Labor Sec. Tom Perez Announces Bid for DNC Chair: ‘Now Isn’t the Time to Despair’
Secretary of Labor Tom Perez has announced he’s running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Perez made the announcement in a call earlier this afternoon:
Perez on a call w Dems: "I am in this race because I really believe this is one of those where were you moments in our nation’s journey." https://t.co/VHxMMkqg88
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) December 15, 2016
Perez, calling self "proud progressive," gets in DNC race telling cmte members on call:"I’m in this race bc we have a lot of fighting to do"
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 15, 2016
Perez goes there, during call w DNC members: "we got too reliant on our data…we're all too frquently siloed."
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) December 15, 2016
Perez has also launched a website laying out his vision for the Democratic party in the coming years.
“The last month hasn’t been easy for Democrats,” he says. “But now isn’t the time to despair – it’s time to organize and fight.”
One key point of emphasis for Perez is the need to reach out to “every Democrat” and every community around the country:
Zip code should never determine your destiny in this country. And similarly, no matter where they live every American should hear our message of inclusion and opportunity. It’s not enough to shout at people from Washington, DC, or try to re-engage only when election season rolls around. We need to be listening and talking to voters year-round, with state parties driving the conversation — and we also need to make sure we’re finding candidates who will stand up for our values.
For a brief period of time in the summer, there was talk that Perez was up for the VP slot on the Hillary Clinton campaign ticket. In one TV appearance during that time period, he criticized Donald Trump as as “volatile individual,” a “fraud,” and a “train wreck for American values.”
The other major candidate in the DNC race thus far is Congressman Keith Ellison, and it looks like battle lines are being drawn already:
We've worked w/Tom & he’s done a great job as labor sec,but Keith is an organizer who can unite & build https://t.co/F1pcMsfQSf @daveweigel
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) December 14, 2016
Larry Cohen: "We all know the White House staff & those in the Party supporting Perez are doing so to keep control." https://t.co/tlCQuLtLfc
— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) December 14, 2016
Hours before Tom Perez is set to announce candidacy for DNC, fed workers union AFGE says it "strongly supports" Ellison.
— John Fritze (@jfritze) December 15, 2016
And last night Ellison held an event with none other than Bernie Sanders.
[image via Labor Dept.]
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