Things are really not going well for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as even more of its top officials handed in resignation letters this past weekend. If it wasn’t already apparent that the Democratic Party was imploding, it should be now. Democrats have been struggling a horse in quicksand to finalize leadership in order to prepare for next year’s midterm elections.
It all keeps falling apart. And that couldn’t be better news for Republicans who want to see their lead in both the House and Senate increase dramatically.
Longtime union leader for the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, called it quits, explaining she doesn’t agree with the direction of current 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 said in her letter to Martin announcing her resignation.
Weingarten was joined in her departure by Lee Saunders, president of the highly influential American Federation State, County, and Municipal Employees. Saunders told Martin she’s rejecting his offer to stay onboard and remain an at-large voting member of the party.
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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’s letter said to Mr. Martin, the NYT revealed.
Both of these unions together represent over three million workers who are some of the most dedicated activists within the party that Democrats heavily rely on for voter contact work during each election cycle. Now that they have left, Saunders and Weingarten are essentially telling those who belong to their organizations that the DNC is in shambles and has no direction for combating Republican control of Congress.
“The decision to decline the nomination to the Democratic National Committee was not made lightly,” Saunders told 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 further elaborated. “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.”
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