AJefferson–Jackson Dinner is a title traditionally given to an annual fundraising celebration held byDemocratic Party organizations in the United States.[1] It is named for PresidentsThomas Jefferson andAndrew Jackson, which the party traditionally calls its founders. They are usually held in February or March at a local level providing an opportunity for elected officials, candidates, party staff, advisors, and donors to attend.
Due to controversies overJefferson's slaveholding andJackson's policy toward Native Americans while in office, some Democratic Party organizations have been removing Jefferson and Jackson from the title of party fundraisers.[3] The flow of the State Democratic Parties seeking to change the name of their iconic Jefferson-Jackson dinner is spurred by a desire to embrace a more modern identity.[4] The usual argument made is that while Jefferson and Jackson were both great men and for a time embodied the spirit of the Democratic Party. They now fail to represent the breadth of change that has affected the Democratic Party and its current membership.[5][6]
Many state Democratic Parties have changed the traditional name. For example:
In 2012, theDemocratic Party of Mississippi initially renamed the dinner after civil rights leaderFannie Lou Hamer, with a Jefferson–Jackson–Hamer celebration,[7] and subsequently renamed the dinner the Hamer-Winter Dinner after Hamer and former governorWilliam Winter in 2018.
Florida Democratic Party renamed their key dinner event "Leadership Blue."
Virginia Democrats renamed their dinner to the Blue Commonwealth Gala in 2018.
TheNorth Carolina Democratic Party renamed their statewide dinner from Jefferson-Jackson to the Unity Dinner in 2017.[15] Another party dinner for western North Carolina Democrats, the Vance-Aycock Dinner (named after former governorsZebulon Vance andCharles Aycock since 1960) was renamed the Western Gala in 2011, due to the fact that Vance was a Confederate veteran and Aycock led theWilmington insurrection of 1898.[16]
The Republican party has similarly moved away from "Lincoln Dinners" due to Americanpolitical realignment since the 1960s, especially in theSouthern United States where culturally conservative White Southerners now tend to be Republicans, while Black voters now tend to be Democrats.[17]
