Transcripts For CSPAN DNC Chair Candidates Discuss The Future Of The Democratic Party 20170213

As i said earlier today, i want to thank the Maryland Democratic party, the eastern caucus of the d. N. C. For hosting us. The mayor of baltimore. Tom. For her hospitality. And i want to thank all my colleagues on the d. N. C. And all our special guests in the audience. Once again, dnc members will able to talk to the candidates, have a dialogue. For those who are a special guest, we have, as you know, these forms. Fill them out. We have been bringing the questions up to april. April ryan, to interact with the candidates so please fill them out. We have one who will be walking around. Take your seats. There are many people who would like to get into the auditorium and wed like them to come in as well. So were ready to get started. It is my honor to bring back to the state, a veteran journalist, White House Correspondent for the american urban radio network, and author as i mentioned earlier today, author of a brandnew book, at mommas knee. Msnbc chris matthews. Im giving april applaud because this is a great book. I promise you, she will autograph it. So april ryan, thank you for doing a tremendous job today. April thank you, donna. She says she is going fishing after all this is over with. I see how the democrats do it now. Wow. This is an allday session. Having gotten a lot of information thus far . It is very interesting. Some people came up earlier asking for the public, if they could ask questions. That is why they are handing out those in the aisle handing out the question forms, please raise your hand. That is where your questions will be addressed. You get those forms and we will get them and hopefully answer your question. Those in the dnc will be in the will be able to ask questions and write them out. At this time, this is the moment you have been waiting for. We have a change coming. This is the chair Candidate Forum for the dnc, no opening statements, the candidates have a maximum of two minutes to answer questions, which will be timed by the clock in front of me. Candidates, when that red light goes, i am going to cut you off. All candidates will be given the opportunity to have a oneminute closing statement. And with that, lets welcome to the stage, sally brown. Jamie harrison. Tom perez. [applause] jehmu greene. Sam ronin. Ray buckley. Obert vin sen braunum. Peter patarsky. And keith ellison. Give them a round of applause. [applause] this is a raucous bunch in here now. Welcome, you guys, to the main act. We thank you for coming. I will start off with a question from patricia. If you dont win, are you committed to working with the winner to further the causes of the Democratic Party . To harness all the great ideas brought forth today . I will start with you, sally. Ms. Brown absolutely. My blueprint that you can find on my website highlights how i would put the work any democrat in the country, and obviously any person that steps up to lead, we want to help them lead. That is the very nature of the new power system i advocate for, so i would ask every single one of my colleagues to look at those workgroups and pick the ones they think they can be passionate about and get to work right away. We have some amazing talent in ur country and it is only when we bring a Diverse Group of thinkers together to solve the problems and to do the work ahead of us, that i really believe we can move forward. We have a lot of work to do. And it is so important that anybody who wants to take part in it and put their brain behind it and their muscle behind it, has the chance to get to work. I made a commitment to myself on wednesday morning when i woke up after the election, to ake the ideas of anybody under the age of 35, and we have some folks on the under of 35 on this stage, luckily, and put those ideas into action and help them with support and services and resources they need to do that. And i was grateful that we have two teenage Young High School students that came after i made that oath, so i could put into practice those words and put them into action. Those two High School Students organized the womens march in our state and we had 5,000 people in idaho show up in the snow to march on january 21. It was amazing how i could sit down with two young women, who somebody might have hit delete on the keyboard and not respond to them. In just 30 minutes of my time, i was able to help them get the resources they needed, the media lists, the email lists to be able to do something amazing like that. April thank you. Jamie harrison. Mr. Harrison thank you for being here. This is a tremendous honor. In short answer, yes, i am committed to this. I remember when i first decided to run for chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party. One of our prominent democrats said, why would you do that . Its a thankless job. I said, i am who i am because of this party. It was because of all of the people in this party that decided to give a roundheaded boy from South Carolina a chance, an opportunity to be more than he ever thought he could be. So the commitment to this party is one that does not wane because you do not get a position. It is one that is lifetime. It is one that is intertwined into who i am as a person. The day after the election, when we all woke up and realized that very soon we were going to have a despot as a president. For me, i was sad, not only sad because Hillary Clinton lost, but i was sad because of the world that my 2yearold would have to grow up in. This is more than just a position, it is more than just a job, this is about our country. This is about the fight to make sure that there is opportunity or all, despite how you grew up, despite what you look like, despite who you love, despite who you praise as your lord and savior. This is about making sure that this is the land of freedom and so, am i committed to the Democratic Party . You damn right i am, and we will fight every bit to make sure we be that loyal resistance, that opposition, to make sure that we get change in this country. April thank you. [applause] now tom perez. Secretary perez good afternoon, everyone. Its great to be here in charm city and its great to be here. April clock, please. Thank you. Secretary perez its great to be here in charm city where i had the privilege of working here for part of the decade. Baltimore is a remarkable town. Its a resilient town like the town i grew up in buffalo. The answer is of course. We are all in this together. We are only a few weeks removed, it seems like decades removed from barack obama. I miss barack obama a lot, my friends. [applause] and you know what, what we have seen in these short weeks is nothing less than carnage and chaos, every ingle day. The raids on immigrants are things that tear my heart apart. The decision by the court of appeals which said to the president , you know what, folks, mr. President , you need to read the constitution before you start doing things. We see it every single day. The assault on our democracy. And we are in this together. This is a remarkably committed group of folks. If people are looking for whose hands are bigger, you are not whose anatomy parts are bigger, you are not going to find it here today. You will find a discussion about how we build a Democratic Party that works for everyone. That is what we are talking about. And here is what i think about that. We need to focus our energies on the basics, organizing, organizing, organizing. We got to make sure we build those strong parties in all of the 50 states, the seven territories and the district of columbia. We have to be fighting for d. C. Statehood. We got to be making sure that everybody has a seat at the table in this process. And we do so by making sure we are out there listening to people, making house calls like i did in northern wisconsin and in kansas this week. And when we do that we learn that when we organize, when we engage, when we partner with our friends in the movement, the labor movement, planned parenthood and others, we are stronger when we are partners. And when we change the culture of the d. N. C. To make sure that were not just electing a president but were electing people from the school board to the senate everywhere, thats how we win as democrats. April thank you. [applause] the answer is yes and i think the answer will be the same for everyone on this table because i dont have the luxury to sit out of this unique moment that we are facing as the Democratic Party and no one in this room has the luxury luxury to sit out at this moment we are facing as a party. And to assess how we innovate, how we organize, how we experiment and how we engage in new and exciting ways. I think this moment is bigger than just what has happened in the 2016 election. There is a lot of conversation bout transformation. Transformation does not come easy. Transformation is not going to happen if every Single Person on this table does not remain engaged in this process. Transformation is not going to happen if everyone in this room does not remain engaged in this process. Transformation requires willingness, it requires radical candor, and it requires trong change management. And my position in this race and what would continue, no matter what the outcome is, is that we have this opportunity, this unique moment to transform our party. To make sure that we also ask ourselves very tough questions, how do we strengthen our home to be a welcoming place for the resistance . Ow do we reimagine and restructure our processes, how do we rebuild, how do we rebrand and how do we reengage . So thats a conversation that cannot end today and thats a conversation that we all have to participate in, no matter what side youre on. That is a conversation we must have as a family. April thank you. [applause] so, i believe the question was, would i be willing to work with these great men and women should one of them become the next chair . The short answer is yes. I dont remember being released from my oath. I plan on continuing to serve my country and defending the constitution of the United States. Thank you. [applause] april ok. Wade buckley . Mr. Buckley do i get the remainder of his time . April no. [laughter] thank you, sir. Mr. Buckley thank you. I do not think there is a person watching this or reading this that doubts for one moment that ray buckley will be standing by the next chair of the d. N. C. Because thats my entire life. I started volunteering when i was 8 years old. 8 years old. I never missed an election because because i believe in the Democratic Party, we are the only hope for the working people of this country. I do not think the question is where i will be, what i have said is immediately upon my election i am going to ask every one of these people join me backstage along with the null elected officers and we will sit together and we will divide the work. Because that is the problem we have had in this party, it is the chair and a few staff, it has not been this group. I know, for the last eight years i have been vice chair and i dont know what the hell is going on in this party any more than you. [laughter] let me tell you, when i am elected chair, every officer of the party will be involved, every member of the executive committee will be involved, every Single Member of the d. N. C. Is finally going to be involved, and every state community member, and every local community member, and every ally, activists, volunteer, and elected official. Because if we do not do it together, we will keep repeating the same damn thing over and over, and that is called losing. I know about losing because when i grew up in New Hampshire, it was a republican state. The last 10 years we have won 11 of the last 13 elections, folks. If you look at the turnout results in New Hampshire and across a lot of the country where it really sucked in a lot of states, New Hampshire had an increase in turnout. 