As the race moves into the final run, four well-known members of the Congressional Black Caucus, both past and present, supported Martin O. Malley’s quest to chair the Democratic National Committee on Monday.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the former chair of the House committee that looked into the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol; Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Missouri; and Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Biden administration and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during her time in Congress, provided the new endorsements. Everyone is supporting O’Malley, including Lacy Johnson, a board member of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. “Democracy is at a crossroads and we need a change agent now,” the Black leaders wrote in a statement that was initially given to NBC News.
In a statement, O Malley referred to the news as a high honor.
Former Maryland governor O Malley, who most recently served as director of the Social Security Administration and ran for president in 2016, is focusing his bid to head the national party committee on operational experience and kitchen-table problems.
With less than a month remaining in the DNC chair contest, the endorsements were made. New York Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer last week endorsed Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, another DNC candidate. As of right now, Schumer is the most prominent Democrat to express a preference in the five-way race.
James Skoufis, a state senator from New York; Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who leads the Minnesota state party; and a number of people with no prior experience in state party leadership or elected office, such as author and two-time longshot presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, are also in the field.
The new chair will be chosen by DNC members in Baltimore on February 1. This week will see the start of several candidate forums. To be eligible to compete, candidates must have the signatures of at least 40 DNC members by the end of this month.
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