Jaime Harrison’s endorsement likely puts Tom Perez closer to the needed tally of roughly 224 votes. | Getty Harrison throws support to Perez in DNC race

ATLANTA — South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison is dropping his bid for Democratic National Committee chair and throwing his support to former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, marking the second major shakeup in the party leadership race within a week.

The deal, finalized as the party’s voting members arrive here for Saturday’s election, cements Perez’s place as the likely front-runner in his tight race against Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison. Ellison won the backing of New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley, another former candidate, over the weekend.


Harrison’s endorsement likely puts Perez closer to the needed tally of roughly 224 votes, given Harrison’s estimated support of 20-30 party members, according to Democrats familiar with the whip counts.

“In a former job, I whipped votes for House Democrats. I know what a path to victory looks like. Despite strong performances at the debate and DNC regional forums, the votes are simply not there for me to secure victory on Saturday. But this election is not about the individuals in the race; it is about unifying and rebuilding our Democratic Party. Therefore, today, I am ending my campaign for DNC Chair, but I am more confident than ever that our Party will come back strong. I am confident because I have seen tremendous progressive energy all across our country and the commitment of State Party leaders to channel this energy into winning elections. I am confident because of the amazing Democratic talent running for various positions at the DNC, including a field of stellar candidates for DNC Chair,” said Harrison, in a note out to party members alerting them to the move. "In particular, I am confident because we have a candidate for DNC Chair who can unite the Democratic Party behind the goal of enacting progressive change, a candidate who can take the fight to Donald Trump and rebuild our Party infrastructure, and a candidate whom I, as a voting member of the DNC, am proud to support: Tom Perez."

“Jaime's commitment to the party is like no other and I'm proud to have his support as we both work together to invest in state parties, turnaround the DNC, and get back to winning. Over the last year, from campaigning for Democrats in South Carolina to running our own campaigns for Chair, Jaime and I have grown close through our shared commitment to turning our party around through organizing and communicating our values of inclusion and opportunity,” added Perez in a statement. "If elected chair, I will work with Jaime and others who are running for chair to bring our party together because it will take every one of us to unite a party that is suffering from a crisis of confidence and relevance."

The race, which has raged for months, is coming to a head at the DNC winter meeting this weekend. In the final run-up to the vote, the field has slimmed to the two likely front-runners, Perez and Ellison, plus South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Idaho Democratic Party Executive Director Sally Boynton Brown and a few others. Widely read as a redux of the Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders primary due to Ellison’s support of Sanders and Perez’s role as a Clinton surrogate, the relatively civil race has gotten chippy in the final days, with a back-and-forth over the vote counts being circulated by the campaigns.

Harrison has increasingly been seen as a potentially important deal maker due to his level of support and his standing as neither a Clinton nor Sanders loyalist. Democrats are looking to avoid a messy vote that could stretch into multiple rounds of balloting if no one reaches a simple majority of the present voters.