Politics
DNC Descends Further Into Chaos As More Top Officials Quit
More top officials resigned from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the weekend, throwing into disarray the party’s plans to finalize leadership as it prepares for the make-or-break midterms next year.
Randi Weingarten, the longtime union leader of the American Federation of Teachers, resigned in a letter stating she publicly disagrees with the direction forged by DNC Chair Ken Martin.
“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging,” Weingarten wrote to Martin in announcing her departure.
Joining her in exiting is Lee Saunders, president of the influential American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who told Martin she is declining his offer to remain an at-large voting member in the party.
Both resignations are effectively a vote of no confidence in leadership at the DNC, which has been beset by turmoil amid a separate leadership struggle with former DNC co-chair David Hogg after he was ousted in a secret vote approved by Martin. Both women’s letters indicate that the believe Martin is failing to expand Democrats’ coalition at a critical juncture for the party.
However, all three were not on the same side of the leadership battle to begin with. Weingarten and Saunders previously supported Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, during his run for chair against Martin in January.
Shortly after, Martin stripped Weingarten of her role as head of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, a powerful body that sets the timeline and procedures for the party’s presidential nominating conventions.
In her letter, Weingarten stated she will be declining Martin’s offer to remain on the broader national committee where she has served since 2002. She had been a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee since 2009.
“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities,” Ms. Weingarten wrote in her resignation letter to Mr. Martin, the NYT reported.
Together, both unions represent more than three million workers, some of the most devoted activists who the Democratic Party relies on for the unglamorous but necessary voter contact work each election cycle. With their exits, Weingarten and Saunders are essentially signaling to their members that the DNC is rudderless heading into the midterms as it seeks to wrest back control of Congress from Republicans.
“The decision to decline the nomination to the Democratic National Committee was not made lightly,” Mr. Saunders said in a statement to the Times. “It comes after deep reflection and deliberate conversation about the path forward for our union and the working people we represent.”
She described the DNC as narrowly focused on its existing membership, which has been broadly critiqued since the election as whiter, educated, and more out of touch with working-class Americans than in any previous era of the party.
“These are new times. They demand new strategies, new thinking, and a renewed way of fighting for the values we hold dear. We must evolve to meet the urgency of this moment,” Mr. Saunders said. “This is not a time to close ranks or turn inward. The values we stand for, and the issues we fight for, benefit all working people. It is our responsibility to open the gates, welcome others in and build the future we all deserve together.”
