Tom Perez Narrowly Defeats Keith Ellison for DNC Chair

Source: altwire.utne.com - Saturday, February 25, 2017
Tom Perez, the former Obama administration secretary of labor, was elected Saturday to chair a Democratic National Committee that must rapidly renew the party after a devastating 2016 election cycle that saw Republicans sweep control of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government and most statehouses. “A united Democratic Party is not only our best hope,” declared Perez, “it is Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” That is, undoubtedly, true. But Perez clearly recognizes that he will have to work hard to first unite the party and then transform it into a dramatically more grassroots-oriented and ideologically-progressive political force within a broader resistance to Trump. Perez won the chairmanship by a narrow margin on the second ballot. The Atlanta gathering where the vote was held featured much talk about unity, but also recalled genuine divisions over how the Democratic Party should proceed. A strong backer of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination, Perez beat Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, a key backer of Bernie Sanders in that race, by just 35 votes out of 435 cast. The new chair made an immediate unity move by announcing that he wanted Ellison to serve as deputy chair of the DNC. DNC members approved the designation by acclamation Ellison addressed the crowd, saying, “we don’t have the luxury, folks, to walk out of this room divided…we’ve got earnest and sincere work to do.” P

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