2016, same thing. You want to win elections, you elect the guy that can win elections. I love all these people. Theyre terrific. Nobody can match my record. April thank you, sir. Ray buckley. [applause] good evening. To the question, i am from d. C. And im proud of it. I am for statehood and we need it. And it would help the Democratic Party. And theres one thing that all of you should know who want an outsider, im your man. Mr. Brannum im from d. C. But im the outside on this panel. So yes, i will work with whoever is elected, and hopefully we will walk out of here together as democrats to get to grow thethank you. Party. April thank you. [applause] robert . My name is pete. April sorry. Pete, yes. Yes, pete [applause] thats your campaign slogan, my ame is pete. Mayor buttigieg you can call me whatever you like. Thank you for moderating. Thanks, everybody, for the opportunity. Short answer, of course is yes. The longer answer is, we have got to emerge from this process as a unified Democratic Party, because we know what we are up against and it is not each other. [applause] the truth is, even had we won the white house in 2016, our party would be in trouble. You look where we are in the state houses, in the statewide constitutional offices, you look where we are in congress and our party has a lot of work to do and theres no way we can do it if we are not ue find. If we dont have the humility to recognize that everyone up here brings a difference to the table and everyone has something to offer and i dont mean those competing for chair. I mean every one of the members of the d. N. C. And every one of the millions of the Democratic Party. E have got to engaged. [applause] mayor buttigieg i think the chair would be me, of course, and i will tell you why. Among all the good democrats were saying largely similar things. The question is who is best positioned to deliver what each of us is saying needs to be done. My argument is if were going to reach a new generation of organizers, why not put in a new generation of leaders . [applause] if we are going to recognize the importance of the grassroots, why not put in the candidate that was at the womans womens march, who led the way from the houston airport protests, whose volunteers have been out walking in delaware in a special election that will ecide the balance in the senate . [applause] mayor buttigieg why not go with somebody who is not the product of one faction, but somebody that can deliver the fresh start that our party needs . If we recognize that the answers are going to come from our local communities, put in a local organizer, a local mayor that has been running and winning elections in one of the reddest states in america. Deliver results to the Democratic Party. [applause] april thank you. Peter, youre next. Peter, youre next, go. You can go. Peter yes, my name is peter. My website is peterfordnc. Com. I plan to continue to support the goals of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party regardless of who wins the election for chair. Im doing my best to make sure that person is me. I think we all have to agree that we need to organize this party locally. There are a lot of changes that need to be made, both in the organization and the way that the dnc functions. Whether it is more openness, whether it is being impartial or evenhanded as our charter requires. In conducting the nomination process for president in 2020. Whether it is informing the members of the dnc of the past profit and loss statement and the future budget of the dnc, which i think should happen. And i expect members will keep those documents secure. Whether it is protecting the data at the d. N. C. , so all of our donors are not subjected to Identity Theft because the dnc did not properly handle their data. There are a lot of things that have to happen. We have to listen to what is going on in the states. The states and localities best know whats going on in this country. For example, next week i plan on being in wyoming speaking to the wyoming state party about and discussing with them what their goals are for the coming year. Hopefully, we will be able to help them meet those goals. I plan to help raise funds and i plan to continue my work in Election Protection. Ive done a lot of that over the years from the start of the registration process through the point where we count the electoral votes. That process, the process of voting is the only legit mate means by which the power legitimate means by which the power to govern is transferred in this country. It is time we protect all of it. I thank you for your votes. April thank you. Keith ellison. Thank you. [cheering] mr. Ellison you know, fellow democrats, i am here to serve whether im the chair or not. So the answer is clearly yes. I would be happy to serve. If you need me to go talk to state parties around the country, ill do it. Ive been to 28 of them in the last 10 years. Ive been to nebraska, new jersey. Hey, mr. Chairman. I went to georgia. I will do whatever you need me to do and you are the chair and i am not. I helped raise 1 million to my state party. If you need me, which every one of you yall decides i will be chair, i will help do that. I have given millions to candidates across the country. If you need me to get down with the grassroots, i will be happy to do that. Earlier today some young people brought up 750,000 signatures on a petition supporting me for dnc chair. [applause] if you need me to get with the grassroots because, yeah, i was proud to be i have led and organized literally hundreds of rallies all over. I was at the airport rally the other day. I have was at a rally this morning. We will help with these elections that we need to win. Whatever it is you need me to do, i will do it because it is everybodys job to make the American People know deep in heir hearts that the Democratic Party is here to fight for them every single day. The Democratic Party is here to make sure they have prosperity for their families. Thats why the aflcio supports me, steelworkers support me, insures support me, the teachers support me, thats why the communication workers support me. Thats why dreaks for america and move on support me. So you know what, if you guys win and i dont, i will be at your service and have a lot to offer just like other dnc members in this room. Thank you very much. [cheering] april now, if anyone in the d. N. C. Has a question, theres a microphone, stand up and we will be going to you soon. I want to pose this question to candidates. There is a climate of disease among democrats over several issues we are facing right now like the aca. What will that look like . At the end of the year next year . The supreme court, immigration reform, and this travel ban issue. So, rosary wants to ask, i want to learn your specific ideas on how you will engage with all citizens turned activists that are moving in across this country with this new movement. How would you do that . I will go to pete, our youngest mayor. [applause] pete the party has to have the courage of our convictions. We also have to have the humility to recognize that the job before us is to figure out where the party fits in the Broader Movement rather than the other way around. It is not all going to calm come from within the party, and that is all right. But we do have to make sure the party is there shoulder to shoulder with the activists at the local level. That is what we have done in south bend, where we had a couple weeks ago with refugees from countries including iraq. One who was in the u. S. Because he had to be because his life was in danger because he helped u. S. Troops. In his own home country. And i got to tell you, somebody who relied on local nationals in afghanistan who were among us, i dont know if i could look those people in the eye right now given the way that our countrys president is treating refugees and newcomers. So [applause] we have got to tap into the moral outrage that is happening across the country. Whether it is tearing a mother at of her mothers arms night. We have to do that, yet do it in a certain tone that makes more people want to do it. We oppose them by supporting each other. That is what was so beautiful about the womens march and the direct actions that came out of it. This is a season for happy warriors. [applause] but we have to be fierce about it, too. The hypocrisy, you can smell it. Out here in baltimore you can smell it in washington. I will be damned if we are going to have a draft dodging chicken hawk president of the United States who thinks he is too smart to read his own Intelligence Briefings ordering people that i served with because he cant be bothered to do his job properly. [cheering] april thank you so much. I want to pose that same question to keith ellison. Keith thank you for the question. As i understand your question, it is people are feeling the pain and anxiety of this trump presidency. And how can a Democratic Party engage to make sure we convert all of this Excellent Energy out there to electoral gains . I mean, we got into this mess because we didnt win an election. Actually, we didnt win about 1,000 elections. If i am share we will do. The way to do it the way to do is if you want a friend you got to be one. You have to be in solidarity with the peoples movement. Im telling you right here in baltimore, when freddie gray was killed, people were hurting in the streets. Im telling you, i came to baltimore that time to hear the people, listen to them and to talk about how it is that we can bring real dignity to people who have not been getting it from the people who are supposed to serve them. We can , another way do it is to understand they used to be 30,000 steelworkers in baltimore, now there are like three. We need to support the labor movement. The Union Movement. We have to say the word