Both front-runners to lead the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, agreed to stay neutral in party primaries.

As the dust settles on a 2016 presidential primary where evidence of favoritism within the DNC drove a wedge into the party and cost it its chairwoman, both candidates preached a hands-off approach on primaries.

But South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison bucked that idea, arguing that brutal primaries hurt Democrats' chances of winning races.

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"The role of the DNC chair is to let the process run its course, and we move forward when the general election moves ahead," Perez said.

"I'm confident that this year, if you look across this country right now … this energy is electric. Jan. 20 was undeniably an important day, but Jan. 21 and beyond was more important because people were rising up and saying Donald Trump does not stand for our values.”

“The role of the DNC is to be neutral and fair to all primary contestants," he said.

"I will make a personal call and say, ‘Let’s not kill each other off, guys,’ but I will not publicly shame any Democrat in a primary."

But while both Perez and Ellison said they'd support neutral primaries, Harrison took another route. Noting that Republicans need just seven more Senate seats in 2018's tough map for Democrats to reach a filibuster-proof majority, and control of one more state to call a constitutional convention, he argued that effort spent on primaries will only hurt the party in the fall.

"We don’t have the time or energy, and all the people we are fighting for don’t have time for this purity test."