July 21, 2017

Week 19: Six Months

Dear Fellow Member,  

This week, we hit the six-month mark in Donald Trump’s Presidency. While Democrats have been standing up for working families, Trump has used his office to enrich himself and his businesses at the expense of American taxpayers. On the international stage, he has disgraced our nation's standing, compromised our core values, and ceded leadership to countries like China and Russia. But thanks to the millions of Americans who have organized, protested and resisted, we’ve successfully stopped this president and his allies in Congress from passing any significant pieces of their backwards agenda.
 
Just this week, activists and organizers dealt another major blow to the GOP by holding the line on health care, calling their representatives, and forcing Senate Republicans to retreat once more on from their disastrous repeal bill. Our staff here at the DNC has worked around clock to organize the grassroots, pressure vulnerable senators, and encourage voters to make calls. But Senator McConnell still wants to bring a repeal bill to a vote, so we can’t let up for a second. We need to keep fighting.

On Tuesday, I traveled to Texas and joined Democrats outside the State House in Austin to protest Gov. Greg Abbott’s extreme agenda.
Abbott recently called for a special legislative session for no other reason than to take rights away from Texans and ram through policies that families in his state have overwhelmingly rejected. From rolling back reproductive rights to attacking unions and pushing a discriminatory bathroom bill, Texas Republicans are dead-set on dragging their state backwards. But as long as we keep organizing, working to grow our grassroots and leading with our values, I believe we’ll eventually be able to turn the tide—even in deep-red states like Texas.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s new voter-suppression commission met for the first time. But before they did, our own voting rights commission, led by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, held a press conference to call out Republicans for their lies about voter fraud. The livestream of the press conference drew nearly 40,000 viewers and included remarks by Kander, Rep. Terri Sewell, Rep. Joaquin Castro, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake.  You can watch the full press conference here: 
 
I also wrote an op-ed with our DNC Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation, Karen Carter Peterson detailing our plans to combat Trump’s voter suppression and expand voting rights. You can read the piece on TIME magazine’s website here.
 
On Wednesday’s episode of Democrats Live, Rep. Cheri Bustos and Bill Press talked to Keith about the future of the Democratic Party and how we can energize voters. Also dropping in via Skype was Doug House, President of the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association, who talked about organizing local parties from the ground up and how we can work to bring moderate Democrats and progressives together for 2018.
 
You can watch the episode here.
 
Finally, this week is National Disability Voter Registration Week, and the American Association of People with Disabilities is working to make sure every polling place is accessible. Help organize in your state here.
 
As always, I want to thank you for all the work you do to make our party stronger. There are big challenges ahead of us, and millions of American families are counting on us to protect them from this administration’s harmful agenda. But as long as we keep organizing, cultivating our grassroots, and making meaningful investments where it matters most, I think we’ll be unstoppable.

Best,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

July 15, 2017

Week 18:A New Day at the DNC

Dear Fellow DNC Member,  

As many of you know, the DNC announced some exciting news this week: we’ll be making new investments that will dramatically boost the DNC’s existing State Partnership Program (SPP). Beginning this October, all state parties will receive a monthly $10,000 investment from the DNC through 2018, which is a 33 percent increase over the base funding levels from 2016 and a 100 percent increase over 2015. This commitment will help energize the party at the grassroots level and will be accompanied by both an individual SWOT assessment in each state and a mutually agreed upon strategic plan to build core competencies across the country.
 
We’ve also created a State Party Innovation Fund (SPIF) grant program. This grant investment in our state parties is the first major step in our effort to get back to basics, rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up, and focus on helping Democrats win elections from the school board to the Senate. Both programs require state parties to sign a joint fundraising agreement that will continue to push resources back into states as it boosts the DNC’s own fundraising efforts.
 
We are changing the culture of the DNC because we can’t just focus on a presidency every four years. Since the election, I’ve asked my team to focus on building a culture of collaboration and service to Democrats in the states. We’re ushering in a New Day at the DNC.
 
These new investments weren’t the only good news this week. Democrats also flipped two deep-red districts in Oklahoma, both of which were targeted by our Resistance Summer Program.

  
Here in Washington, Senate Republicans have put forth yet another version of their disastrous health care repeal bill. Every time the GOP takes their cruel bill back to the drawing board, they just come back with a different way to harm millions of hardworking families. The fact remains: Kicking people off their insurance and telling older, sicker and low-income Americans they can pay more for less isn’t a health care plan, it’s a moral abomination. And now, instead of facing their own constituents over August recess, Republicans plan to stay in Washington until they can ram their disastrous plan through the Senate.

  
Democrats believe health care is a right, not a privilege. This week we released a new video with the Louisiana Democratic Party called “Krista’s Fight for Medicaid,” which highlights the story of Krista – a single mother from Louisiana who would personally face the damaging effects of the Republican health care repeal bill. We’re working to get the message out to Louisianans that under Governor Edwards, thousands of families in their state have benefited from the expansion of Medicaid.

