As you all know, the DNC Chair race to fill the spot vacated by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile (the latter was an interim) will be decided on the weekend of February 23rd-26th.
The candidates running are as follows:
- Sally Boynton Brown of Idaho, Executive Director of the Idaho Democratic Party since 2012.
- Raymond Buckley of New Hampshire, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party since 2007.
- Pete Buttigieg of Indiana, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana since 2012.
- Robert Vinson Brannum, Veterans Committee chair of the NAACP’s Washington D.C. branch.
- Keith Ellison of Minnesota, U.S. Representative from Minnesota since 2007.
- Jehmu Greene of Texas, Democratic strategist, Fox News analyst, and former Rock The Vote president.
- Peter Peckarsky of Wisconsin, attorney.
- Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party since 2013.
- Thomas Perez of Maryland, United States Secretary of Labor from 2013 to 2017.
- Sam Ronan of Ohio, activist and Air Force veteran.
The candidate I am backing is Keith Ellison. My 2nd choice is Pete Buttigieg.
Why Ellison?
I believe that he’ll lead the party to greatness that we haven’t seen since Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy-era of the Democratic Party. He has been endorsed by several prominent people, such as Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Pramila Jayapal, Mark Dayton, Al Franken, and Bill de Blasio, and organizations such as Our Revolution, United Steelworkers, Democracy For America, and AFL-CIO. Ellison could do a great job of unifying the Bernie and Hillary wings of the party, and be a force to contend with come 2018 and 2020.
Ellison’s platform:
1. PUTTING VOTERS FIRST - We need to prioritize a grassroots focus on voter turnout.
2. BEYOND THE BELTWAY - Elections are won and lost on the ground in states and local communities.
3. FOCUS ON WORKING PEOPLE - Voters must know that Democrats stand for them.
4. ACCOUNTABILITY & INCLUSION - DNC stakeholders must have an active voice in shaping our Party.
5. TECHNOLOGY - Bring innovation and security to all levels of the Party.
Party plans: Youth Plan, LGBTQ Plan (via Washington Blade), Rural Plan, Latinx (Latin@) Plan, African-American Plan, and Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Plan.
If he is nominated to be the DNC chair, he will step down from his congressional seat, which is safely Democratic. It also solves a problem that we’ve had with the previous DNC chairs being active office holders while also doing DNC duties, so that he can concentrate on DNC duties full-time.
It is way past time that the DNC finally respond to the grassroots of the base, and not solely to the corporate donors, and that’s why we need Ellison as our party’s next chair!