DNC Chair Tom Perez: ‘Our Democratic Unity is Donald Trump’s Worst Nightmare’

Perez, who won 235 votes against 200 for Ellison, was seen as the establishment pick.

In a symbolic move to encourage party unity, Perez immediately motioned for DNC members to suspend the rules and appoint Ellison, the favored candidate of the party’s progressive wing, as deputy chair.

“The way we do that is to build strong parties is to organize, organize, organize”, he said.

No RNC emails were leaked during the 2016 campaign. The vote went to a second round after Perez fell one vote shy of the 214.5 needed to win on the first ballot. “We don’t have the luxury of walking out of this room divided”, he said. Weaver asked. “Are they really going to bring those people into the party, so that you have a much broader cross-section of Democratically aligned voters represented?”

A third DNC candidate, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg – a gay, 35-year-old Rhodes Scholar and military veteran – dropped out of the race before the vote, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia.

For example, party officials expect about 70 or 75 members to be absent.

That inspired one member of the audience to shout, “Are we?” Jehmu Greene also withdrew and endorsed Tom Perez. Donna Brazile assumed the position of Interim Chair following Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s abrupt resignation.

“Saban, a billionaire Clinton supporter, called Ellison ‘an anti-Semite and an anti-Israel individual.’ Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s executive director, said Ellison’s views ‘raise the specter of age-old stereotypes about Jewish control of our government.’ …”

Before the voting, Perez said the Democratic Party faces a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance” after losing about 1,000 seats from Capitol Hill to state legislatures during the last decade, in addition to Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss.

“This is why there is a paper ballot”, Green said in another tweet.

It was the first DNC race since 1988 that went into the vote without the victor already clear.

Sanders himself chose to take the high road after the final votes were counted.

Democrats named Tom Perez as the party’s new national chairman Saturday during a close vote in Atlanta.

Democrats suffered one of the biggest losses in the history of the party past year, not just in the White House, but on Capitol Hill, in state capitals and governors’ mansions. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, who could run for president in 2020.

President Trump has also weighed in.

Perez said the president has “governed from the far right in everything he’s done”.

And they portrayed the Democrats as a party desperate for a reenergising from the ground up.

Her words were echoed by former US President Barack Obama, who expressed hope that the two will “lay the groundwork for a new generation of Democratic leadership”.

Tom Perez is pledging that if he’s elected chairman, he’ll help “turn this party around and get Democrats winning again”.