  
We will not rest in our fight to hold Republicans accountable for this assault on the American people. That’s why our staff here at the DNC has been working around clock to organize the grassroots, pressure vulnerable senators, and encourage voters to call their representatives and tell them where the American people stand on this terrible legislation. Senator McConnell has already made clear his plans to bring the GOP health care repeal bill to a vote. So we can’t let up for a second. We need to keep fighting.

  
While Senate Republicans try to take away people’s health care, the White House is once again reeling from a bombshell revelation about the Trump campaign’s attempts to collude with the Russian government. On Monday, we learned that Donald Trump Jr. was willing to accept help from a hostile foreign power to sway an election. In fact, he was downright enthusiastic about it. When approached with the information, he didn’t go to the FBI as any patriotic American should in that situation. Instead, he replied, “I love it.”
  
On Tuesday’s episode of Democrats Live, I joined DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison and Senator Al Franken to discuss these latest developments in the Russia investigation, as well as our Resistance Summer efforts and the fight to save the Affordable Care Act. Later in the program, Jessica González, Deputy Director and Senior Counsel at Free Press, joined Deputy Chair Ellison and Senator Franken to talk about net neutrality. You can watch both discussions here.

  
On Wednesday, we celebrated the Net Neutrality Day of Action. Democrats believe that an open Internet is fundamental to free speech, innovation, and a competitive economy. The Internet needs to remain a level playing field where the reach of one’s voice is determined by quality of their ideas and not the whims of a handful of CEO’s. The DNC Digital Team put together a video with Senator Franken explaining the importance of the issue and encouraging people to get involved by going to battleforthenet.com and telling the FCC to protect net neutrality. You can watch our video with Senator Franken here. Our new Chief Technology Officer, Raffi Krikorian, also published a piece on Medium about the importance of a free and open internet, which you can read here.
 
Folks from across the country are submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook and YouTube, or at live.democrats.org.
 
Also on Wednesday, I spoke at the IBEW 4^th District’s Annual Progress Meeting in Ohio about the importance of the labor movement and our party’s unwavering support for union workers. When unions succeed, America succeeds, and Democrats will continue to fight back against Republican policies that gut collective bargaining rights and allow big corporations to misclassify their workers.

  
On Thursday, I had the privilege of keynoting the Labor Breakfast at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund’s 46th Annual International Convention. I was proud to join Rev. Jackson and other civil rights leaders to discuss the Democratic Party’s efforts to rebuild the organization from the grassroots up, the importance of organizing in every single ZIP Code every single year, and our party’s positive message of inclusion and economic opportunity. You can watch my remarks here.
 

 
On Friday, I met with Democratic governors during their summer meeting of the National Governors Association. Maintaining and winning back governorships are critical to our party’s future. And the DNC is committed to winning in New Jersey and Virginia--victories that fuel our momentum heading into 2018.
 
Gubernatorial races have a ripple effect down the ballot, as gov­ernors play a crit­ic­al role in con­gres­sion­al and state-le­gis­lat­ive re­dis­trict­ing, es­pe­cially next year in advance of the 2020 Census and 2021 re­dis­trict­ing.
 
The DNC is also helping candidates by making new investments in our technological capabilities. We recently released a new field app in the App Store called “Knock 10.” The app allows people to go through their neighborhoods and knock on 10 doors at a time. The app provides a resistance script and pinpoints the user’s GPS location to give them 10 nearby doors to knock on. Anyone can use the app but only Democratic state parties get the data back. We’re excited about this new tool, and we hope Democrats across the country will take advantage of its power to get more people involved in their communities.

  
Finally, this Saturday, Democrats across the country are lacing up their shoes and knocking on doors in their community. People can find a Resistance Summer day of action event near them at resistsummer.com. 

As always, I want to thank you for all the work you do to make our party stronger. There are big challenges ahead of us, and millions of American families are counting on us to protect them from this administration’s harmful agenda. But as long as we keep organizing, cultivating our grassroots, and making meaningful investments where it matters most, I think we’ll be unstoppable.

