The next DNC chair.

It’s gotta be a bit embarrassing for some of our front page staff right now. I get it. It’s hard moving forward from such a contentious primary after losing the general election. Many people here are dismissing Keith Ellison’s bid for the DNC chair as simply just another proxy battle for the primary wars between the establishment corporate side of our party and the progressive populist wing of our party. Well, that’s a false choice. The selection of the DNC chair does not need to be a fight between Sanders supporters or Clinton supporters. Given that the next DNC chair isn’t going to be selected till Feb of this coming year there is a bit of time for us to hash out who should lead the party’s organizational efforts against the incoming Trump administration.

We know how the Hamilton electors scenario is going to play out. Much the way republicans acted aghast at the prospect of an man deeply unqualified to be President being elected but ultimately deciding that winning was more important than governing — I expect the electors to act in much the same way. I have no faith they are going to go against Trump’s intimidation.

What’s embarrassing for our front page staff and Kos? Well, for one they are supporting a candidate that hasn’t even declared any intention of following through on her wish to run for the DNC chair.

I mean, that’s not as embarrassing as being made fun of on SNL for the bubble that existed here for the last year before Trump popped it but I digress.

What I don’t get is why Kos is acting like Trump? Trump expressly forbid Twitter, the company that has allowed him a platform to broadcast his inane ramblings to the populous unfettered, to join in his tech meeting/summit whatever over a petty reason of not letting him use an anti Hillary emoji.

I guess past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Kos couldn’t endorse Teachout during the primary in NY between Andrew Wall Street. Cuomo and Teachout due to minor drama during both their tenures on Howard Deans campaign. Teachout claimed that Kos was only in it for the money and wasn’t really interested in progressive causes. Gosh. It was petty. Exactly Trumpish behavior.

The fact that Kos can’t get behind Ellison for the DNC chair smacks of much the same behavior. It’s like the primary is destined to play out over and over again through different machinations.

Now, before you go saying that Ellison is just a default Bernie instead of Bernie let’s not get it twisted. Kos said specifically that he could not support Bernie for the primary because the leader of our party needed to be a minority, be a progressive, and have broad appeal to both wings of the party. Basically another Obama except an actual progressive rather than a aloft technocrat who sits calmly saying “everything is fine” in the face of raging racism and the rise of fascism in the U.S.

Kos also said no part time chairs. Given that Ellison has said he will resign from congress if he takes of the chair whats the beef now?

So Ellison by extension would be the perfect candidate to lead our parties efforts to come back out of the wilderness simply by the shallow standard that Kos set.

Well, let’s take a look at who exactly has endorsed Ellison for the chair of the DNC.

