I want to thank all of my colleagues on the dnc and special guests in the audience. Once again, dnc members will begin with a have a dialogue with the candidates and special guests have, as you know, these forms have been passed out, and we have been bringing these questions up to april so that we will have those. Take your seats, there are many people who want to get into the auditorium. We would like to get them in here as well. We are 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 of a brandnew book, at mommas knee. April ryan, this is a great book. Im giving her up like because she deserves it. If you see her when this is over with, i promise you she will autograph it. April ryan my thank you for doing a tremendous job today. April thank you, donna. She says she is going fishing after this. I see how the democrats do this now. It is an allday session. Having gotten a lot of information so 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, 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 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. And when the red light goes, i will cut you off. All candidates have the opportunity to have a one minute closing statement. And with that, lets welcome to the stage, sally brown. Jamie harrison. Tom perez. Jehmu greene. Sam ronin. Ray buckley. Peter patarsky. And keith ellison. Give them a round of applause. [applause] this is a raucous bunch in here. [laughter] welcome to the main act. We thank you for coming. I will start off with a question from patricia. If you do not 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 on my website highlights how i would put the work any democrat in the country, 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 everything the 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 an amazing talent in our 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 take the ideas of anybody under the age of 35, we do have folks on the stage that are under 35 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 students who came hours 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 men we have had 5000 people to show up in the snow to march. It was amazing how i could sit down with two young women, who somebody might hit delete to 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 to be the email lists able to do Something Like that. 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 care for the South CarolinaDemocratic Party. One democrat said, why would you want to do that . It is 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 boy from South Carolina a chance, in opportunity to be more than he 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 for a 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 ot as a president. For me, i was sad, not only because Hillary Clinton lost, i was sad because of the world that my twoyearold 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 for all, despite how you grew up, despite how you look, 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, and my committed to the Democratic Party . You are damn right i am and will fight to make sure that we are that loyal resistance, that opposition, to make sure we get change in this country. April thank you. [applause] secretary perez good afternoon. It is great to be here in charm city. It is great to be here. Thank you. It is 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. Baltimore is a resilient town fair and 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] what we have seen in these short weeks is nothing less than carnage and chaos, every single day. The raids on immigrants things are things that tear my heart apart. And the court of appeals saying, you need to read the constitution before you start doing things, mr. President. We see it every day, the assault on democracy. And we are in this together. This is a remarkably Committee Group of folks. If people are looking for whose hands are bigger, you are not going to find out 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 need to make sure we build strong parties in all of the 50 states and seven territories and the district of columbia. We need to fight for dc statehood and making sure that everybody has a seat at the table in this process. We do so by making sure that we are out there listening to people and making house calls, like i did in northern wisconsin this week. And when we do that we learn that when we organize, when we engage in partner with our friends in a movement, the labor movement, planned parenthood, and others, we are stronger when we are partners. And when we change the culture of the dnc to make sure we are not electing just a president , but people from the school board to the senate, that is how april thank you. [applause] yes. I think that answer will be the same for everyone at the table. I do not have the luxury to set sit out at this unique moment in the Democratic Party and nobody in this room has the letter to set out at this moment we are facing as a party. Ms. Greene this moment is our time to look at her strengths and our weaknesses as a democratic family, 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 about 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 everybody in this room does not remain engaged in this process. Transformation requires willingness, it requires radical candor, and it requires strong 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 . How do we reimagine and restructure, how do we rebuild, how do we rebrand, how do we reengage . That is a conversation that cannot end today and a conversation we all must participate in, no matter what side you are 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 they become the next chair . The answer is yes, i plan on continuing to serve my country and defending the constitution of the United States. Thank you. [applause] april ok. 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 went out for the next moment doubt for a moment that i would not be standing by the next chair. I started volunteering when i was eight years old and ive never missed an election, 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 will ask everyone of these people to meet me backstage 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, i have been a vice chair and i do not 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 dnc 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 dam thing over and over , and that is called losing. 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. And looking 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 like the guy that can win elections. I love all of these people, nobody can match my record. April thank you. [applause] good evening. Yes, i am from washington, d. C. , and i am proud of it. I am for statehood and we need it. And it would help the Democratic Party. And something all of you should know who want an outsider, i am your man. Mr. Brannum i am from dc, but i am the outsider 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 the party. Thank you. April thank you. [applause] robert . My name is pete. [cheers] april that is your campaign slogan. My name is pete. [laughter] mayor buttigieg you can call me whatever you like. Thank you for moderating. And thank you for the opportunity to be here. Short answer, yes. Longer answer is, we have got to emerge from this process is a as a unified Democratic Party, because we know what we are up against and it is not each other. [applause] the truth is, had we won the white house in 2016, our party would be in trouble. Look at where we are in the state houses, the constitutional offices and our party has a lot of work to do and there is no way to do it if we are not unified, if we do not have the humility to recognize that everybody brings Something Different to the table and every single one of us has something to offer. I do not just mean those of us competing for chair, i mean every one of the members in the dnc and millions of members of the Democratic Party. We have got to engage. [applause] mayor buttigieg i think the chair would be me, of course, and i will tell you why. Among the good democrats, we are looking at 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 we want to reach a new generation, why not put in a new generation of leaders . [applause] if we are going to recognize the importance of the grassroots, put in the candidate that has led the way from the houston airport protests, whose volunteers have been out walking in delaware in a special election that will decide 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. Yes, i plan on continuing to support the goals of the Democratic Party regardless of who wins the election for chair. Im doing my best to make sure that person is me. I think that we need to get together and organize 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. To conduct a nomination process for president in 2020. Whether it is informing the members of the dnc of the past 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 we have at the dnc, the donors are notr subjected to Identity Theft because the dnc did not properly handle data. There are a lot of things that have to happen. We have to listen to what is going on in the states. They best know what is going on in the country. Example, next week i plan on being in wyoming speaking to the wyoming state party about and discussing with them about their goals. Hopefully, we will be able to help them meet those goals. I hope to continue my work in Election Protection. Ive done a lot of that work over the years. That process, the process of voting, is the only legitimate means by which the power to govern is transferred in this country. It is time we protect all of it. For your votes. April thank you. Keith ellison. [cheering] keith fellow democrats, i am here to serve whether i am the chair or not. So the answer is clearly yes. I would be happy to serve. If you need me to talk to parties around the country, i will do it. Ive been to 28 of them in the last 10 years. Ive been to nebraska, new jersey. I went to georgia. I will do whatever you need me to do and you are the chair and i am not. I hope to raise 1 million for my state party. If you need me, 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 i am proud to the i have led an organized literally hundreds of rallies. All over. I was at the airport rally the other day. We had 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 their hearts that the Democratic Party is there to fight for them every single day. The Democratic Party is here to make sure they have prosperity for their families. That is why the head of the nfl aflcio supports me, steelworkers support me, communication workers support me, teachers supporting if you guys win and i dont, i have a lot of service to offer just like other dnc members in this room. Thank you very much. [cheering] april if anyone has a question, there is a microphone right there. 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 . 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 from within the party, and that is all right. But would you have to make sure the party is there, we have to stand shoulder to shoulder with activists at the local level. That is what we have done in south bend, where we had a couple weeks ago an event with refugees, including from iraq. One was in the u. S. Because his life was in danger because he helped u. S. Troops. I have to tell you, as someone 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 in