Despite the presence of a charismatic Democrat in the White House, Republicans have made a lot of gains over the past eight years.
In 2009, Democrats had 57 seats in the Senate and 256 seats in the House. On the state level, they controlled 27 legislatures, and there were 28 Democratic governors. Majorities everywhere.
After the 2016 election cycle, Democrats have dropped to 44 seats in the Senate and 188 seats in the House. They control just 12 state legislatures and 18 governorships. Something has gone terribly wrong.
In a Dec. 21 interview with Nevada Public Radio, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid put part of the blame for these losses on the Democratic National Committee:
“I believe one of the failures of [the] Democratic Party has been the Democratic National Committee, the DNC, has been worthless. They do nothing to help state parties. That should be the main goal they have. I developed everything in Nevada on my own. Their help was relatively meaningless.”
The DNC will be choosing a new chair soon, and Reid thinks that if a sitting member of congress takes the job, they should give up their legislative seat to focus on running the party:
“I would hope that they would choose a chair of the Democratic Party who is a full-time person. Not someone like we had with that congresswoman from Florida, who was a full-time congresswoman and a part time chair of the DNC.
That congresswoman from Florida, of course, is Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who stepped down soon after leaked emails revealed Wasserman Schultz and other high-level DNC staffers conspired against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary process (they even tried to use his religious beliefs against him, for god’s sake).
Last month, Reid endorsed Bernie Sanders ally Rep. Keith Ellison (D – MN) for DNC chair. As a sitting House rep, Ellison would presumably have to quit his day job to retain Reid’s approval. We’ll see how it plays out.
Featured image from YouTube video.
