The Democratic National Committee continues to suffer internal disagreements more than seven months after losing the presidency and both chambers of Congress in the general 2024 election.
Two major union presidents, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders, resigned from the DNC after being offered at-large positions by Chairman Ken Martin, CNN reported.
Weingarten and Saunders, who both had endorsed Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler for the DNC chair, were not nominated to the powerful rules and bylaws committee by Martin.
The two union leaders said internal disagreements led to their decisions to leave the DNC.
“It shows that we’re not united,” North Carolina-based Democrat strategist Douglas Wilson said, The Hill reported.
“Every time we have a situation where prominent people are exiting their posts — not the party, but their posts at the DNC — that becomes the narrative as opposed to what the Trump administration is doing.”
Weingarten’s and Saunders’ resignation letters surfaced Sunday evening.
“We don’t have to have all of these disputes and conversations in the public sphere, because it does not help the overall cause and the overall good,” Democrat strategist Antjuan Seawright said, The Hill reported.
“No matter what the disagreement may be, it does not compare to the disagreements that we have with the other side.”
The departures follow the GOP having made inroads with some union constituencies last year.
“Although Republicans are not sweeping unions, Republicans are starting to be viewed by union members as the party of the people who have to take a shower after work or, in this case, the people who have to take an Excedrin after work,” Wilson said.
A Democrat source told The Hill that Weingarten and Saunders were “bitter” with the outcome of the DNC chair race. Martin was elected Feb. 1 to replace the outgoing chair, Jaime Harrison.
“It was very clear to me that they were looking to blow up the DNC,” the source said. “[Martin] is not looking to blow the place up.”
News of the resignations came less than a week after the DNC voted to oust gun control activist David Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as vice chairs based on a technical complaint. Hogg had threatened to take on “ineffective” Democrat incumbents in primaries.
Kenyatta again was elected vice chair on Saturday, The Hill reported. Hogg chose not to run again.
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