Sen. Bernie Sanders is suppring Rep. Keith Ellison to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. | AP Photo Sanders backs Ellison for DNC chairman

Sen. Bernie Sanders is backing Rep. Keith Ellison to be the next permanent chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Sanders's office confirmed.

"He is supporting Congressman Ellison for the DNC," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told POLITICO on Thursday.


Donald Trump's presidential victory has thrown the future of the DNC's leadership into uncertainty. With Democrats banking on the fact that Hillary Clinton would win the presidency, they assumed she would pick a successor to interim-DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile. But Trump's victory means there will instead be elections for the next DNC chair. Brazile has said that she does not want to stay on in the role full-time.

A number of Democrats have been suggested as possible replacements, including former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison, and New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley. In the House, besides Ellison, Reps. Xavier Becerra and Steve Israel have also been mentioned, but they're considered longer shots given a reluctance to having another sitting member of Congress in the role after Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's troubled turn at the top.

The Minnesota congressman has been angling for the job, working back channels to position himself as a strong candidate to run the DNC. Ellison, a Sanders supporter when the Vermont senator ran for president, has previously discussed being DNC chair with Sanders.

"There have been conversations going on for some time," Briggs said.

Thursday afternoon MoveOn.org called for the DNC to "clean house" and said Ellison would make an "excellent" chair.

"The DNC must clean house and the new chair must stand up to all efforts by Trump and Republicans to move their harmful and bigoted agenda, which lost the national popular vote," MoveOn executive director Ilya Sheyman said in a statement. "At the same time, the DNC must connect with the grassroots of the party base that wants the party to reject corporate influence and advance an inclusive, progressive agenda that will energize voters and grow our base in 2017, 2018, and beyond. To do this, we need to bring back a real 50-state organizing strategy. Rep. Keith Ellison would be an excellent chair."

The news of Sanders' Ellison endorsement was first reported by The Associated Press.