Democrats plot road back to p
Trump continues his battle with media, snubbing annual correspondents’ dinner
Former US Labour Secretary Thomas Perez became a leadership face for the Democrats yesterday, as President Donald Trump announced he would not attend the White House correspondents’ dinner, after continual battles with the press.
Perez was elected the first Latino chair of the Democratic National Committee, narrowly defeating Congressman Keith Ellison, at the end of a contentious battle over the fate of the beleaguered party in the age of Trump.
Perez’s victory concluded the first contested race for the DNC leadership since 1985. It put in place the Democratic leadership that will navigate thousands of state and local elections — where the party hopes to reverse the losses of the past six years — and a 2020 presidential race that could divide the party again.
Ellison’s defeat was a blow to the party’s liberal wing, personified by activists, labour leaders and organisers, many of whom had supported the presidential bid of Senator Bernie Sanders and had come to Atlanta to cheer Ellison on. Many of them warned that by picking Perez, the party was alienating the growing “resistance” that has organised against Trump.
The race was close enough that it required a second round of balloting, with Perez winning 235 of 435 votes cast. With tensions still high as the result was announced, nine Ellison supporters chanted “Party for the people, not big money!” and stormed out of the room.
“Someday, they’re going to study this era of American history,” Perez said. “They’re going to ask the question of all of us: Where were you in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the United States? We will be able to say that the Democratic Party led the resistance and made sure this was a one-term president.”
Perez gave Ellison the symbolic role of deputy party chair, and the Minnesota congressman asked his supporters to stay with the party and avoid recriminations. “We don’t have the luxury to walk out of this room divided,” Ellison said.
Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted her support for both Perez and Ellison as representatives of a “unified party,” while former President Barack Obama congratulated “my friend” Perez in a statement.
Sanders, who had supported Ellison, said that it was “imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, sameold is not working and that we must open the doors of the party to working people and young people”.
Trump, in classic fashion, simultaneously congratulated and belittled Perez in a tweet: “I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!” Perez tweeted: “Don’t get too happy. [Ellison] and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare.”
Perez’s victory did not represent a Democratic shift to the right. On key issues, Perez’s platform mostly resembled Ellison’s. Most of the DNC’s membership — just 39 of whom had backed Sanders in 2016 — did not view the contest as a stark ideological clash. As he was tweeting his response to the Democratic contest, Trump also announced his decision on the correspondents’ dinner. The dinner is scheduled for April 29.
He tweeted: “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!”
Shortly after Trump’s tweet, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which sponsors the annual event, said in an email that the dinner would take place even without Trump’s attendance.
Since Trump’s inauguration, calls to boycott the annual event have grown louder amid his increasingly fraught relationship with the press. This month, Trump called the media “the enemy of the American People”..