Monitor. Perez,st today is tom chairman of the Democratic National committee. This is his third appearance. So welcome, chairman perez and congratulations on last night. A bit of background. Chairman perez grew up in buffalo, new york. Son of immigrants from the minnick and republic. He earned his bachelors degree from Brown University and a law degree from harvard. After graduating he served a number of government positions. Clerk for a federal judge, with a federal prosecutor, advised senator ted kennedy, directed the office of civil rights and hhs under present clinton. He became the first hispanic member of the county counsel in maryland and then served as marylands secretary of labor. Named 2009 present obama mr. Perez head of the Civil Rights Division at the u. S. Department of justice. In 2013 president obama made him secretary of labor and into thousand 17, mr. Perez was elected chairman of the Democratic National committee. Which brings us to today. Now for the ground rules. We are on the record here. Please no live blogging or tweeting. In short, no filing of any time while the breakfast of any kind while the breakfast is underway. There is no embargo when the session ends at 10 00. Excuse me. We will emailed pitchers from this breakfast to all reporters here as soon as the breakfast ends. As you know if you would like to ask a question, please send me a signal and i will call on as many as you as time permits. Now if you would like to make some opening remarks, the floor is yours. Mr. Perez thank you. Thank you for the invite coming back. It is always an honor to be here with all of you. Ago, years ago, 2. 5 years february of 2017, i ran for chair of the dnc and iran under the premise that we were going to Work Together with our partners in the democratic ecosystem to build a 50 state party. So that we are competing everywhere, every year, in every zip code. And we are doing exactly that. 2017, virginia, new jersey, those elections taught us that democrats could win again. Vicnth later, doug jones tory in alabama taught us we could wait anywhere. 2018 was about scale. What could we do across the country at scale. We now have the speak of the house nancy pelosi. Even in the headwinds of gerrymandering, where we have not only had to win races but frankly we had to beat the spread in order to win so many seats. The last time we flipped this many governor seats from red to blue prior to 20181982. The historic gains in state legislator seats. Work continued into 2019. And when i say the ecosystem, i mean the ecosystem. Yesterdays victory was a victory for all democrats. It was a victory i think for our democratic values. And i cannot say enough about the great work of all the partners in ecosystem. The democratic governors association, a powerhouse invested over 5 million alone, direct investments in kentucky, not to mention other investments they have made to help that race in kentucky. Made investments in mississippi as well. And let me say a moment about mississippi. We did not make it to the mountaintop there. We invested last year, we invested this year in june put in jim hood, and we are investing next year again because we are in it for the long haul. That is what a 50 state party does. And what i learned from last night was that we indeed can win everywhere. And what is notable to me about the victory in kentucky is the similarities that it had to our victories we had last year in wisconsin. One, it starts with candidate quality. In wisconsin, we had a spectacular candidate for governor, tony keepers. In kentucky, a spectacular candidate for governor, steve bashir. Steve bashirs son, and he bashir. Andy bashir. Andy is the attorney general, as you know. His father built, when he was governor of kentucky, one of the most effective healthcare exchanges in the country, and when matt bevin got elected in the cateogyr if it aint broke, break it. And that is exactly what he proceeded to do. People saw that. I firmly believe you cannot govern effectively if you have to hate everybody you disagree with. Thats what matt bevins m. O. Was. Thats what scott walkers m. O. Was. What you saw yesterday was a great candidate, a Great Organization competing everywhere. In wisconsin, tony evers not only did better in milwaukee and madison, but better across the state. Scott walker lost about a hundred 75,000 votes. About a quarter of the gain was in milwaukee and madison. The rest of it was all across the state. We competed everywhere and we were competitive everywhere. Same thing happened last night in kentucky. It wasnt simply louisville and lexington, although he ran up the score there. He did well in Northern Kentucky, those areas where bevin had done so well four years ago. In coal country, he won a number of the counties there, competing in rural parts of the state. When you are in every zip code candidate and your message resonates everywhere because he was talking about health care, he was talking about the basic pocketbook issues, that is how he succeeded. Virginia, again, another example, and i cannot say enough good things about the great work of the Democratic Legislative Campaign committee, an important player in the ecosystem. At the beginning of this term, i spoke with jessica post, the remarkable leader of the dlcc. We talked about if we could flip roughly 40, 41 seats in 10 legislative chambers this cycle, we would flip those chambers. And that is on top of eight chambers that were flipped in the 2018 cycle. Two of the chambers we were talking about were talking about the two chambers in virginia. Mission accomplished last night. I spent the night in Prince William county. Prince William County embodies the challenges that donald trump and his