Broward County Democratic activist Ron Mills was elected Area Nine Leader for the Broward Democratic Executive Committee at the DEC’s Bi annual elections on Feb. 20.

Mills, an eight-year DEC member and past vice president and current board member of the Dolphin Democrats, will represent all of Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach as well as Precincts 7Z, 31Z, 34Z, 62Z and 73Z in unincorporated Broward.

Mills has a strong commitment to progressive politics, including equal rights for the GLBT community, and has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns in various capacities, including state co-chair of Howard Dean for President. He also is a member of the National Stonewall Democrats and the Florida GLBT Caucus, co-founder of Progressive Democrats of America and founder of the Broward chapter of Democracy for America.

A firm believer in grassroots politics and party-building, Mills has been an outspoken advocate for running Democratic candidates in every race in Broward and holding elected Democrats who support Republican candidates accountable.

During his two-year term as Area Nine Leader, he will focus on building and strengthening the local Democratic Party’s grass roots to help lay the foundation for successful elections in 2008.

“As an Area, we need to grow our precinct representation and give District and Precinct leaders the tools necessary to be successful leaders in their Areas,” Mills said.

His goals include:

- Ensuring that every precinct in the area has a male and female leader.
- Conducting two boot camps per year to train leaders in Get Out the Vote efforts, phone banking, and voter contact.
- Providing training in and encouraging the use of the Florida Voter Access Network (VAN) voter file.
- Improving communications with the Broward Democratic Executive Committee and Florida Democratic Party.

Before taking on his new position, Mills saluted his predecessor, fellow Dolphin Democrat Alan Silva.

“I will have very big shoes to fill,” Mills said. “Alan contributed vast time, talent and treasure to this endeavor resulting in many successes, which I can only hope to attain.”