Ms. Brazile the only people who should be standing in the aisle at this time should be staff. The only people who should be standing in the aisle should be staff so we can complete the distribution of the ballots. Rapping] ms. Brazile former labor secretary tom perez fell one vote short of the majority in the initial voting process. Several candidates removed their name. In the end, perez received 35 more votes than his closest competitor, Keith Ellison to become chair. This is 25 minutes. Ms. Brazile please come back into the room, we have a very important announcement. My bags are packed. All right, please take your seat. We are just making sure the results are loaded so that everyone can see them. I would like to invite the candidates for office of chair to return to the room as well. As soon as i have been informed that they are here, i will announce the results. We are gathering all the candidates for chair. Ronan,ez, ms. Brown, mr. Mr. Ellison, ms. Greene. Please come to the room. [applause] thank you. Thank you. [applause] ms. Brazile mayor pete. Where is mayor pete . [applause] [applause] [cheering] mayorazile come on, pete. For good measure, ray buckley and jamie, please come up. Make a little room. [applause] ms. Brazile thank you. Everyone is here. Sam. Where is sam . Sam and i have been face booking. Sam was in the staff room. Sam is in the house somewhere. Let me give you the final results. The threshold for victory with 218 votes, 435 members. And votedtotaled including proxies. The results are 235 for mr. Perez and 200 for mr. Ellison. [applause] [rapsing] ms. Brazile gavel] order. It is my great honor it is gavel] it[raps is my honor to present the gavel to the Democratic National committee to mr. Tom perez. Mr. Perez, congratulations. [applause] [cheering] ms. Brazile i hear a motion. There is amotion motion by mr. Buckley. We will hear from mr. Buckley. Gavel] you, madam chair. Now is the time for us to unite we cast a that ballot as secretary tom perez as the chair of the Democratic National committee. Ms. Brazile is there a second . Mr. Applebaum . I am Stuart Applebaum from new york and the executive Vice President of the 1. 3 million member united food workers union. This has been a great process with amazing candidates. We listen to each other, we have learned from each other. Now we must be moving forward together. We must leave this meeting united. Our country, our democracy. Our democracy demands it. Motionoud to second the to make the selection by acclamation. Thank you. [applause] all in favor say aye. Opposed . Arise. It is my great honor to present the next chair to the Democratic National committee, a champion for working people, a visionary, a great american, mr. Tom perez. [applause] [cheering] thank you. [applause] mr. Perez thank you so much. Thank you so much. Folks, i would like to begin by making a motion. A motion i have discussed with a good friend. And his name is Keith Ellison. And the motion i would like to make to the body is a motion suspending the rules, if i may, to appoint Keith Ellison deputy chair of the Democratic National committee. [cheering] [applause] mr. Perez now im not sure applause] nd mr. Perez tell me the phrase im supposed to utter. That was fine . Ok. Did i hear a second . Second mr. Perez all for . Opposed to . [laughter] mr. Perez the silence is deafening, the motion passes. Congressman, the floor is yours. [cheering and applause] mr. Ellison allow me to congratulate our chair. [applause] ellison on successfully passing his first motion. [laughter] i just want to say to you that im very proud of chairman perez. In this race he conducted himself with tremendous class and grace. I want to say that everybody you see in front of you, it is so funny, there was a news report that our race was boring because we were not attacking each other. You remember that . We were all quite proud that we were not forming the circular firing squad, and i just want to say to you that if you came here supporting me, if you are wearing a keith tshirt or any tshirt, i am asking you to give everything you got to support chairman perez. [applause] rep. Ellison you love this country. You love all the people in it. You care about each and every one of them, urban, rural, suburban, all cultures, all faiths, everybody. They are in need of your help, and if we waste even a moment going at it over who supported who, we are not going to be standing up for those people. We dont have the luxury to walk out of this room divided. We dont have that luxury. [applause] rep. Ellison it is my honor to serve this party under the chairmanship of tom perez. I just want to say to you i have a list of people to thank that is far too long to recite at this moment. Im going to try a little bit if you dont mind, mr. Chairman. I want to think all of you all who have worked hard on the campaign, all of you who have cooperated. I want to thank all of my friends in the labor community. I want to think saunders, randi weingarten. I want to thank david coxe of our federal workers. I want to thank lily garcia, i want to thank the entire labor community. I want to thank larry cohen appeared i want to thank everyone. If i have missed you, charge it to my head, not my heart. I am grateful to you. I also want to say i think my family, who came from far reaches to be here with us today. If i could just say quickly, my brothers brian, tony, eric are all here. I love you guys. Thank you all for coming. My sister carla, my sister melissa is here. I want to thank you. Have a great friend named kim here, i want to thank her. I want to thank all of you for being here today. I will give the microphone back to our chairman. I will tell you the earnest work we must do to confront trump, yes, but even beyond that. Beyond that, to establish a country in which everyone can aspire to a good life. That country, the Democratic Party. We have earnest and sincere work to do. All of us are going to help chairman perez. Thank you very much. [applause] mr. Perez we have been joined by three members of congress, stalwarts from the house of representatives, fighters, maxine waters, greg meeks, anybody else . Thank you so much for joining us on stage. These folks i have had the privilege of working with at the Labor Department and Justice Department before that. They