politics of division are confronting in todays world. It is the quintessential suburb that democrats continue to win across the country, whether it is in virginia or pennsylvania in 2018, or elsewhere. Cory stewart, the former chair of the board there, practiced the politics of division. Democrats and virginians overwhelmingly rejected the politics of division, and they now have a majority in the Prince William county board. Thats what we have as a Democratic Party, we believe our diversity is our greatest strength. Mr. President , when you continually divide america, that is not only unamerican, that is going to prove to be terrible politics for you, because thats not who we are. The voters of virginia spoke up. The first muslim member of the state senate out of Prince William county. A sikh american elected last night in Prince William county. Thats what we are all about. We are competing everywhere. And when i look at the Youth Engagement for instance in virginia, the early polling showing that the Youth Engagement went up Something Like 200 , 300 . So, young people are responding. This is the third year in a row donald trump has been president. We had 2017, 2018, 2019. The common denominator in all of these has been democrats competing, winning, and leading with our values. And again, i am so appreciative of the partnership of the dgn. The dga. I am so appreciative of the partnership and the leadership of the dlcc. And in kentucky last night, we had a new entity in the democratic ecosystem, the Democratic Data Exchange was created earlier this year. And the work that was done in kentucky last night, that was the first battle test for the Democratic Data Exchange. And that is a really important partner in the evergrowing democratic ecosystem, a partner that can enable everybody running for office to have more information. We were proud to, again, be a partner in kentucky. We were proud to invest roughly 900,000 in the coordinated campaign in addition to the work we did with the voter file and the partnership. But the state party chair there is one of the best chairs in the country. You could not find a better candidate than andy beshear, and when you lead with your values, you can win. There is absolutely nothing weak about kindness and compassion. In his acceptance speech last night, andy said i will truly be looking out for you, as opposed to the president the night before who said you need to vote for matt bevin, otherwise, it embarrasses me. Mr. President , elections are not about you. They are about the people that we are trying to help. Thats why democrats are winning. We are focused on helping people across this country. And so, i am excited for these results, but i am absolutely sober about the task at hand. And we are going to continue to compete early, everywhere, and together with our partners as we now are less than one year from the most important election in my lifetime. Ms. Feldmann thank you. I am sure we will have more questions about yesterdays results. I want to ask you about the 2020 race and this stillhuge, diverse, potentially divisive president ial field. On the question of party unity, i know that you have a unity pledge that you have asked the candidates to adhere to, but you have also, i think, talked about an expanded unity pledge which is not just to have candidates serve as surrogates for the eventual nominee, but also to have a Senior Advisor work with the eventual candidate for the nomination, and also share data, which is critical and which Bernie Sanders did not do in 2016. So tell us where that stands, and your efforts to keep the party from flying apart as we get closer to the actual nomination. Mr. Perez sure. Our unity is our greatest strength as a party and Donald Trumps nightmare. ,ur unity helped us win in 2018 in 2019, and again the win last night. Every candidate running for president understands this is not about them. This is about our democracy at a critical inflection point. And thats why i asked every candidate not only to pledge to support the nominee but to pledge to actively campaign for the nominee, to have a surrogate, an ambassador if and when they leave the race. Because one thing we know is that if there are 20 some odd people running for president , all but one will not make it to the mountaintop, and every one of them has taken that pledge. Ms. Feldmann have they signed something . Have a signed a document . Mr. Perez they signed a document early on saying they are running as a democrat. They made a clear commitment to us. I have absolute confidence that everyone will follow through on that. That doesnt mean we wont have disagreements in the primary. Thats what primaries are for. Whoever emerges, by definition, will be a very Battle Tested candidate. Ms. Feldmann have they signed a of nt for the sharing for the expanded pledge, the sharing of data . Mr. Perez we havent made them sign a document. They have made a commitment and i am very confident we are moving forward together. People understand this is different. Health care is on the ballot. Womens reproductive rights are on the ballot. Immigration is on the ballot. An economy that works for everyone is on the ballot. All those things and so many more things, Climate Change and the like, are on the ballot. Our democracy as we know it is on the ballot. And every candidate understands that this is bigger than them and we have to come together, we will come together. And over the last three years we have to we have come together in these races. And our unity has enabled us to win historic gains up and down the ballot. Ms. Feldmann are you concerned the democrats might nominate someone who is too leftwing for a lot of gardenvariety democrats, and that that unity pledge doesnt really hold . Mr. Perez i think the real problem right now in america is that the Republican Party the party of lincoln is dead, and the real challenge right now is the Republican Party is no off the rails to the far right. Virginia yesterday, a big reason we won that race is that there was a special session a few months ago to do with the issue of reducing gun violence in the aftermath of yet another horrific shooting. What happened in that special session . 