unions. That is what we have to do. I tell you, we got to be there for women who just saw the most misogynistic person ever to become the president become the president. We have to stand in solidarity with our sisters and fight back. And young people worried about dapa and daca being repealed, i have folks in my community that i represent and all over this country who are worried about the escalation of these i. C. E. Raids. We have to be in solidarity. We have to be on the line carrying those signs. The reason i got the support of grassroots folks is because on the picket line, i am on that line. When there is a strike vote, i am in that meeting. We will be together, standing up to convert our First Amendment rights into electoral gains at the ballot boxes. Thank you. [cheering] april sally. Sally boynton brown. Sally i dont know if you in the back can see this little girl that has been running to and fro. She is amazing, such an incredible, powerful reminder that this energy that has sprung up in this country, while it may be because we have powerful fear that we need to attack and push back on, is a reminder that we are a democracy and have the ability to do that. We dont need to push it down and construct it into anything. We need to let it continue to be organic and flow freely without putting restrictions and rules on it. The Democratic Party can do this by having conversation with people about what they need from us. I have heard a lot of people answer this question. I dont know that has been answered. They know what they need from us. We need to go ask them. We need to have a conversation with the millions marching, what do you need from the party . I imagine at the end of the day la its going to be is information, that they want to know when the marches are, they want to know what the issues are. We have the infrastructure to be able to do that. 150 new organizations have sprung up at least in the last two months. That is incredible. This fight is not just about the Democratic Party, this fight is about all of us. We all have a place. The Democratic Party is an Electoral Organization that is designed to elect democrats. We need to do that really, really well. We need to become a Service Organization for the 21st century electorate. That means we need to serve the needs of our members, serve the needs of our candidates, and our activists and those millions of people showing up to march have needs. We get to take the opportunity to ask them what their needs are, then figure out a plan. And thats exactly what i hope our leaders will do, have a conversation with them and figure out what their needs are. [applause] april thank you. Another question from tracy, it was an outgrowth of the last president ial election cycle. She says, should we keep superdelegates . M going to go to jemuh let me tell you all something. You cannot win a game that you are not playing. For many years, democrats and republicans have been very comfortable sitting at a table playing monopoly, or insert whatever game you want, and in his last election cycle, not only did donald trump, but the American People flipped that table. As democrats, we have a choice. We have an opportunity in the election of leadership, not just in the chair but across the board. We can choose to get on the floor and take those pieces up and get back where that game is done, or we can chart a new path. We have to reimagine our structures and processes. It is time to retire the outdatedsuperdelegates. Oncept of [cheering] superdelegates. [applause] that does not mean, and i say this as i look at the dnc members who are all superdelegates. We have to find a new way to honor the veterans of the party, to honor our elected officials. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder and understand that innovation and transformation is powerful, and is possible if we do it together. It cant just start or stop with superdelegates. We have to take a look at caucuses. As a party, if we are not watching our values and walking our values and electing a nominee through a system that disenfranchises shift workers and the disabled and seniors, and communities that we say make up this great party of ours, then we are not the Democratic Party that we claim to be. April thank you. I want to go to ray buckley with that question. Ray thank you. And i just want to note that 12 years ago when we elected howard dean i was the moderator as the regional chair so i feel your pain. Superdelegates this is how the delegation votes in the convention. So what i lets get to the real issue, and the issue is making sure that the vote of the delegation represents the vote of the people. I actually support reforming the system, to fold the superdelegates into the allotted delegates. And hence, when you get to the Convention Like in New Hampshire, it would have been 60 bernie, 40 hillary and everyone would have had a say and everyone would have been involved. The superdelegates is almost code for the bigger issue. The issue is about neutrality. As the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party in 2008 and 2016, there is nobody on this earth that will suggest that i put my thumb on the scales for any candidates. I am the one sorry, mayor, who supported hillary. I am the one who was neutral throughout this entire nominating process. I stood there with bernie. I went in with bernie to make sure he got filed when the secretary of state said no, you are not a democrat, you cant file. Be neutral as superdelegates, we can never again signed a joint fundraising agreement with a candidate in the primary. That should never happen again. [applause] the debate. No longer should the chair be able to arbitrarily decide. That should go to the executive of the d. N. C. When we have people from all walks of life, from all corners of the country, discuss this. Let us make sure that we are actually heard when this comes. I agree, in the issue of the caucasus, we need to make sure that everybody that wants to participate can participate and that the rules are the same across the country so when somebody knows april thank you. I am going to tom perez next. What do you think about that, superdelegates . [applause] tom three of the most important principles for the chair are transparency, fairness and inclusion and that is the main purpose of this Unity Commission because we need to address a wider range of issues. If i have the privilege of being your chair, one of the things id recommend that we set the primary debate schedule long in advance of when we know the candidates. So that there can be no doubt that anyone is trying to put the thumb on the scales of justice. Everything we do must be transparent, and it must be the product of a process that involves everybody. That is what culture change is about. He culture of the dnc has been far too secretive. I speak to members all the time who dont know anything until they get to a meeting and thats not right. They dont have involvement in the setting of agendas. We need to change that culture and we need to put all of these issues whether its superdelegates, whether its the caucus process. And i remember in nevada, you had to win the boss lottery in order to vote in the caucuses. Those that worked at mgm could vote and still get paid. If worked for another, no such luck. That is not how this should work. That is why we need a robust commUnity Commission. We need to put every voice here. There are a lot of folks that have Viewpoint Diversity on issues of caucuses, issues of superdelegates. April respectfully, civility ill stop. Tom i happen to agree with ray. Theres a lot of people who i respect who have a different point of view and one of the things i have heard is that the d. N. C. Chair all too frequently unilaterally decides how that should go so i want to make sure that every Single Person, whether youre a member or not, is engaged in this process because this is about culture change. April thank you, sir. We are going to the d. N. C. For a question. We have a couple of questions. Lets move the mike around from d. N. C. Members. Hi. Superlarge from new jersey. Since i have one question i wont ask about why republicans seem to frame their messages much more simpler with single words rather than we do. Polysylabic words. I wont have money to have a fulltime constituency person for that 20sy. But i will as member of the executive committee representing the eastern caucus in tandem with my brother across the river in new york ho couldnt be here, stuart, ask the candidates what do you expect from sdemreck tiff Committee Members . Many of whom travel from across the country for a two or threehour meeting which is strictly controlled and often expenses. Wn we have a lot of talent and people who actually want to do things for the party and be constructive. Thank you. April i will throw that question to sam. Sam well, thank you for the question. What would i do for the d. N. C. Members as d. N. C. Chair not just when they have meetings but just in general . How do you play a part in a d. N. C. Democratic party where i am in charge . Quite frankly, you do need to be involved. But i think its time to start looking forward into the future. There is a lot of talent here. We have been discussing this at length, ad nauseam and one thing we hit is millennials, millennials and young people. Theres a way to do that. You guys have the experience. You guys have done this thing for decades and years so its time to adapt a mentorship role. Teach me what to do. Show me as a millennial how i can be in your chair, how i can be at this table. And you know what, i have to do a quick shoutout. Jamie was the reason why i get to be at this table. He signed my 20th petition. That is leadership. Thats taking a stand. That is showing that you care and that you give a damn about the little people. April jamie since you signed the petition. Jamie listen, i have been a member of the executive committee now. I have been chair for four years and member of the executive committee for about 2 1 2 to three years and i can tell you that every meeting ive gone to particularly in the past few years is you get an agenda that says pledge of allegiance, new business, old business, adjournment. Maybe theres a resolution there too. Now, i can say that the vice chair i want to give a shoutout to donna because the last executive committee we had was a little more substantive and engaging where the vice chairs had a chance to talk and be engage. I want to thank donna for that. We need to fundamentally change how we do meetings. We need to fundamentally change how we engage d. N. C. Members. There are d. N. C. Members now let me see a show of hands. How many of you got an orientation the first time you became a d. N. C. Member . Some type of orientation or manual . I know the chairs and vice chairs. If you dont know what your job is, how can you do it . Right now, if you sit on the executive committee, which is the governing body of the d. N. C. And you dont know the details in terms of the budget, how the money is spent, where its spent, what contracts are given, then how can you govern, how can you orchestrate what were doing in this party . Transparency and accountability have to be the way that we move forward. Its the way that we grow this party and the way that we once again rebuild the trust in this party. Trust is an important thing in any relationship. We lost the trust of voters. Weve also lost the trust of he members in the d. N. C. Nd we have to regain that. What i would do as chair is make sure that we do everything we can to engage members and have them participate so that we rebuild the trust. [applause] april thank you, sir. Peter. Peter question about what to do with the executive committee . April yes. Peter as far as im concerned, the executive committee, there are various ways to phrase it. It should serve as executive board. It is easier i think to discuss matters with members of the executive committee, which is less than 447 people. To my way of thinking, the executive committee will be in regular contact, as i would be as chair, with members of the dnc, but i think using the talents of members of the executive committee in various areas where the d. N. C. Has to focus, organizing, local organizing, candidates election, fundraising, Election Protection the whole host of other things, developing a platform and getting ready for the convention, selecting candidates, winning elections, there are a whole bundle of issues. And i think to the extent that i could get professional he background, training, and experience of the executive committee, that would be of great assistance. If i am chairman, that is the way i intend to use the executive committee. April thank you. I will go to robert as well. Everyone has had two questions. Robert, what would you do for the executive committee . Robert i feel that members of the executive committee, when they come to the meeting, should be able to report back what theyve done, first, where they live in the state that they are part of the Democratic Party where theyre located. And what else have they done . Have they reached out to democrats abroad . Have they reached out to College Democrats . Have they reached out to the local democrats that may be running . Have they brought issues to the table that are pertinent for he dnc to get involved in . I feel that this kind of conversation has to be two ways, not one way. We have to engage all the democrats. We have to engage our brothers and sisters who are usually not involved. How many neighborhood meetings have you gone to as a democrat to recruit, to register, to reach out and have a conversation with them . What are they saying, how are they feeling . That is critical. We need to be seen in the community on issues that people normally dont feel are democratic or republican ssues. Housing, health care those kinds of playground events, rec center events. We need to be seen in the community to being a part of the community so that people know that we really care and are not elitist, just wanting to come to chicken dinners and receptions and travel around the country. Thank you. April thank you. Lets go back to the floor for questions for the dnc. Dnc member . Thank you. My name is michael and im from california. In the interest of time, my question is only for those who are currently not on the administrative side or state party leadership. Everyone on the stage has talked about empowering state parties and what i want to know is, what have you done in your record, concrete examples that back that up . Thank you. April all right. Go ahead. Go ahead. Let me tell you what we have done in indiana, mike pences indiana. Where nevertheless, democrats in mike pences indiana. First of all we have to recognize that you have to show up everywhere. I cut my teeth running for statewide office. I went to 89 counties. I was on hand for the breaking of the world record for the most chicken Fried Chicken assembled in one place. They decided the canoe festival in Franklin County set a world record. You just have to show up. Since becoming mayor, ive been able to do that in new ways. I have been able to raise money for our state party, able to support terrific candidates like helping joe taylor, for example. Hes a state representative. First africanamerican in a long time to represent our area in indianapolis. We are proud of him. U. A. W. President. Just the kind of guy we need to e standing up for. We were able to help him win in a purple district, even in the face of that trump wave. As a party, we have to do a better job of engaging our local officialsmore for the state and national to do party. As a mayor, you have that local trust, you have access to the media, you have your own fundraising networks. Frankly, very little is asked of me by the national party. We have a better opportunity to wire that up. It is symptomatic of what we have to do broadly as a party, which is simply show up. The 50 plus state strategy is gospel now. We are all saying we are for it now. It was controversial when it was introduced but it worked. Not just because money and resources were going to the state party. That is critical, necessary but not sufficient. It works because of the structure of it, which i am afraid we have gotten away from in more recent years. And that was that resources were distributed according to a plan that was formed in a pattern of respectful and close working partnerships formulated by the chairs in partnership with the dnc, not simply pushed down from washington, and certainly not a fire and forget distribution of resources. April thank you very much. [cheering] robert. Robert thank you. I walk, i campaign, i call to get democrats elected in the district of columbia. Arrington, mayor and anita. Anita, i worked to get her chair of our state party. I campaigned with her. Worked with her to get her and mayor Muriel Bowser i have been working for democrats getting them elected since jimmy carter. I was not a part of any state committee. I am also a retired military veteran. [applause] i defend the principles of the Democratic Party in places people dont want to hear that. People who want to criticize the Democratic Party. I defend the party and the issues we support. I am not afraid to lean in and tell people why it is beneficial to be a democrat. That their livelihood has improved because of the principles and policies that are supported by the Democratic Party. We need democrats that are not republicanlite. [applause] april alright, sam. Sam thank you for that question. Unfortunately, i was in the military for 5. 5 years and i was not able to be part of the Democratic Party until i was starting to run. What i saw in my personal experience in warren county, ohio, what you may not know is we are extremely republican. You said, how would i engage with the state . Honestly, i dont think the state is whats important in this question. Once we take care of the people at the ground floor, doing the thing, and doing what our job is, standing up for democratic values, that will take care of the state in and of itself. The state needs to only focus its efforts on the senate races, possibly some of the congressional races, and the dwoff goffs races. What still needs to have happen is a very, very strong and ntegrated local community. And that is what we dont have. We dont have a presence in over 300 counties. We lost Rural America over 30 years. That is why they dont like us. That is why they dont trust us. And so how do we engage with them . Everyone is talking about talking to people, getting us on board. I am doing it. This list right here. Many of you may have been watching me, and have probably seen me, like who is this guy wearing a sweater asking me questions . I have been asking every single one of you that i came across today what you would do if you could be the democratic chair for a day . What is that one thing . That is leadership, listening, and engaging, and that is what we need to do. That is what we have not been doing for 30 years. That is what we need to be talking about. [applause] april do you fit the gentlemans criteria, mr. Ellison . Keith i have never been part of the state party. Im from the great state of minnesota. We had the highest voter turnout in the state in the whole country. No state has higher voting turnout. Thats because i work with my state party on turnout. When i first got congress, my district had the lowest turnout, and now it has the highest turnout and consistently has the highest turnout. [applause] keith i have raised over 1 million to my state party. The reason that ken martin is a strong supporter of mine is because ken knows that i am an excellent partner for him. We are not just friends, we are partners. Ken called me and said, hey keith, would you mind going to nevada to help work out some issues in terms of unity . I got on the phone, connected mike with my good friend roberta, and we sat in a room for five hours working out unity issues because my state party chair asked me to for his state party chair. Et me tell you, i have given money and then the speaker at 6 Congressional Districts in st. Seventh Congressional District in morehead, minnesota, fourth, fifth, all over the state of minnesota. And i also helped other state parties. I gave 5,000 to the Louisiana State party to help then when, win, and they won the Governors Office in louisiana. I have been to nebraska to speak at the state party. I have been to utah and many others. I could keep going, actually i have been to 28 states. If you are a state party chair and are looking for a good partner in the dnc chair, i am that guy. I have been there for you, and i will there be for you. [applause] keith the reason is very imple. You are where the votes are. They are not in d. C. , but we have to have d. C. Become a state two. Too. 51 state strategy. But you guys are closest to the voter and want to be where the voters are. Thats what im a partner to the state chairs, thank you. April peter . Is there anybody else that fits his questions criteria . Peter the question is, what have i done to empower state parties . Specifically, i am talking about the state party of wisconsin. Ive help the candidates campaign. How have i campaigned . Its 97 degrees, it is the four fall primary, and there is a square mile that has to put door hangerson every door. People dont know what i mean because it is all electronic these days. Anyway, the idea is if you take a piece of literature and carry it around and hang it on every door. 97 degrees, and we covered a squaremile that day. I did it. In the next day, people had to get rides to the polls, so i drove people to the polls. They wanted numbers reported from the polls, so over 10 or 20 locations i had