Holder joins Obama to back Tom Perez for DNC chairman
Leading candidates both focus on voting rights, redistricting
With an endorsement from former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, Tom Perez hopes to distinguish himself on voting rights and redistricting — issues of critical importance inside the Democratic Party — as the race for the next party chairman heats up.
Holder, who along with former president Obama is heading a redistricting reform effort aimed at pumping resources into critical gubernatorial and state legislative races over the next four years, will announce on Tuesday his support for the former U.S. Labor secretary.
“Tom not only knows how to take on big fights; he wins them,” Holder said in a statement. He cited Perez’s having sued former Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff Joe Arpaio for racial profiling, stopping voter ID laws that Democrats say disenfranchise minorities, and confronting Wall Street in the subprime loan foreclosure crisis.
“Eric understands that Republican threats to our nation’s voting rights and civil rights are far from over, and that’s why he’s taking on the task of holding states accountable for discriminatory redistricting plans in order to ensure that all voters can exercise their basic right to vote, free from discrimination,” Perez said. “He understands more than anyone that we need a fully funded and fully staffed voter empowerment office at the DNC so that we are responding in real time to the games that Republicans will try to play with our democracy.”
The endorsement comes as the race for the next Democratic National Committee chairman intensifies. Members vote Feb. 25 in Atlanta.
The two strongest contenders appear to be Perez and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has raked in a number of major endorsements.
Since the two hold similar ideologies, each is looking to stand out, with Ellison emphasizing his strength among the grass roots and experience as a former community and labor organizer.
Perez wants to underscore his résumé and, in particular, his executive experience to lead the party at a critical moment. Many Democrats say the party infrastructure and messaging strategy to middle-America is in need of a top-to-bottom rebuild.
Holder’s endorsement also furthers a narrative about the DNC race as a proxy battle between Obama’s supporters and those of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who backs Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. Last week, former vice president Joe Biden announced his support for Perez. Yet, in a sign of the new power progressives wield after the 2016 election, Ellison also has gained the support of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
In a sign of the importance of the voting rights issue, both Ellison and Perez have released plans that include a separate department within the DNC that focuses on expanded ballot access, increasing voter registration, and challenging new voting laws at the state level.
President Trump continues to promise to create a commission to investigate “voter fraud” that many Democrats fear will spearhead a wave of new voting laws.