NiLP Commentary

The Election of Tom Perez: Making the DNC More Responsive to Latinos?

By Angelo Falcón

The election of former Labor Secretary Thomas Perez as Chair of the Democratic National Committee is a first for Latinos and raises questions about the role of the DNC in the Latino community. Despite being one of the most loyal constituents of the Democratic Party, Latino political activists have remained critical of the role of the party in their community. A national survey of 403 Latino leaders in March captured this cynicism about the party'ss responsiveness to Latinos:

Since becoming DNC Chair, Perez has asked for the resignations of the party staff and has established an advisory committee, The question that arises within this restructuring is what role Latinos will be playing? Will the Democrat Party, with a Latino Chair, finally take the Latino community seriously as an important part of its coalition?

In selecting his Transition Advisory Committee for the DNC, they only appointed three Latinos on that 36-member committee, or only 8 percent of the total: Luis Heredia (Arizona), Rick Palacio (Colorado) and Astrid Silva (Nevada). In appointing this group, there was some criticism that the DNC largely ignored the Bernie Sanders\ wing of populists, but the Latino representation, especially outside the West, was not commented on at all.

On the other hand, Latinos are better represented among the DNC's top leaders, where they make up 26 percent of the 15. These consist of:

Tom Perez, Chair

Keith Ellison, Deputy Chair

Ken Martin, Vice Chair, ASDC President

Maria Elena Durazo, Vice Chair

Michael Blake, Vice Chair

Rep. Grace Meng, Vice Chair

Karen Carter Peterson, Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation

Jason Rae, Secretary

Bill Derrough, Treasurer

Henry R. Muñoz III, National Finance Committee Chair

PARTY LEADERS

Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Tina Kotek, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Chair

Rep. Ben Ray Luján, Democratic Congressional Committee Chair

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair

Gov. Dan Malloy, Democratic Governors Association Chair

Perez' selection as DNC Chair has been both criticized as being a continuation of the failed Clinton-Obama wing of the party, as well as praised for his progressive politics as an Obama appointee. Under his leadership, will Latinos play a more prominent role in the restructuring of the party, or will it be business as usual with the party taking the Latino vote for granted?

Given the important role that Latinos play in the Democratic Party vote, shouldn't the Latino community be more demanding of the DNC? During the 2016 campaign, Latino leaders were complaining of the party's lack of investment of finances and other resources in their communities. There has also been a lack of absence of Latinos in the party's visible top leadership and, compared to the Republic Party, the Democrats have been less successful in promoting Latino's in elected positions such as governorships and the U.S. Senate.

What has been puzzling is why the Latino political leadership has not gone beyond quietly complaining about the Democratic Party's unresponsiveness to their community to making greater demands. While the politics of a political party may give the impression that these are private institutions beyond public accountability (despite having their primaries subsidized by tax dollars), their impact on the Latino community's political power requires that they are held much more accountable to their constituents. The failure of the Democrats to stop Trump and their need to seriously restructure presents an opportunity for Latino leaders to promote a more open and progressive party. Will the thousands of Latino Democratic elected officials and operatives finally organize themselves to pressure the Democratic Party to take their community more seriously? Let's see what things will look like in 2018.

Angelo Falcón is President of the National Institute for Latino Policy, for which he edits The NiLP Report of Latino Policy & Politics. He can be reached at editor@latinopolicy.org.

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