to hit an instantaneously at 10 00, 1 00, 4 00, and 6 00. I got the numbers in. Helped the campaign out. And we got our candidate elected. I contribute money to candidates, made an interesting suggestion one day there is a problem with counting optical scanned ballots. If they are not printed, the vote does not register properly. We were getting reports that ballots elsewhere in the country were not getting properly printed. If that happened in wisconsin, we were going to lose a lot of votes for bram. For barack obama. So i mention this is a meeting, and i take this to heart. I said there is this problem with how they are putting the best printing the ballots. We ought to check it. Someone said, that is a great idea. Check it. I ended up checking each ballot not all 400,000, but i ended up checking each ballot in each of the 312 boards in the city of milwaukee. The ballots were all properly printed. And obama carried the city and state. I have contributed money to candidates and have done a number of other things to turn out the vote, particularly on election day to make sure the rights of our voters are not sprissed at the polls. Suppressed at the polls. That is a partial list of what i have done to empower the state party. April thank you sir. [applause] april lets go to and followed by tom perez. I was baptized in the Democratic Party as the executive director of texas young democrats. [applause] i think one of the issues in this conversation is that we all focus on the 50 state strategy, a strategy developed over a decade ago is not going to cut it in this unprecedented political reality. We need a new strategy. We need someone who is a strategist. We need someone who is an organizer. In this unprecedented moment, we dont need another politician. So while i started off as a texas young democrat and spent time doing grassroots fundraising, running the Democratic National committees office of women, i have worked outside of the party and built progressive institutions. When we talk about the millennial generation, i am sorry, it is not enough. It does a dishonored to say to turnout the millennials, elect a millennial. You should look at the person who was on the stage and actually innovative and increased turnout by 11 as president of rock the vote. Look to the person who has helped change the conversation around immigration as founder of define american. Look for someone who has actually succeeded in the corporate sector, and yet at the same time has always worked to put pressure on our party to better itself. That is what this moment calls for. If we do not recognize that business as usual is not going to cut it, politics as usual is not going to cut it. The strategy that is needed to address what has been upended in our political system is not going to come from doing the same things we have done in the past. So i have worked with this party. I have advocated outside. I have built progressive institutions, and that is that is the leadership we need. [applause] strong parties have strong partners. One of the partners is in this room, some folks from casa maryland, which is a remarkable organization that 30 years ago was in the basement of a church. Now we are casa d. C. , casa pennsylvania helped me be the first latino elected to the Maryland County council in aryland. It highlights the element of culture change. You will hear me talk a lot about we need to change the culture of the dnc. There are three dimensions to culture change. We need to define the dnc as more than someone who helps elect a president. We need to be electing people from the school board to the senate by helping to build strong parties. We build strong parties when we have strong partners. The second dimension of that culture change is making sure that we are coordinating with our partners like casa maryland, ike the labor unions, like planned parenthood, making sure we are standing up for them when planned parenthood is getting attacked, when the Union Movement is under assault, when my friends at uscw or the farm workers or brick layers are under assault. We need to change the culture so we are with them. We need to make sure we are doing all of this. Culture change involves talking to you as well. As i mentioned before, the dnc members are the most underutilized folks i have seen in a long time. That is how we change culture, when we have a turnaround agent. I have done turnaround in scale. The department of labor that i inherited was second from the bottom in best places to work. When i left, we were number six, we were in the top third. How . Because good leaders listen. They listen to their state party partners. They listen to their folks. They ask the most important questions that you can ask, which is, what do you think . [cheering] april let me open to the floor for another question. Question from the dnc members, lets go to the floor. Yes, i just want to bring us back to structure. Hear a lot of things. I wanted to applaud you all for the excitement and enthusiasm. This question, i want to exclude those who are either party chairs or those who have worked for the party. How many of the rest of you have ever been to either your county committee, state committee, or a National Committee meeting . Not a fundraiser, but meeting. April raise your hands if this applies to you. Thank you. The next question is, how many of you have read the charter i see that you are doing this, i wonder why. Oh, i see they are doing this, i want to know what the history is . How many of you have read the charter and asked questions, and then thought about how we go forward . April raise your hands. Thank you. That was a fast lightning round. On that line, we have a question from someone from baltimore. James moran. When will the dnc speak about what we are for . A big question mark. We speak on what persons we are against, but dont put a face on the people and politics that give us trouble and anxiety. Amen. [laughter] al will i i am, by nature, an optimistic, positive person who fights for what i believe in. I have had to do some soulsearching in the last two months since trump won to say, ok, thats still who i am by nature, and we also have this nar sissies narcy cyst at the head of our country that we have to fight against. And as i have been doing that soulsearching, i have had conversations with others doing the same. Trying to figure out how we fit into this conversation, and how do we balance that out . What i know is that people who fight against do that really well. They know what they are fighting against and they are very vocal about it. I think we have seen that in the last year and the last two months. And so what i decided is we need to give them the information they need to keep fighting against, and keep empowering them to do that. What i know for myself is that the Democratic Party has not been providing me, the state of idaho, and our country the positive, National Brand that we can deliver our values to the people of america. [applause] sali so we absolutely need, maybe more than anything else, to embrace who we are. I heard someone earlier saying that we are having an identity crisis. I call bs on that. I dont think we are having an identity crisis. Any democrat will tell you why they are a democrat. We just havent come up with that positive message to deliver to go out and talk about who we are. There are so many people doing great work in you are democrats in our country, and we need to tell those stories. We need to find out the City Council Person who is doing the minimum wage bill. April thank you. Ray buckley, followed by jimmy harrison. Ray thank you. My answer might cost me this ace. Im sorry. While many of you know that i am openly gay, what many of you dont know is that i came from the lowest of the white working class. Let me tell you, when we are running hundreds of millions of dollars worth of commercials telling the voters, oh, our opponent is offensive. When you are worrying about your damn paycheck, your job, whether your kids are going to school, they dont really give a crap about if the president is an insult dog. The reality is that we did not offer a positive message. To anyone that im related to. We did not offer a positive message to anyone i am related to. We did not offer a message to my neighbors. We did not offer a message to the people in indiana or ohio or pennsylvania or kentucky. What we did is say, how offensive. Grow up. That is not reality for most of america. [applause] april jaime harrison, thank you. Jamie ray had a drop the mic moment. [laughter] jamie our problem has not been telling people what we believe in and what our values are. That is the problem. We have been telling it to them and not showing it to them. [applause] jamie i was a ninth grade social studies teacher. When i always thought my kids is with power hoping to persuade someone is when you show and not tell. We have been telling families and working people for decades that we are fighting for them. The question is when do we start showing that to them . In South Carolina, i started a Program Based on this concept of show, not tell, called South Carolina democrats care. It is based on this idea that you dont have to be in power in order to empower people. So we actually go into the community, doing service projects, changing peoples lives. We have to transform this party. We have become a Political Organization who begs for votes every two or three years. We go to churches a few months before the identify lection and this is the most important election in your lifetime. We have to change from that. We have to become a Community Organization that is working on a Grassroots Level to help people solve the issues they are faced with. [applause] jamie one example, sumter county, South Carolina. Every august there are tons of working families, black and white, latino, who cant supply proyvide school plies for their kids. We do a School Supplies drive with the democrats care banner underneath it. People say, thank you to the Democratic Party because you just helped me get school upplies for my kids. Resume skills and workshops, helping people with their kids that is how you change a party and build trust with the people. My friends, we have to go from telling people, to showing. [applause] hi, im yvette lewis. I am a former chair of the Maryland Democratic party. And current the national d. N. C. Committee woman from maryland. This is great. Welcome to my state. Im so proud to have you here. Im very proud of all of you and your message, your willingness to serve. A couple of questions back, when secretary perez was speaking, i heard some passion in the room interrupting him. I am not going to call it anger, but i will call it passion, because that is what it is. My question for you is, how do we get past that . Where we can come together . What is your formula for getting us past that . Because