A Latino head of the DNC would be historic – and it’s about time

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (2 minute read) 

Word from Washington and reported in the New York Times say that Labor Secretary Thomas Perez “has told three senior Democrats that he intends to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, challenging the front-running candidate, Representative Keith Ellison.”

This is big for several reasons. One, he’s Latino. It’s not that being Latino will inherently make him a better DNC Chair, it’s that being Latino could inherently bring Latino interests to the decision-making table of a major political party – they haven’t been there in the past.

We can talk frankly about this, because I’ve had many, many conversations with Latino political leaders and operatives who are frustrated at the lack of Latino inclusion at the highest level of policy discussions and political action – there’s always been a paternalistic attitude of non-Latino pols toward Latinos.

This could signal a change. There are a little more than 400 voting members of the DNC. I heard it compared to a student council race in that regard. And factions within the party will surely take sides. Representative Keith Ellison is an African-American-Muslim who has the backing of the more liberal, progressive side of the party including the strong endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Not that Perez should be tagged with a “moderate” or establishment label – although he does carry the implicit backing of President Obama.

So it isn’t a slam-dunk. But it is looking like a Sanders-wing versus Obama-wing race.

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Again the NYT: “Mr. Perez’s bid will also test how willing Democrats are to risk angering Mr. Sanders’s legions of grass-roots supporters — and whether they will bow to Mr. Obama in the final weeks of his presidency.”

We’ll have to see who the unions pick and we’ll get a glimpse of Perez’s political skills in the process – I don’t think he’s ever run a campaign, I may be wrong on this.