 

Best,

 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

June 24, 2017

Week 15: A Betrayal of the American People Dear DNC Member,   Yesterday, Senate Republicans finally released the health care bill they had been working on behind closed doors. And it’s clear why they were keeping it a secret. This bill is an insult to human decency and it’s just as cruel as the House GOP’s version. It kicks millions of Americans off of their health care, raises out-of-pocket costs and reduces the quality of coverage, all in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. Democrats believe that health care is a right for all Americans, not a privilege for a wealthy few. Yet Republicans are attempting to take away health care from millions of Americans, causing fear and anxiety about their families' future.  Here’s what this bill means for the American people:   The bill is going to hurt people with pre-existing conditions. The bill will allow insurers to offer watered down plans by letting states to opt out of providing essential health benefits, including maternity care, substance abuse treatment, and mental health services.   Millions of people are going to lose coverage. The bill ends ACA’s Medicaid expansion and makes even deeper program cuts than the House version. This will devastate rural and low-income Americans, the elderly and people with disabilities.   The bill will hurt the middle class.  The Republican bill will reduce subsidies and tax credits that currently help working Americans afford their premiums.   People’s deductibles and co-pays will go up.  The Republican bill will provide people with skimpier plans with fewer protections. This will cause many people to pay more out of pocket for less coverage.   The consequences for women’s health are flat out dangerous. It cuts funding for essential health services for women and could leave pregnant women without the guarantee of maternity coverage.   This is all a big tax cut for the rich. The Republican bill gives billions in tax breaks to the wealthy and special interests, including health insurance companies that pay their CEOs over $500,000.    Polling shows that the vast majority of voters believe the Republicans took the wrong approach in hiding their health care plan.  In addition, clear majorities of Trump voters in states like West Virginia, Alaska, and Nevada have a problem with Senate Republicans’ lack of transparency.  While Republicans play politics with people’s lives, Democrats will continue fighting to protect health care for all Americans. That is why the here at the DNC, we’re working non-stop to organize and fight back against this moral abomination. We’re training organizers across the country as part of our Resistance Summer initiative. And we’re using social media to mobilize voters and give them the tools they need to tell their senators why this bill would be a disaster for American families. But one of the keys to our success in these efforts will be all of you. I know so many of you are already out there fighting back against this vicious attack on our values. Here are a few more tools from our digital team that you can use to amplify our message and mobilize your communities. Make calls to your representative: makecalls.democrats.org/aca Send out a tweet:  ·   The GOP wants to pass a bill that would leave millions uninsured in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy. Don’t let it happen. Make a call:   ·  We can't sit back while the GOP attacks our health care. Make your voice heard.  ·  Tell [senator] that if they support the GOP health care repeal, this will be their last term in office:  ·  Republicans are trying to pass a health care bill that would put American lives at risk. It's on all of us to stop this – make a call: Share this graphic with information for senators in vulnerable states:  Share a graphic with information about how the GOP health care bill will affect your state. You can find your state here and see one state’s example below:  Encourage people to attend or host a Resistance Summer event in their communities: resistsummer.com   This bill is a cold and cruel betrayal of the American people. As President Obama said in his Facebook post this week, this debate is bigger than politics. It’s about who we are as a country and who we aspire to be. Democrats understand that health care is a right for every human being, and we will continue to fight any attempt to shortchange American families. Share a graphic with information about how the GOP health care bill will affect your state. You can find your state here and see one state’s example below:  Encourage people to attend or host a Resistance Summer event in their communities: resistsummer.com   This bill is a cold and cruel betrayal of the American people. As President Obama said in his Facebook post this week, this debate is bigger than politics. It’s about who we are as a country and who we aspire to be. Democrats understand that health care is a right for every human being, and we will continue to fight any attempt to shortchange American families.    Best,   Tom –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Tom Perez Chair Democratic National Committee

June 2, 2017

Week 13: A Call to Action on Climate and the Economy

Dear Fellow DNC Member,

 I need your help. 

Anger is mounting around the world following President Trump’s disastrous decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Accord yesterday. People everywhere are furious about the potentially devastating environmental consequences of Trump’s shortsightedness. But here in the U.S., there’s another aspect to the story that we must make voters aware of: the economic devastation this will cause.
 
Pulling out of the Paris agreement is bad for American workers. 
 
To get the word out, I’m asking you write an op-ed that holds Trump accountable and shares our vision for an America that invests in clean energy jobs and place it in your local paper. And to make this as easy as possible, our team at the DNC has put together some sample language you can use, as well as guidance on how to get your op-ed placed. Click here to get started.
 
I’ll be publishing one myself, and my goal is for us to place an op-ed in every single state and territory together this week. It’s an ambitious goal, but together, I know we can flood the zone and turn this into a major issue for voters in every upcoming election—from the June 20th special elections in Georgia’s 6th and South Carolina’s 5th Congressional Districts, through the 2018 midterms.
 
Nothing drives voters to the polls on Election Day more than jobs and the economy, so it’s up to us to prove that Democrats are fighting like hell for workers. It’s up to us to show that, while Trump and congressional Republicans are burying their heads in the sand and putting the very foundation of our economy at risk, we’re focused on creating good jobs, growing the clean energy economy, raising wages, guaranteeing paid leave, and upskilling our workforce.
 