we cannot move forward if we continue to swim in this quicksand of anger. That anger needs to be directed at donald trump, not anybody on this stage. [cheering] and since that passion erupted during tom perez statement, lets ask him, how would you handle that . Tom first of all, thank you to your question, and thank you to everyone who is here. A Party Without passion is not a party. People without passion are not going to get anything done. This when i hear passion it reminds me of thanksgiving dinner in my house. We have a lot of passion, a lot of Viewpoint Diversity. But the way we move forward as a party is to remind ourselves of what our values are. When we lead with our values, we win. He reality is when you look at everybody on this dais, we have those progressive values of inclusion, of opportunity. Hubert humphrey said the moral test of our strength as a nation is how we treat those in the dawn of life, twilight of life, the elderly, and how we treat those in the shadows of life. That has been the story of our Public Service for those on this dais. I am proud of my Public Service, and the fight i have fought, whether its taking down joe arpaio, whether its taking on the fight for Marriage Equality here in maryland and across the country. Whether its taking on wall street, addressing police reform, i am proud of all of those fights that i have fought. I am proud of the battles i have fought to ensure that people with disabilities have a fair shake in this country. The reality is, folks, i dont have a monopoly on those values. Everybody shares those values. What we need to do moving forward is to understand that reality, so that we can do exactly what yvette said, which is to train our energies in unity on the most destructive and dangerous person ever to hold the presidency of the United States, and that is donald trump. [applause] and his folks in the Republican Party for the most part have a sock in their mouth, so we have to do it together. [cheering] april thank you. Keith ellison . Keith one of the most important things for me to say right now is that we are all friends up here. We admire each other, we respect each other. [applause] keith i can assure you that when tom was secretary of labor, i had no better friend. He was a tireless advocate, and i want everyone to know that i respect him, i like him. He is my friend. I was telling people earlier today, that cat is really articulate. [cheering] keith i was bragging on pete because of how dogged he is in protecting our votes. I could go on and on about how gifted these people are. This is a family meeting. This is a family meeting. And i just want to say this. [applause] keith we have to understand this, the Democratic Party is not for the democrats, it is for the American People. We are all agents of the American People, and we must fight for them all the time. We can never be confused about who the problem is. Tom mentioned trump, absolutely, but dont forget kasich, dont forget schneider, all of these states with bad guys denying people water, health care, denying people a right to choose. Denying people all of this stuff. I am telling you right now, we need each other. We have nobody to lose in this fight. That is why i liked the first question. We are for a lot of stuff. I am for comprehensive immigration reform. I am for lgbt rights. I am absolutely for the muslim group of democrats that came to see me earlier today that said we are going to be involved. We are not going to be scared. We are going to stand up with our fellow democrats and stand up strong. They know that you care about them. Speak well of democrats. Speak highly of democrats. Dont be afraid to be one. April thank you sir. [applause] ray buckley . Ray i think each of us, and i want to applaud both tom and what keith has been able to bring to this race. The energy in this room is very apparent. The fact is though that what they have all pledged to do, we are all in this together. We do not have the luxury of complaining. I know you were asked to look at this, and if you are supporting keith, that is fine, if you are supporting thomas, that is fine, but i still want you to read this. What it is is a plan. It is not a plan that i just thought of. It is a plan that i wrote on a piece of yellow legal pad in december when we were at the state chairs meeting. Word for word, this is what i have spent my life working on. Whether i am chair or not chair, i dont care. This plan talks about the nominating process, transparency and accountability for the state parties. It talks about strengthening the state parties and making sure the d. N. C. Is open and accessible to everybody. It talks about how we win. So i want you to take it. You can steal it. You can go home and tell everybody those are your ideas. Because i dont care. I dont think anybody here cares about who is going to get credit. We know one thing, we have to start winning again. We have to stand up to donald trump, the republican members of congress, republican governors, republican legislators, mayors, and city councils, and we can win. We can win in new jersey this year, we can win in virginia this year. We can win across kentucky in the municipal elections. If we get our act together, emphasis together, we can have an amazing 2018. That is if we start. We have to start the day after the election. The election is on the 25th. The 26th, we need to start together. [applause] april jamie . Jamie i agree with everything that everyone said. It all falls to simple humanistic things, like trust, respect. It is about the diversity of our party. We are a diverse party. It is our greatest strength. Along with diversity comes great hallenges sometimes. That means you are not always going to think the same way as everybody else. You dont come from the same place, you have the same experiences. And one thing in this party, we dont agreeshate and value that diversity is when this whole party falls apart. Im not talking about what you look like, who you love, or do you praise, im talking about diversity of thought. Because i am a democratic member of South Carolina, my experience may be different from a democrat from new jersey, and kentucky, and california. But at the end of the day, do we fight for equal opportunity for all . We have to find the foundation of our party and build upon that. It gives me great pause. I got into a twitter fight or omething yesterday with donald trump yeah, i should get into ne with him. But someone was asking if i support mansion democrats . I support anyone who was a democrat. Im not an obama democrat, hillary democrat, bernie democrat. All i have ever known is being a democrat. I will support anyone who is going to give us a gavel to fight against this Crazy Supreme Court Justices that donald trump has given. Give the gavel back to nancy pelosi and do the agenda for the American People. My job was to count the votes on the floor of the house. Thats 218 votes. I didnt care where they came from as long as we could pass lily ledbetter. He matthew shepherd. April thank you, jamey. I hope you will be able to discuss what we can do to get more Small Business into the party. We had a president who stood up for the Small Business antirepublicans will always choose big business over Small Business. And leaving Small Business behind. Speaking of the president , my question has to do with the Lessons Learned of the past. We greatly admire the work that has been done in the last eight years, but there is a feeling that mistakes have been made, which in the long run have put us in a weaker position than we were in eight years ago, and i dont think anyone did this on purpose. Everyone had the best of intention, but what were the mistakes that we made, and how can we make them better so we have a stronger Democratic Party going into the next four years and clean up this mess in the caucus . April are you speaking with Small Business, sir . No, just generally. April start here with sally and go down the line. Sandy one of the things we talked about when my husband and i woke up is making sure we invest in democrats. That is finding out who democratic Small Businesses are in our community so we can send our money. I think there is a lot more the dnc can do about supporting democratic Small Businesses first, and moving forward with an economic platform to support main street america which is especially important for communities like idaho. I am excited about the opportunity we have in front of us, and i think we will be remiss in all of the fear that is out there of what could happen to not remind ourselves how powerful we are. And that we have this opportunity to really hit the reset on the Democratic Party. The issue for me is not so much looking back and saying what mistakes have been made, the issue is recognizing that the world has moved on and the party has not. We are disconnected from the American People, and from each other. It is vital that we take this opportunity to assess our purpose. The way we form partnerships and the way we do our business its not working. It is not working when you look at the numbers, talk to the people, or talk to americans in general. I dont know anybody who feels like they are a party insider. And there are some people who have access to more people than i do and they do not feel like an insider. We get the opportunity to figure out how we operate in a 21st century electorate with innovative, resilient ways that allow us to keep up with the times. The world moves so fast and our party has got to figure out how to move with it. April thank you, jamie . Jamie you always want to look at your history. When was the last time we were in the wilterness . Wilderness . It was in 2004. We lost all of tenenbaums senate races. Barack obama was one of the only race that is we won that year. There was complete republican control. They controlled everything. And then something changed in 2006. That is when howard dean came into to the dnc, worked with state parties, and enacted the 50 state strategy. We won the house, we won the senate. We won and states we never thought we would win on. That werent on Rahm Emanuels list. We won in kansas. And then what did we do in 2008 . We also one the white house. Again, the 50 state strategy and strengthening all of the state arties, and putting Barack Obamas great operation on top of that. April then we did something. We shifted from being the Democratic National committee to becoming a Democratic National president ial committee where all we focused on was the presidency and nobody else. It was great that we had complete control in washington, d. C. , but let me tell you the people in South Carolina were still suffering because we had a republican governor and republican legislature. There are 300,000 people who still do not have health care in South Carolina because we took our eye off the ball. We cannot leave any