Faiz Shakir, a leading progressive strategist who managed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, announced a last-minute run for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday. The New York Times first reported his entry into the Feb. 1 contest.
Shakir, who also founded and runs a pro-labor video journalism project More Perfect Union, told the Times he is seeking the top party post to help the Democratic Party do a better job of connecting with working-class voters. In the wake of the November election, Shakir has been among the most prominent progressives to argue for the party to embrace an economic populism that identifies exploitative corporations and politicians tied to them as enemies of the working class.
In an open letter announcing his bid to the 448 voting DNC members, Shakir said he was inspired to run by what he sees as the existing candidate field’s relative inattention to the deeper policy, messaging and strategic changes needed to expand Democrats’ appeal with working-class voters.
“As I have listened to our candidates, I sense a constrained, status-quo style of thinking,” he wrote. “We cannot expect working class audiences to see us any differently if we are not offering anything new or substantive to attract their support.”
Shakir’s experience is not limited to the progressive world. A former national political director of the ACLU, Shakir also served as a senior aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Still, the Washington, D.C.-based Democrat’s late entry makes him a long shot. He has already missed two out of four officially sanctioned candidate forums.
Currently, the two top contenders for the chairmanship are Ken Martin, chair of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, though neither candidate has claimed the support of the majority of DNC members needed to win outright.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, New York state Sen. James Skoufis, progressive self-help author and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, and former Homeland Security official Nate Snyder are among the other contenders who have qualified for the DNC ballot. Current DNC Chair Jaime Harrison is not seeking reelection.
While Skoufis, in particular, has argued for Democrats to focus on economic policy over more divisive cultural issues, Shakir correctly notes that the race has been dominated by more mundane debates over candidate records and party resource allocation.
Martin, the current chair of the Association of Democratic State Committees, is advocating for allotting more resources to state parties. Some of his allies criticize Wikler as a darling of D.C. insiders and donors.
But Wikler’s supporters maintain that his leadership of a party in a true battleground state like Wisconsin better qualifies him for the job than Martin. And they are suspicious of Martin’s record of organizing state parties to mobilize against the party’s central convening body in various disputes.
Much of the DNC chair’s duties are fundamentally bureaucratic in nature: Raising money, supplementing other party committees’ work in down-ballot races, forging consensus on a presidential nominating schedule and rules, and quarterbacking the party through a presidential primary and general election.
In 2017, the last time Democrats held a competitive election for DNC chair, the contest turned into an ideological proxy fight between progressives backing Keith Ellison and a more moderate party establishment that propelled Tom Perez to victory.
Short of spoiling for a replay of that race, Shakir wants DNC members to consider the ways that a chair’s use of the bully pulpit and personal initiative can shape how the party works. He suggests using unconventional methods to expand the party’s appeal and support, such as by lending support to labor union strikes.
“My impression is that we wrongly perceive a powerlessness about the role of Chair, confining it merely to being some kind of pass-through financial vehicle to distribute funds to various other entities,” Shakir wrote.
“We must be bolder than that!” he added. “If we learned anything from our last four years, it should be that we must break some norms and get more compelling, interesting, and dynamic to win.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expressed support for Shakir’s vision when approached by HuffPost about his former aide’s bid on Wednesday.
“The positions that Faiz has outlined for a new direction for the Democratic Party ― it is absolutely correct,” Sanders said, before noting that Shakir’s late arrival reduced his chances of winning. “I don’t know what kind of chance he has, but I think just making it clear that the Democratic Party has got to move in a fundamentally different direction ― addressing the needs of working people, having a grassroots movement from the top on down ― is very important.”
Igor Bobic contributed reporting from Washington.