Lingering tensions from the presidential primary are driving the race for Democratic National Committee chairman, impeding early favorite Keith Ellison’s bid to consolidate support behind his candidacy and raising fears that the party will once again be split into Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton camps.

Despite his support from a wide array of Democratic power players, a POLITICO email survey of the 447 voting DNC members and follow-up interviews with more than two dozen national and state Democratic officials reveal that the Minnesota congressman faces serious hurdles in his bid to become the next party chairman.


“I’m hoping that there’s another candidate that’s going to emerge. I’m not really happy with the candidates that are out there,” said Illinois committeeman Daniel Hynes, echoing sentiments relayed over and over in interviews over the past week. “I don’t know who that person is, I just think it’s someone who’s detached from Washington, somebody who’s full-time, somebody who’s from the moderate side of the party, and somebody who’s going to steer the party back towards our ability to appeal to middle-class working Americans."

Ellison, a Sanders supporter who became a prominent Clinton surrogate, holds a clear lead over his two declared rivals — South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison and New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley — according to the roughly 100 DNC members who responded to the email survey. And he continues to rack up endorsements — two more state party officials backed Ellison this week.

But the overwhelming majority of the DNC respondents say they have yet to make up their minds in a contest where many said they are waiting on one or more other candidates to get in the race.

Idaho Democratic Party Chairman Bert Marley said he expects other candidates to jump into the race, though he said the window for additional contenders is beginning to close as the race escalates ahead of the holiday season.

"I'm waiting; there's no hurry. We've got until February to make decisions," Marley said, referring to the late February vote for the chairmanship. "I think the longer other people postpone jumping in, the harder time they're going to have."

One looming development that stands to reorder the race is the expected entry of Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who is planning a call with DNC members this week to discuss his intentions. In addition to the White House ally, other names frequently listed by Democratic officials hoping to see an expanded field include NARAL Pro-Choice America chief Ilyse Hogue, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, and Vice President Joe Biden. Some even pined for Sanders himself.

Biden has said he is not interested, and Granholm demurred after being considered a front-runner had Clinton won the presidency. A number of committee members said they had already spoken to Hogue, who has yet to commit to a run of her own despite meeting with Ellison last week and planning to speak with Harrison and Buckley soon, said an individual close to her.

It all adds up to a more muddled picture than the Washington chatter might suggest. Ellison may be the choice of many Democratic leaders and a hefty portion of the grass roots — he cleared a major obstacle last week by pledging to resign his seat in Congress if he becomes chairman, and he has scored backing from a wide range of party influencers including Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer — but there’s no easy glide path ahead.

Ellison has worked hard to appeal to both sides of the party, but he nonetheless engenders by far the most impassioned responses from DNC members, both positive and negative.

One reason is that the shadow of the contentious presidential primary continues to hang over the party, and some DNC members view the Minnesota congressman as part of the faction that delivered a mortal wound to Clinton, despite his best efforts to convince them otherwise.

“Ellison is not the front-runner, Ellison has no chance at all,” said Tennessee committeeman William Owen, giving voice to that view. “I’m a Hillary person. Bill Clinton said, 'I’ll be with you till the last dog dies,' and I’m the last dog. I will not vote for Keith Ellison, I will not vote for a Bernie person. I think they cost Hillary the election, and now they’re going to live with Donald Trump. Donald Trump asks, 'What do you have to lose?’ Nothing, except life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

California committeewoman Susie Shannon’s take on Ellison, however, is more representative of the ascendant progressive wing’s view.

“He’s the co-chair of the [Congressional] Progressive Caucus, and I’m a progressive, so just at the outset he had my ear,” she said. “He has his finger on the pulse of some of the things where the priorities are a bit askew."

Ellison's endorsements span the party, not only from liberal groups associated with Sanders' presidential campaign, like Our Revolution and Democracy for America, but also from heavyweight, Clinton-supporting senators such as Schumer, Harry Reid and Amy Klobuchar. He's also popular with organized labor: The AFL-CIO endorsed his bid last week, even amid rumors Perez was strongly considering getting in the race.

Still, interviews with state party officials reveal a widespread reluctance to coalesce around a polarizing candidate more than two months before votes are cast. One sign of the unsettled race: North Carolina party officials have gone so far as to circulate an informal preference survey to other Southeastern state voters.

“Left to its own devices, the DNC wasted a lot of time on petty infighting, and the tone for this stuff was set — the emails from last summer were the tip of an iceberg of time-wasting distractions,” said John Eastwood, a committee member who represents the Democrats Abroad group, referring to the publication of internal emails that led to the ousting of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in July. “It’s always easier to pull a string than to push it, and we need leaders who can set a strong example of integrity and respect."

Harrison and Buckley can’t match Ellison’s imposing roster of endorsements, but they have their own bases of support within their politically connected, early-voting home states, and they have growing lists of backers from elsewhere.

“Jaime comes from a red state but is proof of what the Democratic Party stands for. I firmly believe that he is equipped and has the vision we need for a comeback up and down the ballot in ’18 and ’20,” said Clay Middleton, a South Carolina DNC member who directed Clinton’s winning primary campaign there in February. “His fresh perspective, building effort as a party chair, and professional experience enables him to keenly listen to others, bring people together, and tackle the issues head on. In the final analysis, we need a chair that can lead, look to the future by learning from the past, and execute a winning strategy."

Buckley’s supporters universally note his successful stewardship of the New Hampshire party during the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, which were rough for Democrats elsewhere. On Monday, he circulated his 15-point plan for the job to the DNC membership via email.

“We need a fighter, someone who knows the problems and can take action," said at-large member Barbra Siperstein. "There will be a learning curve; for Ray, I believe, it will be the shortest. They all seem to be aware of the need for a 50-plus state strategy and full-time chair, but Ray, as president of the [Association of State Democratic Chairs] and chair of a battleground state, has the relationships in each state and knows that there is not a one-size-fits-all."

Buckley’s background as a DNC vice chair and long service as a state chairman — he’s spent nearly a decade in that role — gives him familiarity with the so-called 50-state strategy that most DNC members would like to see resuscitated. That approach pumped money and resources to all states during the tenure of former Chairman Howard Dean, and each of the current candidates has called for a return of some version of it.

In the meantime, the declared candidates are making calls, sending texts and brochures, and campaigning around the country from local Democratic headquarters to Capitol Hill meeting rooms, with the understanding that the party will remain in flux until the committee’s meeting in Atlanta on the weekend of Feb. 24 — more than one month into Trump’s presidency.

“To be honest, I haven’t put much thought into this yet,” said Alexis Tameron, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. “I’m more focused on getting back our voter turnout data and figuring out areas we need to focus on as a state party for the next two to four years before wading into this."

California committee member Michael Kapp, however, repeated a common refrain: The clock is ticking.

“The window is closing for potential candidates to travel the country and meet DNC members and Democratic activists,” he said. “Right now, Democrats around the country are feeling frustrated — and, in many cases, scared — with the results of the election. Activists within the Democratic Party deserve to be heard by those who will lead us into this brave new world."

Yousef Saba and Brent Griffiths contributed to this report.