The departure of Jess O’Connell — a longtime campaign pro who came to the DNC from EMILY’s List in May — comes at as the DNC works to rebuild under Chairman Tom Perez after years of neglect. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Democratic National Committee CEO leaving post

Democratic National Committee Chief Executive Officer Jess O’Connell is leaving the organization less than a year after joining the committee, she announced to the staff in an email on Monday night.

The departure of O’Connell — a longtime campaign pro who came to the DNC from EMILY’s List in May — comes at as the DNC works to rebuild under Chairman Tom Perez after years of neglect. It had struggled to raise money in 2017, but invested in local races in recent months.


"I’m proud to have helped to rebuild our party at a time when we needed it most. I am grateful to Chairman Tom Perez for the opportunity to serve during such a pivotal moment in our history as we fight with everything we’ve got to protect and promote Democratic values and to elect more Democrats nationwide,” O’Connell wrote in her email to the DNC staff, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.

Perez sent a follow up email thanking O’Connell, and explaining that she will stay on in the coming weeks. He has begun searching for a replacement already, and she is expected to remain working from the Capitol Hill offices through March, said a Democrat familiar with the situation.

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"We’ve come a long way in what’s honestly been a very short amount of time. When Jess walked in the door, the Democratic Party was broken,” Perez wrote, detailing Democratic victories since O'Connell joined, including gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey and the Alabama Senate special election. "Each of these accomplishments is due in large part to Jess’s tireless attention to detail, the decades of experience she brought to each situation and her ability to keep distractions at bay.”

O’Connell joined a committee that was struggling to regain credibility with the party and voters alike after years of being relegated to secondary importance during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Recovering from a Russian hack, battling accusations of favoritism of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during 2016’s election, and struggling to boost morale, the organization’s rebuilding task was a significant one that Perez has acknowledged was steeper than he expected when he took over in early 2017.

That rebuild has progressed slowly as Perez and O’Connell have worked to hire a full staff and maintain confidence in the operation. Amid ongoing struggles to raise enough cash, the DNC fired its top fundraiser in early December, and continued to face gripes from state party leaders as recently as this month.

