Send Carl to Philly: The Buttons & Experience of one Delegate

In the summer of 2016 I boarded a plane for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For political junkies, a national political convention of any party is an experience to be remembered. I will have the buttons and photos to help my ailing memory one day as I reach my mid thirties. In writing this, I wanted to share my campaign experiences and political items I picked up along the way with my fellow APIC members.


I started my campaign about a month before Oregon’s congressional district nominating conventions began. In order to participate in these conventions you must declare a candidate caucus and register for the convention. This was after the Oregon Presidential Primary. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and celebrity Donald Trump won their respective primaries in Oregon. Knowing that competition in the First Congressional District would be fierce for Bernie Sanders delegate slots, I decided to file for a Hillary Clinton delegate position.

2016 Democratic Primary Pins

Every election there are groups out there that produce pins featuring the entire field of candidates for any particular political party. The Democrats of 2016 were no exception. Conventions and special events that all candidates were invited to often saw a button, poster or sticker produced for it. Here are some that I was able to get this last year.

Governor Robert's 80th Birthday Party

Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts turned 80 with a special birthday party at Montgomery Park in December of 2016. It was packed with about 800 people. There were speeches, 2 other Governors of Oregon and 1 from Washington even. The Portland Trailblazers gifted her with a signed jersey. There was a photo station where you could have your photo taken in silly hats with a cardboard cut out of her. Most of all to Governor Roberts the whole event was a fundraiser for Compassion & Choices.

C&C is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving care and providing education to terminally ill patients and their families about end of life planning. A cause Roberts has been deeply passionate about for many years.

There were several items produced for the event, including an event program and button. Here is the full color program.

Another Good Friend of Bonamici

As is often the case campaigns run out of swag between elections. Members of congress run for office every two years and go through lots of bumper stickers, buttons and campaign literature. In 2014 the campaign of Suzanne Bonamici issued some great 'Another Good Friend of Bonmaici' buttons and matching bumper stickers. They also have t-shirts with the same logo.

They ran out between the 2014 and 2016 campaigns of the buttons and stickers and re-ordered more for this year. It turns out they must not have used the same place to order pins as you can see from the photo below the two union bugs are different.

Official Hillary for America Buttons

Here are the buttons that the Hillary for America campaign has been selling on their website for the last several months.

Some of the first pins issued by the campaign were logo pins that utilized the H logo.

The RWB H flag pins are all sold in a set. The LGBT H is also a set of 2 and the standard logo pin is another set of two. The website pins were also sold in a set. The website sold all these sets for 5 dollars.

The second wave of pins came out this fall

Val Hoyle Items

Here are items from the campaign of Val Hoyle. She is running for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State.

Included in the photo is a holiday mailer, remit envelope, bumper sticker and lapel sticker.

Just the first of many items you will probably find from Oregon candidates in 2016.

2015 DNC Summer Meeting Button

This button is from the 2015 August DNC meeting that featured 4 out of the 5 major Democratic candidates for the Democratic party's presidential nomination. It is three inches. One of the many party themed buttons showing multiple candidates we will see from the political party events in 2015-2016.