have been such remarkably successful people. You know what, folks . I would like to have you give one more round of applause for an Incredible Group of folks. That is the other candidates on this stage. Because, you know what, folks [applause] [cheering] mr. Perez when i first got in this race, i found myself going to their website because i was learning a lot. Sally and i had lunch and number of times, talking about our shared interest in building 50 state parties that work. We had a drink last night at about 11 00, talking about shared interests and making sure the party works in every zip code. Mayor pete is going to be the example of how democrats win statewide in red states. [applause] [cheering] mr. Perez there is no doubt in my mind. Buckley with his distinguished history of the parties in New Hampshire and his distinguished leadership. Sam ronan, who brought an important perspective and passion to the campaign. Thank you, mayor pete and sam for your remarkable service. And my good friend jimmy harrison, the pride of south carolina. Rison, the pride of south carolina. [cheering] mr. Perez jamies got game. We all have game up here. I really want to apologize to the media, because we did talk about issues. [laughter] mr. Perez we didnt do any of the other stuff. That is with the Democratic Party is about. People kept wondering, i cant help but be amused when keith and i had dinner one night and folks were snapping photos, because the Congressional District that i visited the most when i was the labor secretary was keiths district. Why . Because of our shared values, because of what we worked on together. We worked to lift wages together. We look to make sure that collective bargaining is part of the american fabric. We both understand that when unions succeed, americas succeeds. When America Succeeds the middleclass succeeds. Thats why we spent so much time together. Thats why when i was looking at the audience here, there was somebody holding up a sign that says unite. I could not agree more. For the two of us, that is easy, because we were always united in our values. We always continue to be united in our values. And we are united in our love for the Democratic Party, our love for the diversity of the Democratic Party. Our love for the robust discussions that occur in the Democratic Party. It kind of reminds me of thanksgiving dinner at my house. When we have the extended family. We have spirited discussions, and Viewpoint Diversity and then we all lock hands and celebrate our shared interests. My mother was the second youngest of nine. They had Viewpoint Diversity. There were three of them who were yankees fans, three of them who were giants fans and three d them who were doctors odgers sans beard that is real Viewpoint Diversity, you new yorkers. Thats why they can come together and we can come together. I need to tell you at the outset, i know i have more questions than answers. I told you before that team tom means team. As a team we will work together. I will be calling you with regularity and the first question will be what should we be doing . I will not simply be calling the voting members of the dnc. I will be placing house calls with so many others. This past monday i was in seattle and we had a remarkably spirited discussion, not only with voting members but other spirited democrats across the spectrum of the Democratic Party. That is what we need to continue to do. We need to make house calls, we need to listen to people, we need to get back to basics and we need to move forward. Because i am confident, my friends, i am confident that when we lead with our values and our actions, we succeed. That is what the Democratic Party has always been about. That is what we will continue to be about. When we communicate our message of inclusion and opportunity for everyone, the big tent that we are, that is our strength. And when we have these conversations, sometimes spirited, sometimes difficult, that is not a sign of weakness, that is a sign of strength. That is what we will continue to do. Asause, as i have said, and hes has said, we are at this where are we moment in our nations history. Some day they are going to study this year at in American History and study it alongside the know nothing movement. And they are going to ask the question of all of us, where were you in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the United States . And we will all be able to say, whether you are sitting here, outing outside or looking across the america, we will be able to say we united the Democratic Party and this president was a one term president and elected democrats across this country from the school board to the senate to the state attorneys general to secretaries of state to senators and governors, to district six in georgia in april, to new jersey and virginia in november. Year, we are going to have a Market Correction where there is no business having a republican in the governors race. That is what we are going to do. When we meet with our values and unite, that is how we succeed. Dr. King said the road ahead wont always be smooth. There will still be inevitable setbacks and rocky places of frustration. At times, our feet may grow weary, that we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. I come to you my friends with an unrelenting optimism in our capacity to move forward. Privilegehave had the , and keith has had the privilege, and all of us have had the privilege of getting to know you. I know we can win the battles ahead. I know we will win the battles ahead. When we lead together, when we mobilize this grassroots energy, because january 20 was an undeniably important day. But jenny way 21st and beyond was far more important for america, millions of people stood up and said donald trump, you do not stand for america. Donald trump, we will not allow those values to divide america. And that is what we will do as a party. Leading with our values and moving forward. That is how we will win. It is an unmitigated privilege to take this gavel. I recognize i have a lot of work to do. I recognize i have a lot of learning to do. I would simply ask everyone across america, whether you are a democrat, republican, unaffiliated, another party, to simply listen to our message. Come with an open mind. Because, you know what f