keithfordnc.org

Elected officials and party leaders State Party Leadership Martha Laning (Wisconsin State Party Chair) David Bowen (Wisconsin State Party Vice Chair/ State Representative) Ken Martin (Minnesota State Party Chair) Marge Hoffa (Minnesota State Party Vice Chair) Jane Kleeb (Nebraska State Party Chair) Tim Vandeveer (Hawaii State Party Chair) Jim Larson (Montana State Party Chair) Mark Hammons (Oklahoma State Party Chair) Victoria Jackson-Stanley (Maryland State Party Vice Chair; Mayor of Cambridge, MD) Larry Murakami (Alaska State Vice Chair) Cordelia Lewis Burks (Indiana State Party Vice Chair) Joe Lowe (South Dakota State Party Vice Chair) Democratic Party Leadership RT Rybak (DNC Vice Chair, MN) Hilda Solis (Former U.S. Secretary of Labor; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; DNC Executive Committee Member) Jim Zogby (DNC Executive Committee Member, DC) Annette Taddeo (DNC Executive Committee Member, FL) Mike Gronstal (DLCC Chair; Former State Senator, IA) Paul Thissen (DLCC Secretary; State Representative, MN) United States Senators U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (NV) U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI) U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN) U.S. Senator Al Franken (MN) U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (CT) U.S. Senator-elect Tammy Duckworth (IL) United States Representatives U.S. Representative John Conyers (MI-13) U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (CA-43) U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings (MD-07) U.S. Representative Joe Crowley (NY-14) U.S. Representative GK Butterfield (NC-01) U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) U.S. Representative Louis V. Gutierrez U.S. Representative Mike Honda (CA-17) U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17) U.S. Representative Janice Hahn (CA-44) U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) U.S. Representative Gwen Moore (WI-04) U.S. Representative Dan Kildee (MI-05) U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) U.S. Representative Rick Nolan (MN-08) U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (AZ-03) U.S. Representative John Lewis (GA-5) U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack (IA-02) U.S. Representative Alan Lowenthal (CA-43) U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) U.S. Representative Al Green (TX-09) U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) U.S. Representative André Carson (IN-07) U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) Former U.S. Representative Mary Rose Oakar (OH-13) State Leaders Mark Dayton (Governor, MN) Tina Smith (Lt. Governor, MN) Eric Schneiderman (Attorney General, NY) Jim Condos (Secretary of State, VT) Troy Jackson (State Senator, ME) Bobby Jo Champion (State Senator, MN) Mark Miller (State Senator, WI) Ian Conyers (State Senator, MI) Maralyn Chase (State Senator, WA) Bob Hasegawa (State Senator, WA) Adam Satchell (State Senator, RI) Hanna Gallo (State Seantor, RI) Joshua Miller (State Senator, RI) Jeanine Calkin (State Senator, RI) Peggy Flanagan (State Representative, MN) Frank Hornstein (State Representative, MN) Adam Ebbin (State Senator, VA) Gustavo Rivera (State Senator, NY) Connie Johnson (Former State Senator, OK) Carlos Guillermo Smith (State Representative, FL) Carla Cunningham (State Representative, NC) Aaron Regunberg (State Representative, RI) Wenon Benally (State Representative, AZ) Noel Frame (State State Representative, WA) Mary Sullivan (State Representative, VT) Chris Blazejewski (State Representative, RI) Moira Walsh (State Representative, RI) Marcia Ranglin-Vassell (State Representative, RI) Ray Hull (State Representative, RI) Joseph Almeida (State Representative, RI) Arthur Handy (State Representative, RI) David Bennett (State Representative, RI) Evan Shanley (State Representative, RI) Kathy Fogarty (State Representative, RI) Shelby Maldonado (State Representative, RI) Jean Philippe Barros (State Representative, RI) Greg Amore (State Representative, RI) Jason Knight (State Representative, RI) Susan Donovan (State Representative, RI) John Wisniewski (Assemblyman, NJ) Nina Turner (Former State Senator, OH) Local Leaders Bill de Blasio (Mayor, New York City) Melissa Mark-Viverito (Speaker, New York City Council, NY) Darryl D. Moss (Mayor, Creedmoor, NC/Board Member of the National League of Cities) Van R. Johnson II (Alderman/Mayor Pro-Tem (former), Savannah, GA/Board Member of the Democratic Municipal Officials) Lynette Giibson McElhaney (City Council President, Oakland, CA) Eric Montoya (Councilmember/Mayor Pro-Tem, Thorton, CO) Aidee Nieves (Councilmember, Bridgeport, CT) Christopher McVoy (City Commissioner, Lake Worth, FL) Andrew Werthmann (Councilmember, Eau Claire, WI) Megan Green (Alderwoman, Saint Louis, MO) Yolanda Roman (Councilmember, Gulfport, FL) Alix Desulme (Vice Mayor, North Miami, FL) Dyanne C. Reese (City Council Clerk, Savannah, GA) Blake Johnson (Councilor, Indianapolis, IN) Jared Evans (Councilor, Indianapolis, IN) Michael Bridges (Councilmember, Farmington Hills, MI) LaWana Mayfield (Councilmember, Charlotte, NC) James Mitchell (Councilmember, Charlotte, NC) Sharon Green Middleton (Councilmember, Baltimore, MN) Rose Glover (Councilmember, Greenville, NC) Surluta B. Anthony (Councilmember, Monroe, NC) Kandie D. Smith (Councilmember/Mayor Pro-Tem, Greenville, NC) Pat Cotham (County Commissioner, Mecklenburg County, NC) Chris V. Rey (Mayor, Spring Lake, NC) Mustafa Al-M. Brent (Councilmember, East Orange, FL) Jared Rice (Councilmember, New Rochelle, NY) Svante Myrick (Mayor, Ithaca, NY) Derek S. Green (Councilmember, Philadelphia, PA) Martavius D. Jones (Councilmember, Memphis, TN) Derek Green (Councilmember, Philadelphia, PA) Sly James (Mayor, Kansas City, MO/President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors) Martavius D. Jones (Councilmember, Memphis, TN) Linda Higgins (County Commissioner, Hennepin County, MN) Roderick T. Sawyer (Alderman, Chicago, IL) Susan Sadlowski Garza (Alderwoman, Chicago, IL) Ricardo Muñoz (Alderman, Chicago, IL) Scott Waguespack (Alderman, Chicago, IL) Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (Alderman, Chicago, IL) John Arena (Alderman, Chicago, IL) Levoyd Williams (Commissioner, Lauderdale Lakes, FL) Beverly Williams (Commissioner, Lauderdale Lakes, FL) J. David Cox Sr., President of the American Federation of Government Employees Chris Shelton, President of Communications Workers of America RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director of National Nurses United Tim Paulson, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council Alex Soros Zephyr Teachout Lawrence Hanley, President, Amalgamated Transit Union Mark Dimondstein, President, American Postal Workers Union Lee Saunders, DNC Member/President, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers Advocacy and Labor leaders AFL-CIO United Steelworkers International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers American Federation of Government Employees Americans for Democratic Action Bend the Arc Jewish Action Communications Workers of America Democracy for America 350 Action Center for Popular Democracy Action Good Jobs Nation MoveOn.org Political Action Our Revolution People's Action Network Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) Progressive Democrats of America

The union endorsements alone should be enough for Dailykos to get on board with Keith Ellison for the DNC. That the largest teachers union in the U.S, the largest nurses union in the U.S, the largest workers union in the U.S have all come out for Ellison should be a strong indication that labor does not want Tom Perez any where near the chair of the DNC. I’m not going to crap on Perez except that there is little grassroots or institutional support for his candidacy due to his continued support of President Obama’s wrong headed TPP trade agenda. If selecting Clinton hurt us in the rust belt, selecting Perez will continue to play into the perception that the democratic party has chosen money over workers.

Look at those Senate endorsements. That is a far reaching ideological rift in our party coming together after tearing into each other relentlessly for the past year and a half. If anything, it is an acknowledgement that our party has to take a drastically different direction than it is now.

Keith Ellison has put in the time organizing with grass roots activists at all levels, speaks their language and has substantial clout with labor and voices that have been marginalized by the corporate wing of our party.