The Faces of the DNC: Thomas Perez and Keith Ellison

The DNC has voted and Thomas Perez, former secretary of Labor under Obama and civil rights lawyer in the Justice Department under Eric Holder, will the the new head. He is a leftist, pure and simple. The first thing he did after being elected was to name Keith Ellison, his main competitor for the job, as his vice chair. Ellison had been under fire for his past membership in the Nation of Islam, his past praise of Louis Farrakhan and his alleged anti-semitism. No doubt some Democrats were afraid of the message Ellison’s election would send to moderate Democrats and Jews. Perez, apparently, was not so concerned.

The selection of Perez is no move back to the center for the Democrats. He is a dedicated lefty. Having Ellison, one of two Muslim members of Congress, is not going to stop the bleeding.Ellison has a heavy Somali constituency in his home district of Minneapolis, which largely explains his election to Congress. With Perez’ decision to  tap Ellison as his second, the Democrats get the worst of two worlds. They are sure to lose some degree of Jewish support. For example, just before the selection of Perez, Alan Dershowitz was appearing on CNN promising he would leave the Democrat party if Ellison, whom he considers an anti-semite, were selected. With Ellison in the number two slot, it remains to be seen what Dershowitz will do now.

Perez has boldly stated that he and Ellison will be President Trump’s worst nightmare. I doubt it. It is people like these two that have led to the Democrat party losing so much of its support.