Awais Khaleel
Candidate for CDA Vice President
Awais Khaleel was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised all over the upper Midwest and Oklahoma. He learned the importance of hard work and middle class values early on from his Muslim Indian immigrant parents, who make a living working as a small business owner and an educator.
Currently a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Awais has applied the strong principles he learned from his upbringing to many Democratic causes as a volunteer and employee of the Democratic Party, as well as a state leader for the College Democrats of Wisconsin.
Awais began his involvement with the College Democrats his freshman year when he was elected to the College Democrats of Wisconsin (CDW) state board as the second-ever Diversity Action Coordinator. During his first term on the state board, Awais also worked as an employee for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (DPW), running the field program of one of the largest counties in Wisconsin for one of the most extensive statewide field plans in the nation. Among his many duties as an organizer, Awais organized and incorporated numerous campuses into a larger field program. Later that year, Awais coordinated the 2005 College Dems State Convention, which was the largest such convention that the state had ever seen. His work ensured that this convention was the most racially and religiously diverse conventions in CDW’s history.
Having had both the benefit of working as a political organizer and serving as a state leader, Awais was overwhelmingly elected as the College Democrats of Wisconsin State Chair in 2005. With Awais as State Chair, Wisconsin organized the first ever DPW/CDW Leadership Summit, where both state leaders and chapter leaders within the College Dems jointly planned the direction of the organization with the state party and legislative leaders. Awais also saw to it that CDW aggressively and effectively lobbied campus-representing lawmakers on legislative issues that directly impacted students. In addition, CDW broke every fundraising record ever set in the history of the organization during Awais’ term.
Since his freshman year, Awais has also worked as the Outreach Director for Wisconsin’s pre-eminent training conference, the Democratic Leadership Institute. At the Institute, Awais has served as a trainer, instructing state and county party leaders on how to better engage young people and also instructing young activists on how to effectively organize their campuses for Democratic causes. Additionally, Awais has previously worked as a Field Manager for Grassroots Campaigns Inc., who was contracted through the DNC to do door-to-door fundraising. Awais has also been an intern or volunteered for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, Gore/Lieberman 2000, and Russ Feingold for Senate 2004.