Congressional Black Caucus members said some of them were wary about voting no confidence in Democratic National Committee Tom Perez so quickly after the midterms. | Annie Rice/AP Photo Congress CBC votes no confidence in Democratic Chair Perez

The Congressional Black Caucus passed a vote of no confidence in Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Wednesday, the latest sign of lingering bad blood between lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the Democratic Party’s top official.

According to CBC members, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, started a debate over the national party’s superdelegate policy, which led to a motion of no confidence in Perez, who took over the DNC in February 2017.


CBC members described the debate as “heated” and “controversial.” CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) said members “felt that the DNC pitted them against their constituents.”

“So now if they want to be a delegate, they have to run against their constituents who want to be delegates, and it’s an unfair proposition,” Richmond told POLITICO. “We don’t want to run against our constituents, so the caucus had made its position known. … It speaks for itself.”

The DNC in August voted to dramatically diminish the power of superdelegates — elected officials and party activists who are free to vote for any candidate at the presidential nominating convention. The new rule bars superdelegates from voting on the first presidential nominating ballot at a contested national convention.

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The debate over superdelegates emerged during the 2016 Democratic primary between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Critics of superdelegates say the elite roles in the nominating process favored establishment figures and gave elected officials too much power in selecting the presidential nominee.

“An overwhelming majority of DNC members approved these historic reforms to strengthen and grow our party, increase transparency, and put our nominee in the best possible position to win in 2020,” said Adrienne Watson, a DNC spokeswoman. “As last Tuesday showed, when we empower our grassroots we succeed. We look forward to continuing our work with the caucus to build a strong and diverse party.”

DNC officials note Perez has personally campaigned with some CBC members, including a trip to Houston with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Mississippi with Democratic Senate candidate Mike Espy.

CBC members said some of them were wary about voting no confidence in Perez so quickly after voters across the country gave House Democrats the majority for the first time in eight years.

“A lot of members said, ‘We don’t want to be put in position to run against the people who just voted for us,’” Rep. Al Lawson (D-Fla.) said.

Richmond wrote a letter to Perez in August expressing the CBC’s opposition to the proposed reforms.

“There should be enough room in the process to include the perspective of local party activists and officials, and members of Congress,” he wrote. “One group should not be harmed at the expense of the other. To add insult to injury, it appears that this is a solution in search of a problem. Unelected delegates have never gone against the will of primary voters in picking Democratic presidential nominees.”