democrat or Democratic Party behind. We have to focus and energize and build capacity in every state party in this nation. States of new jersey, maryland, maine, massachusetts, vermont what do they all have in common . Republican governors. They are blue states with republican governors, and that is because republicans do not cede any territory to us. We have to start doing that to ourselves. We have to be about all of the states. Thank you. Tom perez . [applause] tom i totally agree with what ou said. In addition, we did not make house calls in 2016. We forgot to talk to people. I am a big believer of data and analytics, but that does not replace good oldfashioned door nocking, my friends. Going to the church every fourth of october is not organizing. And thats why we lost places like wisconsin because we underperformed in maum, and we got our butts kicked in rural wisconsin. And the story grs on everywhere else. We didnt communicate our values to people. When donald trump says i am going to bring those coal jobs back, we know that is a lie. People understand that he feels their pain. Our response was, vote for us because hes crazy. I will stipulate to that, but that is not a message. We have got to move forward and we got to make sure that we get back to that strategy, but here are some of the things that i have seen in my listening that we are doing that we got to take to scale. We have to do more candidate training as part of the core mission of the dnc. Like they are doing in new jersey, where they have a program that helps operatives. It is going very well. And we have to keep doing that. We have to totally reorient our approach to Voter Protection and empowerment, because Voter Suppression is one of the biggest threats to our democracy that is out there. That is why i called for a dedicated unit of Voter Protection and empowerment where we play defense and offense, working together with you, like they are doing in virginia where they have a dedicated Voter Protection officer. When we do that, we succeed and we need to have a center for best practices so we can go in and say, hey, alaska, you flipped your house democrats. How did you do it . A kansas, you won 14 seats in the state house. How did you do it . The answer is without any help from the dnc. We have to change that. [applause] april thank you, sir. For people who do not make it into rooms like this, they hear platitudes and promises, but they dont hear answers. Jehmu and so i think there are a number of questions that are then asked for there havent been specific answers. Platitudes and promises will not address the passion that yvette spoke about. We have to have a dnc leader that is going to speak truth to power and say very specifically, i acknowledge the wounds of Bernie Sanderss supporters who feel that they were left out of this election unfairly. And i also acknowledge the wounds of Hillary Clintons supporters who feel that sexism and misogyny has been too rampant in our party and in the media on how she was treated. And we have to have a leader who will speak truth to power to this institution of the Democratic Party and say, we ourselves have sexism, racism, and bigotry within our own ranks and we have too much omplexity. So to answer your question, the obama years were great in the lifting us out of recession, but they decimated the dnc. The Clinton Campaign treated this institution with disrespect. And so we need a leader who is going to speak truth to power and put actual specific plans in place. So i ask each of you to go to my webpage and look at my plans to rebuild, rebrand, and reengage reengage, so that we can win again as democrats. It is way past time of platitudes and promises. We have to start answering questions. Your question about the charter we have raised our hands. If youre in the session for the vice chair, that group that set up the table dont have a real job or real resources. So as chair of the dnc, i would make sure we look at the charter in every sense and give the money and the jobs. Thank you. April thank you. [applause] so, i am going to take the gloves off. You talked about truth to power, i was the one that started that in houston. You want to talk about telling people that the d. N. C. Is the only people that get to decide the fate and future of millions of americans. I believe you said each of you to carry the weight and burden of 150,000 lives. That is an awesome responsibility and one that alludes to the superdelegates. Lets take that word for example, superdelegates, greater than a regular delegate. That means that those superdelegates, 500 of them, had the same weight as 25 of the entire voting base, millions of votes. That is undemocratic. You want to talk about truth to power i am the only candidate at this table who has sworn to not take corporate and lobbyist money. That is not the way we do business in the Democratic Party. You want to talk about more truth to power . We need open primaries. We need open debates. We need to get rid of exclusivity. I think everyone has borrowed from my detroit, phoenix, and my interviews. Tom, i think has adopted my policy. You want to talk about leadership . That is leadership, leading by example. Now, to retract the claws. I have been pretty insensitive, i have been inciting, and i have been doing the passion. And because i am a part of that passion and i got 30 seconds left. Let me see if i can bring it home. We have been hurting as a country. Millennials, progressives, conservatives. Libertarians. We have been at war with each other and we have been hurting for decades and we have been waiting for a person to step up and say, enough is enough. We are americans. We are Americans First and foremost. We need to talk with each other, we need to compromise. That is politics. Until we do that, none of these plans, none of these people will work. [applause] pril thank you. I want to be clear, every single word thats about to be uttered i agree w i will skip forward. The question was,ing what is the Democrat Party going to do about Small Business and how are we going to bert connect . Heres a solution i just thought of. Earlier today you heard from senator maggie from New Hampshire. The only democrat to defeat a republican u. S. Senator in a purple state, by the way. Ray let me tell you, 75 million was spent on her campaign in the state of New Hampshire. 75 million. Let me repeat that, 75 million. Nearly 95 went to the international or National Corporate media. What if, what if we had taken 10 100 on of that and hired fulltime workers and at 50,000 a year for two years . To work, that 10 million. Let the Corporate Media in new york or wherever that owns all the television station,er with they reside. Let them take the 65. But give me the 10 million and will i show you democratic victories in every single community. Because when we get into those communities and talk to people, and those 100 employees will be buying things from the Small Businesses. Theyll be going to the restaurants. Theyll be buying a new car maybe. Theyll be renting. They will be investing in the communities, and they will make the economy grow. We have got to get off from that money train that we are spending 1 billion to Corporate Media and we invest right in our own community. [applause] april time left over. My good friend ray said earlier he woos going to Say Something that would probably cost him the election. Im about to Say Something i know will. We are good atation, speak power, speak truth to power, what we dont do is speak truth to each other. Hillary Rodham Clinton didnt win the democratic nomination because of super delegates. She won because democrats across america voted for her. Lets get that clear. Cheers and applause] robert what we did was we booed but we didnt vote. We protested, but we didnt vote. We got mad, but we didnt turn that madness, that anger, into passion and vote for the democratic nominee. Thats what happened. Some of us walked away in november. Some of them are in this room. You want to talk truth . Thats the truth. And one more truth [applause] robert statehood for d. C. Is good for the Democratic Party. [applause] anybody want the 30 seconds i got . April thank you. Pete. Pete thank you. I think the question was about where we have gone wrong. And i think the challenges we have to learn from the past the challenge is we have to learn from the past without reliving it. I didnt love living through the 2016 primary the first time i dont know why we want to live through it the second time. One of the things that motivated me to get in this race, im sorry im hoarse from campaigning, one of the things that motivated me to get into this race is we cant allow this to devolve into a factional struggle. I dont think any of us can sit here and pretend the status quo is ok or everything went along just fine. We got to learn from the after action report. But we also have to move forward. If the outcome of this d. N. C. Chair race is that half the party feels like its just been sent packing, we are going to be that much further on the back foot dealing with the real opposition, which is trump and republican opposition. [applause] pete everybodys got their theory what happened in an election this close, everybody is probably ry. Let me tell you what i noticed in my part of the country in the industrial midwest. By the way its entertaining for us from a diverse city in the industrial midwest to suddenly find ourselves the subject of exotic fascination for political analysts on the coast. We are not that complicated. We just want people to talk to us and talk in terms that relate to our actual lives. We spent so much time talking about the politicians like thats what really matters. But we had, i was guilty of it, hi a button when we were campaigning for hillary with donald trump, said im with her. It was about her. When we realized who the opponent was going to be, it was all about him. Im against him. Because hes terrible. The people at home are saying ok, who is talking to me . Who is talking about me . And everything we say has to be explained. April thank you, peter. Thank you. Cheers and applause] the question was about Lessons Learned. This is a forwardlooking response to that and my response should be taken this way. Yerl this afternoon i earlier this afternoon i sent a proposal to all the members of the Democratic Committee antipress here concerning forwardlooking action by the Democratic National committee to protect our most precious asset, one of our principal assets which is the nomination for president of the United States. Peter that proposal has been endorsed by seth waxman. Seth waxman was the solicitor general of the United States from 1997 to 2001. Its also on my website, peter 4dnc. Com. The proposal was and the solicitor general is the person principally responsible for representing the United States of america before the