Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey resigned on Tuesday. | Getty Heads roll at the DNC Three top officials were ousted Tuesday, as the organization struggles to right itself.

With just three months until Election Day and the Democrats’ official party apparatus struggling to right itself from months of dysfunction and the scandal caused by the WikiLeaks email hack, interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile cleaned house Tuesday with the ouster of three top officials.

CEO Amy Dacey, communications director Luis Miranda and chief financial officer Brad Marshall are all leaving the organization, the DNC announced Tuesday afternoon, shortly after staffers were informed of the changes in a meeting. The announcement praised all three outgoing officials, but people familiar say the departures were heavily encouraged.


For days, there has been a chill around the DNC’s Capitol Hill offices as staffers wait to find out about their futures within the organization. Former chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down on the eve of the Democratic National Convention after a mass email hack spawned a host of unflattering revelations — including what’s been interpreted as bias by the committee toward Hillary Clinton during her primary contest with Bernie Sanders.

Brazile has been in place in the DNC offices since Monday, working quickly to begin the rebuilding process and boosting the morale of many staffers. She also announced a transition team to help manage the time before the election and prepare for a new chair, who’ll be elected in January.

“This election is the most important of my lifetime, and the DNC will continue to recruit top talent to help lead the fight to elect Hillary Clinton and Democrats across the country,” Brazile said in a statement. “I am committed to adding to our team of skilled professionals who will make sure that Donald Trump is held accountable for his reckless rhetoric and harmful policies.”

Asked whether the three aides would continue being paid through the election or the end of the year as severance, a DNC official said only, "the DNC won't comment on individual personnel matters."

Traditionally, the DNC fills a number of functions on behalf of both the presidential nominee and other candidates, but it had been struggling to do so — unlike the Republican National Committee, which has proved an important operational and fundraising backbone for Trump. And neither before nor since Wasserman Schultz’s departure has Clinton’s campaign staff shown deep interest in shifting much of its operation out of Brooklyn.

However, the significantly higher donation levels for a party committee compared with those for a specific candidate could make improving the DNC in the final months an important priority.

Marshall has been under fire since the hack unearthed an email in which he suggested questioning Sanders' religion during the primary. Similarly, Miranda was seen as talking up Clinton internally and drawing up public arguments on her behalf. Miranda, who was sent home from Philadelphia during the convention, has seen his role undermined since press operations were largely outsourced to the firm SKDKnickerbocker, longtime consultants for the DNC, according to Democratic officials inside and outside the building.

Dacey’s relationship with Wasserman Schultz had run into trouble long before the emails were released, with sources familiar with DNC operations telling POLITICO that the former chair had cut Dacey out of significant decisions, leading to confusion and turmoil unrelated to the email drama.

“A lot of folks are excited to move on past the drama and focus on the general,” said one person inside the DNC. “Folks are excited for Donna too.”

Meanwhile, Tom McMahon, executive director under former DNC Chair Howard Dean, will lead a transition team that will include Doug Thornell of SKDKnickerbocker and Brandon Davis, the aide the Clinton campaign put in place last month to oversee operations and be the liaison to Brooklyn as the chief of staff. Thornell will be a senior adviser to the DNC, and Davis’ responsibilities will be expanded to all operations.

Meanwhile, Clinton’s campaign is deep into its takeover of normal committee functions, having moved the entire research department to its Brooklyn headquarters last month and consolidating all rapid response responsibilities in New York as well.

The Clinton campaign also sent operative Adam Parkhomenko — its former Maryland and Washington, D.C., state director who started the Ready For Hillary group — to work with Davis.