ABOVE: Labor Secretary Thomas Perez was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Tom Perez won Saturday a highly competitive race to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, narrowly defeating his competitor Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).
After two ballots were cast during the DNC winter meeting in Atlanta, Donna Brazile, who had been serving as interim chair, announced the former labor secretary had won 234 votes compared to the 200 obtained by Ellison. A total of 218 votes were needed to win.
Upon his election, Perez delivered an impassioned speech urging Democrats to come together to win elections, defy President Trump and ensure he’s one-term president.
“Someday, they’re going to study this era in America history and they’re going to study it alongside the Know-Nothing movement, and they’re going to ask the question of all of us where were you in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the United States?” Perez said.
In an interview with the Washington Blade, Perez touted his record fighting for LGBT rights under the Obama administration at both the Justice Department and Labor Department. Among other things, Perez settled an anti-LGBT bullying case in Minnesota, enforced President Obama’s executive order barring anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors and extended benefits to same-sex couple under the Family & Medical Leave Act after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act.
The 447 members of the Democratic National Committee decided on Perez as chair after they failed to choose a new leader on the first ballot. Perez came up short with 213.5 votes and Ellison had 200. After the first ballot, Wisconsin attorney Peter Packarsky dropped out of the race and endorsed Ellison, but the DNC selected Perez nonetheless on the second ballot.
When Perez was declared the winner, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley called for a suspension of the rules to elect unanimously elected Perez as chair. In his victory speech, Perez made a motion to appoint Ellison as deputy chair, which committee members approved by voice vote.
Ellison during his concession speech urged all Democrats to come together regardless of whom they supported for DNC chair to make a unified effort to fight for all Americans.
“You love this country? You love all the people in it?” Ellison said. “You care about each and every one of them — urban, rural, suburban, all colors, all cultures, all faiths, everybody — and they are in need of your, and if we waste even a moment going at it over who supported who, we are not going to be standing up for those people.”
As the votes were coming in during the first ballot, the Ellison campaign sent a text expressing thanks for obtaining support from Buttigieg even though he made no endorsement in the race. The Ellison campaign shortly afterward issued another text correcting the previously one making the false claim.
Also dropping out on Saturday was gay candidate Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., who exited the race during the nomination speeches prior to the vote. Buttigieg didn’t endorse another candidate upon his exit, but made a Perez or Ellison win more likely on the first ballot.
“It looks like I’m not going to be the next chair,” he added. “But whoever is, I am urging to do the things that must be done to be open to change, to look beyond Washington, to not treat the presidency like it’s the only office that matters, to pay attention to communities like ours in the heart of our country — not as an exotic species — but as your fellow Americans.”
A dark horse candidate representing Millennials in the race, Buttigieg said in an interview with the Washington Blade his experience running for office in the Midwest is what the Democratic Party to win elections in the heartland.
Buckley, who’s gay, was also a candidate for DNC chair, but dropped out of the race last week after his campaign failed to gain momentum and endorsed Ellison.
Barbra Casbar Siperstein, a transgender member of the DNC who initially endorsed Buckley, said she didn’t vote for Perez, but was nonetheless happy with the outcome of the race.
“Although I ultimately did not vote for Tom, I was very pleased by his message of unity and his action of bringing Keith on as deputy chair,” Siperstein said. “The candidates have been speaking to each other all along and are together on much of the basic changes that must be done.”
