Several Missouri delegates at this week’s Democratic National Convention have a GoFundMe page to help pay their way to Philadelphia, including Frederick Doss of Jefferson City. Delegates must pay for their own travel, hotel and other convention expenses, which is estimated to cost about $ 3,000.
Frederick Doss (Photo courtesy of his GoFundMe page)
This is Doss’s second time as a national delegate.
“I actually saved $60. I’m flying to Washington, D.C. and taking the train from D.C. to Philadelphia. That saves me about $60,” says Doss.
His GoFundMe page has led to more than $1,000 in donations, with 33 of those donations raised in one month.
Doss has also sold t-shirts and raffled off donated Cardinals tickets to help pay for his trip.
“I’ve just been trying to get really creative and do everything I can so most of it doesn’t come out of my own pocket,” says Doss. “I’m honored to be a delegate and I will happily spend whatever I need to get there, but it’s a tall order when I make $27,000 a year.”
Doss is a legislative aid for state Representative Michael Butler (D-St. Louis).
Missouri has 34 delegates bound to vote for Hillary Clinton and 34 bound to vote for Bernie Sanders at the national convention, which begins today.