democrat from Florida International University. In 1993, when I was two years old my family immigrated from Cuba to the United states in small boat. My parents, both university graduates, had to work multiple jobs at factories and our family of four lived in a studio apartment. Finally, thanks to this great nation, they were able to validate their degrees and pursue their dreams. Today we are a middle class family of American citizens. The United States of America gave me my life back. It gave me freedom of speech that allows me to be the person I am today. This is why I have decided to give my life in service to this great country.
I have worked as a community organizer since before I can remember. My senior year, as president of the biggest philanthropic club in my high school, we raised over $10,000 and built a two room school house for a poor village in the Dominican Republic. I have worked with Democratic candidates like Joe Garcia in Miami and with nation wide campaigns like Barack Obamas. As Director of Political Affairs I will be a community organizer. I will make sure to be in contact with each chapter so that together we can reach our goals in this important election year. My number one priorities are communication and hard work.
This election year is crucial for our party and for the United States of America. As Director of Political Affairs I promise to make sure our goals are achieved. Thank You, vote for me and Godspeed.
Stephanie Rosendorf
Florida Atlantic University
Class of 2013
My name is Stephanie & I am a junior at Florida Atlantic University. I plan on going to law school in Florida and then running for elected office, also in Florida, in the not-so-distant future. I currently intern for State Representative Mark Pafford and I’m active with my FAU College Democrats Chapter as well as the statewide Women’s Caucus. With my various connections to the Florida legislature as well as my participation in many local Democratic olubs/organizations and the Democratic Executive Committee, I believe I am qualified and ready to be your new Director of Political Affairs.
[Visit Stephanie's fan page to learn more about her platform.]
Running for Director of Membership
Leonardo Curiel
Florida International University
Class of 2014
Hello, my name is Leonardo Curiel. Currently, I am the President of the FIU College Democrats and I am running for Membership Director of the Florida College Democrats. I am one of the founders of my Chapter in FIU. Last semester, we started with nothing more than a three-fold board that the previous board members passed down to us. By the end of this semester, my chapter will be one of the most active college democrats organizations in Florida, I know first hand what it takes to build up a chapter from scrap, I know it is a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs, but it can be made easier if Florida has a Membership Director with the knowledge and experience of building up a chapter. I want to pass the momentum we have gained here in sunny South Florida to the entire state! As Membership Director I will push forward to opening new chapter in many more college campuses throughout the state, including community colleges, meanwhile maintaining support to the already existing ones. Here in Miami, with the help of our local DEC office, we have a made local youth advisory board. Now all the college campuses from the area (FIU, UM, FMU, Barry, and MDC) can meet, organize and plan for events. This is a something that I would like to see throughout the State of Florida if I get elected as Membership Director! Thank you for your time! See you all in Tally!
Running for Director of Communications
Jordan Lewis
University of Miami
Class of 2013
Hi, my name is Jordan, and I’m with the University of Miami College Democrats, and I’m running for Director of Communications. I’m the Publicity Chair at UM College Dems, a position I’ve held for the last 2 years. I plan on running for President at UM next year. I’m also a Spring Fellow for OFA among other campus-wide responsibilities. I have some ideas for my role in FCD, such as creating regional communication directors to allow communication between FCD and individual clubs, eg. the Southeast director would get FAU, FIU, UM, and smaller schools. I also think some sort of video chat would be effective. I also would like to improve our newsletter and publicize ourselves whenever we can. We need to advertise ourselves, both to students and the media, to show what young people are doing for the President/Party and to highlight his accomplishments. At FCD, we should be ambassadors for the President and our party.
Running for Secretary
Kate Barnekow
Rollins College
Spring of 2015
I was born and raised in Central Texas, where I was President of my high school’s Young Liberals chapter. I’m currently a freshman English and Environmental Studies major at Rollins College in Winter Park, where I serve as President of Rollins College Democrats. I worked on the Obama campaign in 2008, Bill White’s campaign (Rick Perry’s only opponent in the last Texas governorship race), and am currently working with OFA Orlando to host parties, register voters, and make sure we have four more years of progress. As Secretary, I will work to guarantee that FCD’s communication and relationships with both all chapters and other outside organizations are run smoothly, beneficial to all parties, and effective.