Snyder re-elected as YDA president
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On Aug. 1 Jefferson County native Rod Snyder was re-elected president of the Young Democrats of America at the organization’s biennial national convention in Louisville, Ky.
Snyder is only the second West Virginian to lead YDA in the organization’s 79-year history and the first person in nearly two decades to be elected with a unanimous vote. His two-year term will conclude in July 2013. As a result of Saturday’s election, Snyder will retain his seat on the Democratic National Committee and will serve as an automatic delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Snyder previously served as president of the West Virginia Young Democrats from 2007 to 2009, YDA Mid-Atlantic Region director from 2007 to 2009 and YDA executive vice president from 2009 to 2010.
In 2004, Snyder was a candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates and was named the state’s Outstanding Young Democrat of the Year in 2005. He is the son of West Virginia State Sen. Herb Snyder.
During the 2008 election cycle, Snyder managed three successful campaigns in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, including the election of the youngest ever female legislator in the history of the state, Delegate Tiffany Lawrence. He also served on the Agriculture and Rural Policy Advisory Committee for the 2008 Barack Obama for President Campaign.
In 2011, Snyder was selected as a partner for the Truman National Security Project, and he recently traveled to Cairo to speak on the role of young people in the transition to democracy in Egypt.
Snyder also serves as a board member for the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
YDA is the largest youth-led, national, partisan political organization. YDA mobilizes young people under the age of 36 to participate in the electoral process, influences the ideals of the Democratic Party and develops the skills of the youth generation to serve as leaders at the local and national level. YDA has been the official youth arm of the Democratic Party since 1932.
Since 2002, YDA has operated independently of the DNC as a nonfederal 527 political organization.