2021 Democratic National Committee chairmanship election

The 2021 Democratic National Committee chairmanship election was held on January 18–21, 2021, using an electronic ballot to determine the next chairperson of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

2021 Democratic National Committee chairmanship election

← 2017 January 18–21, 2021 2025 →
 
Candidate Jaime Harrison No vote
Caucus vote 407 4

Chair before election

Tom Perez

Elected Chair

Jaime Harrison

In contrast to the 2017 election, the 2021 DNC election was uncontested. Jaime Harrison was elected chairperson in the first round of voting, succeeding Tom Perez.

Candidates

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On January 14, Joe Biden selected his preferred DNC leadership slate, including Jaime Harrison for chair,[1][2] Jason Rae as secretary, Virginia McGregor as treasurer, and Chris Korge as national finance chair.[3] As is usual when a Democrat controls the White House,[4] nobody else submitted a slate of officers.[5]

Results

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On January 18–21, the DNC voted on the leadership slate, with 407 in favor, 4 against, and 0 abstaining.[3][4][6][7] As a result, Harrison became DNC Chair.[8][5] Harrison highlighted the need to grow the Democratic Party in red states.[5]

Results of the January 21, 2021 Democratic National Committee officer elections:

Candidate Round 1
Jaime Harrison 407
No vote 4
Abstain 0
Total 411
  Candidate secured enough votes to win election
  Candidate secured a plurality of votes in the round
  Candidate withdrew

The DNC elected Gretchen Whitmer, Tammy Duckworth, and Filemon Vela as vice-chairs and Keisha Lance Bottoms as vice-chair of civic engagement and voter protection.[5] Later, in 2022, the DNC unanimously voted to add Henry R. Muñoz III as a 4th vice chair.[9]

Reform proposals

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In 2020, 41 DNC members wrote a letter to Biden asking the DNC to make a series of reforms, including publicizing the list of DNC members, publicizing DNC votes & resolutions, reducing the number and power of the 75 at-large DNC members, and changing the election of these members from a slate election (yes/no vote on each slate) to a candidate election (yes/no on each candidate).[10] In 2021, before voting on the leadership slate, the DNC voted on the rules of the election, with 318 voting for, 15 against, and 11 abstaining.[4][7] One "no" voter on the leadership slate opposed the election of leaders as a slate, rather than individual candidates.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Sprunt, Barbara (January 14, 2021). "Biden Taps Jaime Harrison To Lead Democratic National Committee". NPR.
  2. ^ Otterbein, Holly; Cadelago, Christopher; Korecki, Natasha (January 14, 2021). "Harrison selected as Biden's DNC chair". Politico.
  3. ^ a b Brewster, Adam (January 22, 2021). "Former South Carolina Senate candidate Jaime Harrison elected DNC chair". CBS News.
  4. ^ a b c Atkins, David (January 21, 2021). "1/21/21 update on Winter 2021 DNC Meeting". davidatkinsdnc.com. In the end, 407 voted for the slate with 4 against. I was one of 15 DNC members to vote against the rules, with 318 voting yes and 11 abstaining. But a movement for reform must start somewhere and I'm proud of the reformers who also voted no on the rules.
  5. ^ a b c d Merica, Dan (January 21, 2021). "Jaime Harrison officially elected Democratic National Committee chair". CNN.
  6. ^ Meara, Paul (January 22, 2021). "Jaime Harrison Formally Named Democratic Party Chair". BET. Harrison received 407 out of 411 possible votes.
  7. ^ a b "Democratic National Committee Officer Elections". c-span.org. C-SPAN. January 21, 2021. RULES AND PROPOSED RULES AND PROCEDURES IS THE FIRST ITEM ON THE BALLOT AND MEMBERS RATIFIED THE RULES 318 IN FAVOR, 15 OPPOSED AND 11 ASTAINING. [....] THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS HAVE BEEN ELECTED BY A VOTE 407 IN FAVOR AND 4 OPPOSED AND ARE READY TO SERVE OUR GREAT PARTY.
  8. ^ Schneider, Avie (January 22, 2021). "DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison Wants To Build The 'Next Generation' Of Democratic Talent". NPR.
  9. ^ "Henry R. Muñoz III". Democrats. Democratic National Committee. Henry R. Muñoz III was elected in a unanimous vote to serve as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2022.
  10. ^ Moore, David (November 26, 2020). "DNC Members Outline Party Reforms in Letter to Biden". Sludge. Among the structural reforms, Kapp highlights the current role of the 75 at-large DNC members in amplifying the preference of the chair throughout party deliberations. "In reality, they're appointed, they're not elected," Kapp explained. "The DNC chair presents a slate of individuals, usually names and states, with no opportunity to pull names from the slate and offer new names, no delineation of what demographic goals we're trying to meet. At the end of day, we're working to make sure we have strong state parties that have the necessary resources to support down ballot races and run Democrats for every race on the ballot."
  11. ^ @tomaskenn (January 22, 2021). "Final DNC election vote count was 407 to 4" (Tweet) – via Twitter. Final DNC election vote count was 407 to 4. I'm one of the four that voted no. One reason was that I don't believe in voting on a whole slate, we should get to vote on each position. Second is that I opposed Chris Korge as finance chair. Reasons here:
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