Former White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod — chief strategist for Barack Obama‘s successful presidential campaigns — is pushing for U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel to become the new chair of the Democratic National Party. (Current DNC chairman Jaime Harrison is not seeking another term.)
On his podcast, Axelrod recently said of Emanuel: “He is the most skillful, political kind of infighter in the Democratic Party. … He’s been a member of Congress, he’s been White House chief of staff, he’s been the mayor of Chicago.”
Axelrod added on X: “There may be others but [Emanuel] is kind of sui genesis: Dude knows how to fight and win!”
Dems need a strong and strategic party leader, with broad experience in comms; fundraising and winning elections.
One thought I surfaced on @HacksonTap: Ambassador @RahmEmanuel.
There may be others but he is kind of sui genesis: Dude knows how to fight and win!— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 13, 2024
Emanuel, who has left Tokyo to return to his hometown of Chicago, was asked on CNN, “So, what do you think went wrong for your party?”
Below is Emanuel’s full response which includes his assertion that Democratic Presidents Kennedy, Clinton and Obama all showed that “they were bigger than any one component of the coalition.”
Emanuel said: “That has not happened, and we need to reestablish that we are a coalition party, but no one voice is bigger than the totality and the singularity of our voice. And that has not happened in past presidential campaign [sic].”
As a veteran Democrat, where does @RahmEmanuel think his party went wrong?
We became the establishment, Emanuel says, just at a time when the establishment had let voters down.
And will he return to frontline politics? “I’m not done with public service,” he tells me. pic.twitter.com/rfTejx9tid
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) December 2, 2024
When asked if he’ll apply for the DNC chair job, Emanuel said: “I’m gonna run through the tape on a couple of things,” adding “I’m not done with public service.”
Which particular road he takes next in public service “will be something I determine in the future,” he teased.
Not all Democrats are thrilled with the idea of Emanuel leading the party. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized Axelrod’s suggestion of Emanuel and the “Democratic establishment’s donor-focused approach.”
AOC wrote: “There is a disease in Washington of Democrats who spend more time listening to the donor class than working people. If you want to know the seed of the party’s political crisis, that’s it.”
There is a disease in Washington of Democrats who spend more time listening to the donor class than working people.
If you want to know the seed of the party’s political crisis, that’s it.
The DNC needs an organizer who gets people. Not someone who sends fish heads in the mail https://t.co/32LueUrsG8
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 16, 2024
Note: Former Maryland Governor and Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and DNC vice chair Ken Martin of Minnesota, have both announced that they’re running for the position, which will he under a microscope after Kamala Harris’s loss — and the loss of the Senate — in November. The election of the new DNC Chair will be held on February 1, 2025 at the party’s winter meeting in Maryland.
