Story highlights "Not only was the primary rigged, it was rigged all across the country," he said

Candidates participated Wednesday in debate to lead the DNC

(CNN) Samuel Ronan, a US veteran competing to head the Democratic National Committee, said the party's primary was rigged because the DNC is "an insider's game."

"Not only was the primary rigged, it was rigged all across the country because the DNC has never allowed outsiders or brand new people to rise through the ranks. It has always been an insider's game," he said Wednesday at a debate sponsored by CNN. "It has been that way for a very, very long time. That is where that lack of trust is coming into play."

Eight candidates -- former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana; Jaime Harrison, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party; Sally Boynton Brown, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party; Jehmu Greene, a television analyst, and Peter Peckarsky, a Wisconsin lawyer -- participated in the CNN debate.

Candidates spent much of the time sharing their vision for how to move the party forward during President Donald Trump's administration.

A frequent claim during the 2016 presidential campaign -- from the left and the right -- was that establishment Democrats had created an environment to ensure Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic presidential nomination. For some, emails hacked from DNC leaders and members of Clinton's campaign furthered that perception.

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