DEMOCRATS ELECT
Perez as national chairman.
ATLANTA — Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman Saturday over a Minnesota congressman, capping a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to President Donald Trump.
Perez, the first Hispanic to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison in the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta. The new chairman must rebuild a party that in the past decade has lost about 1,000 elected posts from the White House to Congress to the 50 statehouses, a power deficit Democrats have not seen nationally in 90 years.
In a nod to his winning margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democrats and outspoken liberal upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chairman.
“We are all in this together,” Perez said.
Ellison, who had backing from many liberals, including 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, added his own call for unity and noted that both men had promised to rebuild state and local Democratic parties across the country.
“We don’t have the luxury of walking out of this room divided,” he said, as the two men stood together on stage as some Ellison supporters jeered from the gallery.
Trump chimed in via Twitter: “Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!”
Late Saturday, Perez tweeted back.
“Call me Tom. And don’t get too happy. [Ellison] and I, and Democrats united across the country, will be your worst nightmare,” he wrote.
Republicans control the White House, Congress and 33 governorships, while the GOP is one Senate confirmation from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Despite former President Barack Obama’s personal electoral successes, the party suffered crushing defeats, losing the House majority in 2010 and the Senate in 2014.
Perez first entered the race upon urging from Obama and his inner circle, and the former president released a statement praising both men after the vote.
“I know that Tom Perez will unite us under that banner of opportunity,” Obama said, “and lay the groundwork for a new generation of Democratic leadership for this big, bold, inclusive, dynamic America we love so much.”
The son of Dominican immigrants, Perez comes to the job with a demonstrably liberal record as a civil-rights attorney and backer of organized labor, but he carried the establishment label as a Maryland resident who’s spent years in the Washington orbit, working in the Justice Department and ultimately as an Obama Cabinet officer.
Former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed him; one of Obama’s closest aides, Valerie Jarrett, made calls to Democratic National Committee members on Perez’s behalf as late as Friday night.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California will remain the highest-ranking Democrats in Washington. But Perez must now join with Schumer and Pelosi as part cheerleader, part fundraiser, part organizer and recruiter, part public messenger, helping frame the party’s arguments and identity, while charting a strategy to turn energy into votes in elections.
Perez and Ellison appeared together for a joint news conference afterward in a session that was originally planned to be the winner’s opportunity to address reporters. Perez said they “are going to put our values in action” for a country he described as “fearful” over Trump’s priorities.
Ellison had the endorsement of Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, but also from Schumer.
Liberal groups that backed Ellison ranged from guarded to despondent over the outcome.
Sanders released a statement congratulating Perez but warning that “it is imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, same-old is not working.”
Jim Dean, chairman of Democracy for America, called Perez’s election “incredibly disappointing” and said the “resistance will persist … with or without the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.”
Ellison told reporters that he trusts Perez, and he encouraged other liberal activists to do the same.
Perez succeeds Donna Brazile, who led the party as interim chief in the fallout from disclosure of the Democratic National Committee hacking.
The attention of Democrats will now turn to a handful of special congressional elections and a pair of governor’s races this November in New Jersey and Virginia. But the most significant task ahead for Perez will come in 2018, when Democrats face a daunting Senate map, more favorable House landscape and 36 governor’s races, many of which will help determine which party is best positioned to redraw legislative lines after the next census.
Democrats start at a considerable financial disadvantage. As of the end of January, the Democratic National Committee had $10.8 million in cash on hand and $3.7 million in debt, while the Republican National Committee had $36.8 million in the bank and no debt, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.