Organizing Team

Liano Sharon

Liano has been a progressive activist since the early 1980s, involved in human rights, environmental, working-class, and anti-war activism among other causes. He has over 25 years’ experience in cross-cultural communications, where he’s brought many stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, cultures, languages, priorities, and interests together to solve problems large and small. Since 2016 Liano has been working to ensure fair, inclusive, transparent, and democratic rules in the Michigan Democratic Party.

He has served 4 years on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), 8 years on the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) State Central Committee (SCC), 4 years on the MDP SCC Executive Committee and 4 years on the MDP SCC Rules Committee, where he helped negotiate, draft, and push through the largest package of rules reforms in state party history – all of them in the direction of greater fairness, inclusion, transparency, and democracy. In 2018 he ran the Dana Nessel campaign for the Party endorsement/nomination; during which he organize the largest membership drive in State Party history, doubling Party membership from around 10,000 to around 20,000, and tripling turnout at the State Convention from the typical ~2,000 convention attendance to 6,700. Nessel won both the raw count and the weighted count, by double digits.

At the 2024 Democratic National Convention he was one of only three National Committee delegates to stand up for universal human rights and an end to genocide on the floor of the Convention.

Relevant writings:
2020 Progress Report
2023 DNC Report
Why Harris Lost in 2024

Dan Hesse

My name is Dan Hesse. I am a 34-year-old organizer in Grand Rapids and an advocate for reform within the Democratic Party. I have been heavily involved in political activities since 2018 and bring experience in working with people with differing views, class levels, races, orientations, and from Urban, Suburban, and Rural environments. I have served numerous different roles in various organizations and worked on a number of Democratic campaigns where I’ve been involved in nearly all aspects.

I strongly believe that our party needs to do more to address the needs of the working class and to take steps to draw new members from the ranks of young people, low-income people, and marginalized communities. I believe that Joe Biden never should have run in the Primary for the 2024 election and our current DNC leadership was complicit in nontransparent practices that have caused many from outside our party to not trust us. I also believe that a much larger effort needs to take place to connect Democrats across Michigan and for the superdelegates to act more as representatives.

In this past year, I ran for County Commissioner in Kent County and I was happy to have had conversations with thousands of people at doors and at events. I am motivated for this new cycle in 2025 and beyond to be working with MISolidarity to work for positive change throughout all of Michigan.

Cathy Albro

There are often times in our lives when we must reckon with our values and ethical beliefs. After spending the last six years closely involved with the Michigan Democratic Party, as a candidate twice and chair of the MDP Rural Caucus, I have come to such a reckoning. I want to spend my valuable time and energy working for the common good. This means exposing injustice, corruption and greed, educating and uniting the public and taking action toward a more equitable and rewarding life for ALL people.

I have been active as a Democrat and volunteering for the Party for 8 years. I have seen the underbelly personally and its not what some people think. Leadership treats some people (for unknown reasons) as if they don’t matter-and worse-our work is sabotaged and we are retaliated against. If the Democratic Party is to succeed in Michigan and throughout the country, it must change and become the Party that truly represents and cares about the people. As long as corporations and the wealthy make the calls for the Party, we are doomed.

We are all in this together. We only have two major political parties, so if we are to succeed in the short term, we must choose one. My values and passions align with Democrats and that is the Party I choose to invest my time and talents to improve.

If we expect to win elections, we must show the people in our communities that Democrats are the ones they can rely on to make their lives better. We must take the time to understand and get to know what that means. The future of the Party -and our country- lies in the hands of younger people. We are in a critical period to welcome them and support their leadership.