For the sake of party unity, there is growing consensus the chairwoman must go. Just a day before the start of the Democratic Party’s big show.
What a mess.
On what should have been a unified eve of the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz out. And he’s probably right and going to get his way.
“I think she should resign, period, and I think we need a new chair who is going to lead us in a very different direction,” said Sanders on Sunday. ““It is an outrage, and it’s sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign.”
The issue is over 20,000 leaked DNC emails which show Wasserman Schultz opposed his presidential bid and was not partial during the primary season. Sanders said he was “not shocked” by them but “disappointed.” And now he wants her to pay.
Wasserman Schultz has already announced she will not speak at the convention that begins tomorrow. That is a huge — and strange — concession considering the convention is the prime moment for any chair of a major political party.
If she’s too unpopular with delegates to walk on stage without being booed, it’s probably time for her to walk away.
There is growing pressure on her by Democratic operatives to quit. Hispanic leaders close to Hillary Clinton have floated the name of Housing Secretary Julian Castro to succeed her.
“I would ask her to step aside,” said David Axelrod, a former top advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. “I would ask her to step aside because she’s a distraction in a week that is Hillary Clinton’s week.”
Sanders has already endorsed Wasserman Schultz’s congressional primary opponent in Florida, while Clinton has remained supportive of her reelection bid.
“I don’t think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don’t think her leadership style is doing that,” said Sanders.
Wasserman Schultz has not yet responded.
Sanders says he still strongly backs Clinton and will campaign for her against Donald Trump.
“We’re going to focus on defeating the worst Republican candidate I’ve seen in a lifetime,” said Sanders. “We’ve got to elect Secretary Clinton.”