DemDaily: A New Direction for Democrats
February 26th, 2017
Yesterday, the members of the Democratic National Committee voted to make Tom Perez their next Party Leader.
New DNC Chair Tom Perez
In a call for Unity immediately after the vote, Perez said, "January 20th was an important day, but January 21st was an even more important day. Millions of Americans stood up to say: Mr. President, your values are not our values. By getting back to basics, we can turn the Democratic Party around, take the fight to Donald Trump, and win elections from school board to the Senate...I'm humbled by this opportunity to lead our team, and that's exactly what we'll do together."
Immediately following the election Ellison accepted Perez's offer to serve as DNC Deputy Chair, which was approved by acclamation. In his statement following the vote, Ellison said, "The American people have won today. The Democratic Party finally has a leader - a leader who has demonstrated time and again that he has what it takes to fight for all Americans. That leader is my good friend Tom Perez."
The New DNC Leadership
Chair: Tom Perez
Tom Perez (Maryland): 235 Votes
Keith Ellison (Minnesota): 200 Votes
National Finance Chair: Henry Munoz III (Texas)
Unopposed
Treasurer: Bill Derrough (New York)
Won on the 2nd Ballot with 281.5 to 125.5 for Joyce Amico (Colorado)
Vice Chair of Civic Engagement & Voter Participation: Karen Carter Peterson (Louisiana)
Won on the 1st ballot with 263.5 votes, followed by Yasmine Taeb (Virginia) with 112.5.
Secretary: Jason Rae (Wisconsin)
Won on the 3rd Ballot with 224 to defeat incumbent Party Secretary Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (Maryland) who came in second with 64 votes, followed by Ana Cuprill (Wyoming) with 50.
Ellison: "Working people across the country are depending on us"
Maria Elena Durazo (California) with 228.5 votes
Grace Meng (New York) with 216 votes
Michael Blake (New York) with 237 votes
To maintain the mandated equal balance of male and female national officers, two of the three Vice Chairs must be women.
On the 1st Ballot for the two female Vice Chairs slots, Vice-Chair incumbents Maria Elena Durazo, who is UNITE HERE General Vice President, and New York Congresswoman Grace Meng were re-elected.
On a separate 1st Ballot for the remaining third Vice Chair - which could be a man or woman - went to New York Assemblyman Michael Blake who won on the 2nd Ballot.
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