PRESENTED BY HEAR THE PEOPLE

LOS ANGELES SYMPOSIUM

THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY

The System Was Designed. It Can Be Redesigned.

The Future of America's Electoral System, Representation and Reform a nonpartisan symposium exploring how we can rebuild the way America elects its leaders.

Date

Tuesday, November 17, 2026

Panel time

Panel is 4:30 PM PT (Doors open at 4:00 PM)

Venue

The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles

Admission

Registration required

Capacity

Limited to 50 guest registrations

"Join reform leaders from across the political spectrum for an honest conversation about how representation works today — and how it could work better."

Why this conversation

WHY IT MATTERS: A Conversation About the Future of Representation

Every member of the U.S. House is asked to represent about 761,000 people. No one can know a district that size, so representatives end up depending on donors, lobbyists, and media to win and keep the seat.

Hear the People has a proposal: divide each congressional district into 100 Community Districts of about 7,500 people, each electing a Community Representative who lives in the neighborhood.

Los Angeles — host city for the 2026 symposium

761,000

people represented by each U.S. House member today

7,500

people in each proposed Community District — a representative who lives in the neighborhood

Featured participants

The Conversation

Hear from leaders and reform voices discussing representation and the future of America's electoral system.

01

Dan Schnur

Moderator

USC Annenberg senior fellow

02

John H. Cox

Chairman and Founder

Hear the People

03

Claire Chase

Panelist

04

Luke Mayville

Panelist

Panel slider preview
Dan Schnur

Dan Schnur

Moderator

USC Annenberg senior fellow

Dan Schnur is a professor of politics, communications and leadership at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine University and a longtime California political analyst. A veteran of four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns, he previously served as national communications director for John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign and as chairman of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission. Schnur is known for bringing competing political viewpoints together and providing nonpartisan analysis of government and public policy.

John H. Cox

John H. Cox

Chairman and Founder

Hear the People

John Cox is a California businessman, civic reform advocate and founder of Hear the People. His earlier Neighborhood Legislature initiative explored bringing representation closer to citizens by dramatically reducing the size of political constituencies, drawing inspiration from New Hampshire’s citizen legislature. That work ultimately provided the foundation for Hear the People and its effort to rethink how Americans are represented in Congress.

David Daley

David Daley

Panelist

Senior Fellow, FairVote

David Daley is a Senior Fellow at FairVote, journalist and nationally recognized expert on democracy, redistricting and electoral reform. He is the author of the national best-sellers Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count, Unrigged and Antidemocratic, and previously served as editor-in-chief of Salon. His reporting and commentary have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic, and he is a frequent commentator on voting rights and political reform.

Luke Mayville

Luke Mayville

Panelist

Co-founder, Reclaim Idaho

Luke Mayville is a political scientist, author and co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, a grassroots organization built around citizen-led initiatives and community organizing. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University and has taught political philosophy and civics at Columbia University, American University and Boise State University. Mayville helped lead Idaho’s successful Medicaid expansion initiative and has become a prominent advocate for direct democracy and the citizen initiative process.

Seats are limited to 50 guests.

The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles · Tuesday, November 17, 2026