Ten candidates for Democratic National Committee chair brought their messages to Houston Saturday during a traveling forum designed to help the party rebuild by focusing on states like Texas.

The Bayou City is the second stop in the DNC Future Forum series, which hits Phoenix, Detroit and Baltimore before party elections in February in Atlanta. The party is refreshing its efforts to recover from the blistering loss of about 1,000 seats since 2009 from statehouses to Congress and the White House.

The programs aim to redirect the party for a future that firmly includes Texas and other states where progressives see opportunity.

Brazile moderates

Moderated by former CNN commentator Donna Brazile, now interim DNC chair, the all-day meeting featured a presentation about attracting Hispanic voters as well as panels with candidates for the top party positions.

Tom Perez, U.S. Labor secretary during the second term of President Barack Obama's administration, and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, are considered leading candidates for chair. They received the loudest applause and appeared to have the most support among Houston attendees.

Perez, the son of Dominican immigrants, alternated between English and Spanish to make his point about the party embracing more people - particularly in states like Texas - and needing a "turnaround specialist" at its helm.

"We don't need to burn the house down, but we need to take a sober look at where we are and what we did and what we didn't do," he said. "We didn't make house calls. It's not an engagement strategy to show up at a church every fourth October."

Ellison pointed to lack of turnout and poor party investment in local organizing as causes of Democratic losses in the presidential election.

"We have got to talk to everybody all over this country and that means sending resources from D.C. to Texas," he said. "We've got to turn on in an off year."

Candidate Vincent Tolliver of Georgia claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost because she chose the wrong running mate. He said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker would have been winners over Clinton's pick of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.

South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg said the party has "under-reacted" to the election of President Donald Trump.

Jaime Harrison, chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said the DNC needs "deal with the electoral college" as a priority and end redundant efforts.

"Hillary Clinton had 3 million more votes than Donald Trump. In what other competition or occasion can you have 3 million more of anything and still lose?" he asked. "People have lost faith and they have lost trust."

No more politicians

Former Fox News commentator Jehmu Greene said a party "mired in an old-school approach" contributed to Democratic losses, as did failing to connect with millennials and people of color.

"Put an organizer at the head of the DNC," she said. "Don't put another politician up here."

Other candidates for chair on the panel included U.S Air Force reservist Sam Ronan, Wisconsin attorney Peter Peckarsky, New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Ray Buckley and Sally Boynton Brown, the executive director of Idaho's Democratic Party.

Speaking to party activists and other attendees, several leaders emphasized that Harris County became firmly Democratic in the 2016 election and the party has reduced its statewide presidential election loss margin from 16 points in 2012 to nine last year.

Maria Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino - a national organization that seeks to elevate Latino political leadership and voting power - said the Lone Star State's growing Hispanic population presents a new chance to build the party.

"The future is here in Texas," she said, rattling off national statistics throughout her presentation. "Sixty percent of Latinos are under the age of 33. That's opportunity. … One in five millennials is Latino. … Sixty percent of all U.S. Latinos are U.S. born. Opportunity."

Kumar said the key to boosting Democratic votes is linking the similar concerns of urban and rural voters on jobs, education, access to health care, drug abuse issues, the digital divide and food deserts. She added that the opportunity to register new voters is optimal in Texas.