United States supreme court. Their proposal provides that anybody who is going to campaign or be a recognized candidate for the office of president or the office of Vice President in our party, or who actually gets that nomination, will agree ahead of time in writing, both before the primaries start and right after they the convention votes to award them the nomination, that in the event after the polls party e chair of the notifies the candidate in writing that there were reasonable grounds to believe that an effort to challenge an apparent loss in any state or in any Congressional District, a state where the Congressional District electoral votes are awarded one to each Congressional District, that the nominee will provide all necessary cooperation to the Democratic National committee to contest the results on behalf of the nominee. April thank you, peter. Keith ellison. Peter this applies april sir, i understand. Thank you. Keith ellison. Keith that didnt go on my time, did it . April no. You have two minutes, go. Keith you know, friends, i think the question was what about Small Business and what went wrong . That was the question. And i just want to say that i think what happened with Small Business is part and can explain what went wrong. I think what went wrong we stopped telling the American People that we are fighting for them every single day. We stopped telling working people who work hard every day that the Democratic Party is all about them. And let me tell you, Small Businesspeople are working people. You know, let me tell you 56 of all americans have less than 1,000 in the bank. Many of those people might have been former Union Members or current Union Members who said ill set some on the side. Get a business going. You know what . We have to understand that Small Business has to be part of our constituency. We cannot let republicans say they are the probusiness party. Weve got to be the probusiness party. [applause] keith we say we are the ones who are protecting our people from monopoly. We are if you go down to louisiana where karen is from, its not its not a Small Business, oyster bed not a Small Business . These are Small Businesses and we have got to set up a Small Business council. We have to organize among Small Businesspeople. We have to give Small Businesspeople understanding we are going to be their advocates fighting for them every day. And that means there are people out there who are like, look, you know what, i got a great union job. I made a good pay. I have always had a dream to open up a barbershop. The Democratic Party has to be the party that says, you know, we are going to be there fighting to make sure you can do that. That is we have to use Small Business vendors. We have to d. N. C. Does a lot of business. Millions of dollars. We ought to do business with Small Businesspeople of all colors, and women. We got to hire people, we have to april thank you, sir. Thank you. Wow. You know, this has been a very great day for me. I have never seen this before, and now as a white house cordant who has been here 20 years, this is my first time. Its great to see how democratcy, at least a piece of democracy, begins to work. Yes. One of these 10 on this stage will be the next head of the Democratic National committee, the votes are in later this month in atlanta. One of these 10. I want you to give them a big round of applause. [applause] april and we are not done yet because, yes, give them a big round of applause. This is not an easy task. This is not an easy task. Because for the next four, maybe eight years they may be going up against what we see right now in the white house. So with that we are out of time for more questions, but what we will have is closing statements, one minute each, from each of our candidates. Each. Watch it now. For the chair candidates we are going to start off with sally. One minute. Sally one of the reasons i decided to run for chair is because i wasnt hearing enough of the how. As i have gone through this process, i have an 11page plan of how and what it all boils down to is oneonone conversations and oneonone connections. We need to teach the people of america how to talk to the people of america again. We simply disagree on too much and focusing on the things that we disagree on. I have spent fiveplus hours a day on social media since i decided to run for chair and i have had conversations purposely with the people i disagree with the most. I have had a lot of conversations with republicans and independents and democrats who have left the party and dont want to come back. We all need to be having those conversations. Because it is by building relationships with each other that we will find our way back into this country. I challenge each of you to reach out to somebody if you disagree with. The next time somebody disagrees, dont walk away. April thank you so much. Jamey. Jamie thank you, guys. One of the things going through this process i think we sometimes forget this is a job. And this job has some responsibilities. And that main responsibility is building a party. Not being spokesperson but building a party. And in that, i think there are four things. We need someone who is a builder. Someone who has a history of building parties. Putting the systems together. Empowering. Giving capacity to those parties. Someone who is an organizer. Not just organizing rallies, but organizing the diversity of our party. Someone who is a visionary. Who is looking past two or four years and looking long term. Who is going to be in our party . How big will that party snb most importantly somebody who is a fighter. Im not just saying fighting against donald trump in a rubber stamp congress, but someone who has been through some things. Who has seen some things and relate to the challenges that the American People are facing on a daytoday basis. I believe i have those characteristics. And i can be a great d. N. C. Chair. April tom perez. Tom Public Service is the people business. Its about helping people like elliott, dreamer i met in arizona. Its about helping that union member who lost her job and we helped her get back on her feet. Thats what this is about. Its about making sure we put our values into action every day. When we put our values into action every day, the values of opportunity and inclusion, we win votes. We elect democrats. Because our values are the values of the majority of americans. What we need in the d. N. C. Chair is somebody who can take that fight to donald trump. Someone who can bring together the entire party. Someone with a proven track record fighting. And someone who has a track record of a turn around agent at scale. This is a big turn around job. It requires someone who has done that. I have had the privilege of doing that at three different agencies over the course of my career. And i would love the privilege of being your leader so that we can, indeed, put our values into action. April thank you. Jehmu green. Jehmu the stakes are too high for business as usual. The chair of the d. N. C. Needs to be a strategist, a seasoned organizer, and a serious messenger. Someone who understands these unique times we are living n someone who understands this institution both from the inside and out. And someone who is not afraid to tackle the longstanding challenges that we have faced as a party. If we think that this challenge is only focused on donald trump or what happened in 2016, then that is not telling the whole story. And so we do have this opportunity to transform the party. We have an opportunity to move from politics to purpose. And i want to be a champion to help us do that. I want to be a champion to make sure that women who are not just the backbone of our democracy, but they are the backbone of this party. That they are celebrated, trained, and mentored. I want to be a champion to make sure that we of the party take this unique opportunity for transformation. April thank you. Sam. Sam the question is, where do we go from here . We talked about leadership. But who really embodies leadership . Lets define it. Is leadership saying i am the hero . I have done this . I can do all these things . Thats a manager. Thats an administrator. A leader is someone who empowers. Someone who has walked the walk, talked the talk, and is doing it as we speak. Its not so much that we need to forget the past and look to the future, because thats simply not enough. F. D. R. Was our prime example of what it is to be a democrat. And i alluded to this before. We are hurting. We need a chance to heal. And there has only been one candidate thats addressing that need to heal, to address the needs of others, who has been doing that the entire time. Its not so much that im the most qualified person on paper because you cant put leadership traits on a resume. Its something you. Its something you live. We need it to be inspired and have hope again. If we dont, it doesnt matter how much we do. April thank you. Ray buckley. Thank you. Ray thank you. Thank you all for coming here today. I encourage you to go on to my i reserve the balance of my time fordnc. Com. Are you going to see specific plans and proposals. A lot of this race we are arguing about who should be the driver of the car. What that means is we dont understand that the car is broken down on the side of the road. We need someone who lifts up the hood and fix the damn car and thats been my record because im a reformer with results. You look at my plan about changing the nominating system, you look at my plan about opening up the d. N. C. And strengthening state parties and nobody can match that. You look at my record as state chair in the last 10 years, more democrats have been have won races in New Hampshire than ever before in the last 10 years in our states history. We have won those races, ill do that as d. N. C. Chair. I ask for your vote. April thank you, sir. Robert robert i want to thank april and donna and julie and the city of baltimore. Its been wonderful being here this afternoon. And also with so many good democrats. When you go to church your pastor has a way of significant, look to your neighbor. Look to your neighbor and tell him watch all of this onnine at cspan. Org. Search d. N. C. Chair. Live to the u. S. House. Coming in for short speeches. Debate later this afternoon on four bills. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. We give you thanks, o god, forgiving us another day. During this black history month, we are made aware again of the history that has formed our nation and affects us still. Effects us still. The craft of mass municipal commation communication and the skill of good teachers and of artists, you have brought to life again powerful stories of africanamerican heroes, scholars, artists and outstanding leaders throughout our nations history. Much of this artistry, delightful spirit, strong determination and hard work was