90 minutes into it, the republicans gaveled it down. Notwithstanding the fact that 90 of the American People believe that we ought to do something to reduce gun violence, and we can do so consistently with the Second Amendment. So when you look at roe v. Wade, two thirds, 70 of the American People believe that roe v. Wade should be the law of the land and it is the republicans that are trying to overturn it. You look at Gun Violence Reduction, you look at people with preexisting conditions, people think you have to have your coverage, and it is the republicans that are trying to take away coverage. So i really think the extreme party in america right now is the Republican Party, and that is why we have been winning elections, because independent and moderate voters and lincoln republicans have been voting for democrats. Look what happened in 2018. You saw suburban women across this country, you saw young people voting in abundance. We saw it again last night in virginia and elsewhere, and so, i am very confident that whoever wins our nomination, their values are going to command the respect and support of the majority of the American People. Ms. Feldmann one more from me. Where you stand on the issue of a corporatefunded super pac helping the democrats retake the presidency . Mr. Perez well, that is going to be up to candidates, you know . Ms. Feldmann what about money for the dnc . You are way behind the republicans in money. Mr. Perez well actually if you look at the Third Quarter of this year, to be clear, if you look at what the Democratic Candidates for president and the dnc raised in the Third Quarter of this year, 500 million. If you look at what the rnc and the Trump Campaign raised, it was 311 million. The democratic ecosystem, especially in the small dollar space, is raising record numbers of money. Record amounts of money. They had more new donors in 2019 than they did in 2017 and 2018 combined. Their biggest single hour of fundraising in the Third Quarter of this year was the second hour of our september debate. What that tells me is that people are excited by our candidates, they are voting with their smartphone, and they are investing in candidates. So, donald trump you know, they raised more money than the dnc last year, they raised more money than the dnc in 2006. We won at scale last year. They are morally bankrupt, and that is the problem. And they have to spend a lot of money on their Legal Defense fund, because their legal bills are mounting. So we have to raise enough money to get our message out, to build the infrastructure of success, and that is what we are doing. Ms. Feldmann are you ok with this corporate funded super pac helping the dnc . Mr. Perez again, we dont have a corporatefunded super pac helping the dnc, and we have been very clear that we do not take money from organizations that are inconsistent with our values. And so, that has been a very clear rule of engagement for us at the dnc, and that will continue to be. Ms. Feldmann and you are ok with biden backing down on his rejection mr. Perez again, that will be up to each individual candidate and then the voters will assess that. Every candidate has the run the campaign that he or she believes is best for them. Ms. Feldmann ok. Paul from the Washington Examiner . The president backed away from his promises after recent shootings. The issue nationally was not that big enuresis it was big, especially in virginia around the nra. How do you see this issue playing out in 2020, and what what does it say that the nra is surrounded by proguncontrol counties and legislators . Mr. Perez i think the issue of reducing gun violence is an issue of national importance. And this president has broken his promises repeatedly to the American People. He said of the day after a shooting, yeah, weve got to do something about background checks, and the following day he meets with the nra. And voters in virginia spoke and communicated very clearly about this. The majority of nra members believe that we can have common sense Gun Violence Reduction measures and Second Amendment freedoms. And i think this is going to be a really important issue of the American People. I applaud the young people, not simply from parkland, but across the country. The mothers of the movement. We need to stop going to funerals and we need to stop kowtowing to the nra. People have spoken. This is an example of so many issues where this president makes promises and breaks promises. He said, i am not going to mess with your health care, and now he wants to do away with coverage for preexisting condition. He says there will never be a plant closure to workers in ohio, in michigan, in wisconsin, in pennsylvania, and we are now in a manufacturing recession, the worst for the Auto Industry since the great recession. Barack obama saved the Auto Industry and this president continues to break his promises. He has a record now. And people are going to have to ask, can we trust him to keep his promise . I think the answer is a resounding no. Good morning, jonathan. Big municipal victories last night in new jersey. A year ago last month, the democrats ran at the congressional races, but you lost legislative seats in new jersey this year. At le