On Saturday, Tom Perez was voted the chair of the Democratic National Committee. Perez, who has never held or run for national elected office, served as labor secretary in the Obama administration. He was urged to run after establishment figures—and especially former members of the Obama administration—grew concerned that progressive congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota would become the next DNC head. Ellison had garnered the endorsements of a wide range of Democrats, including Representative John Lewis and Senators Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren.

Ellison’s identity as a black Muslim and his progressivism—particularly his pledge to get lobbyists and corporate money out of the DNC and instead focus on Bernie-ish small donations to build up the local Democratic establishment—clearly made some in the party uncomfortable. This, despite the fact that Ellison’s record and profile made him an ideal choice to lead a party that wants to run on a platform of diversity and economic equality.

Perez’s backers have pointed to the former labor secretary’s strong progressive record, which is undeniable (although his history with the banking industry, in particular, is concerning). But as my colleague Clio Chang pointed out earlier this week, the argument made by party stalwarts that Perez and Ellison were cut from the same progressive cloth simply didn’t hold water—if that were true, then why the need for Perez to enter the race in the first place?

Much has been made about the left wing’s fixation on the race. Some have grumbled that it has been turned into a rehash of the 2016 primary between Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Progressives should be happy with Perez, the argument goes, who was one of the most progressive labor secretaries in history. Some have also argued that this conflict has been manufactured by a progressive wing that has become unhinged in its obsession with the DNC and the national party establishment.

There is a degree of truth here. But the argument for the most part is a red herring. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party did not cook up this fight: The establishment wing did. Before Perez entered the race, the party was coalescing around Ellison as the natural choice to lead the party. The establishment that has spent the last three months whining about the DNC race becoming a proxy battle was responsible for creating that proxy battle in the first place. Even richer are the establishment types who say the role of DNC head isn’t important enough to warrant such scrutiny—then why so much effort to get Perez in?