That’s also the message we’re taking to voters tomorrow as we officially kick off our national organizing initiative, Resistance Summer.
 

I’ll be in South Carolina rallying voters and going door-to-door with Archie Parnell, our Democratic candidate for Congress, as well as DNC Associate Chair Jaime Harrison, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and AFT President Randi Weingarten.

And in Minneapolis, Deputy Chair Keith Ellison will be holding a Resistance Summer Rally and Town Hall that will be live streamed so that hundreds of thousands of activists across the country can join in this national effort to push a Democratic agenda focused on expanding opportunity, better wages, affordable health care, and a secure retirement. State and local Democratic Parties will be hosting and participating in dozens of events across the country. For more information on Resistance Summer or to find an even near you, go toresistsummer.com.
 

Our mission is to educate, organize, and mobilize the grassroots energy in all 57 states, territories, and Democrats Abroad to help build our party’s base of political power and resist Trump’s attacks on hardworking families.
 
Finally, on Wednesday, I sat down with Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper for a Democrats Live discussion about how states are fighting back against Trump. You can watch our discussion here.
 

Follow Democrats Live on Facebook, or at live.democrats.org.

Thank you for all you do as a member of the DNC. I know I can count on you to help us hold Trump accountable, spread our message of economic fairness, and grow the Democratic Party. There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines. 

Yours,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair

May 30, 2017

Special Edition: The Urgency of Now in GA’s 6th

Dear DNC Member,  

Early voting in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District is officially underway today, so I wanted to send this special message to let you know what we’re doing to support our Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff. Earlier this month, we announced a major investment in the state party’s field program to hire 10 new field organizers and boost Jon Ossoff’s strong field program.
 
                              Photo: Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff (center) with DNC canvassers

We’re also deploying a voter-mobilization staffer from our digital team at DNC headquarters in Washington to drive voter turnout and share Jon’s vision for Georgia with as many voters as possible.
 
Voters want a bold vision of inclusion and economic opportunity for every Georgia family, and that’s why Jon is in a strong position to become the first Democrat to represent the Georgia 6^th in nearly 40 years. Jon is running an impressive grassroots campaign with a powerful economic message. But in April, over 48,000 African American voters, nearly 18,000 AAPI voters, and nearly 12,000 Latino voters were registered to vote in GA-06 but did not cast ballots. We’ve got to drive turnout if we want a shot at taking Newt Gingrich’s old seat. We can’t let up now. We’re at 1st and Goal and we have to keep our eyes on the endzone.
  

This will be the first test for Democrats since last week’s hard fought congressional race in Montana. President Trump won Montana by more than 20 points in November, but our candidate, Rob Quist, still managed to close that gap to just six points. For such a deeply red state, that result was a tremendously promising sign of things to come for Democratic candidates across the country.
 
Last week, we got even more good news as Democrats marched to victory in two down-ballot races in New York and New Hampshire in districts that President Trump won comfortably just months ago. And in election after election around the country, we’re seeing a dramatic swing in our favor. It’s clear that the resistance is growing by the day against this president, his scandal-plagued administration, and his cowardly enablers in the Republican Party.
 
This isn’t a moment—this is a movement. If we keep organizing at the grassroots and investing in state parties, and if we keep giving our candidates the support they need, we’ll be unstoppable. We will not back down, we will hold them accountable, and we will never stop fighting for hardworking American families.
 

Best,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

May 26, 2017

Week 12: 23 Million

Dear  DNC Member,  

This week’s report from the Congressional Budget Office confirmed what we already knew about Trumpcare: It’s a cruel betrayal of the people Republicans were elected to serve.
 
Remember when Donald Trump and House Republicans threw themselves a party for passing Trumpcare earlier this month? Now we know exactly what they were celebrating: 23 million Americans potentially losing their care—including 14 million who would lose it thanks to their more than $800 billion cut to Medicaid. They were celebrating higher costs for older Americans and people with serious illnesses. They were celebrating higher profits for corporations and health plans without critical benefits like maternity care and life-saving opioid addiction treatment. But most of all, they were celebrating a big fat tax cut for millionaires and billionaires like Trump.
 
As if taking people’s health care away wasn’t enough, Trump also released his budget this week. But instead of offering up a blueprint that will lift up middle class and working families, Trump’s budget would devastate the very Americans he promised to help during his campaign. Trump’s plan makes massive cuts to Medicaid, college loans, public schools, middle and working class tax credits, and other programs that help working parents and families – all to fund his massive tax giveaway to the wealthy. As someone who used to work on a trash truck, I know garbage when I see it. And this budget is nothing short of dumpster fire.
 
Our team at the DNC has been pushing back hard against these Republican assaults on working families. Last week, Deputy Chair Keith Ellison and Vice Chair Michael Blake hosted our Resistance Summer partners at the DNC to discuss our new organizing efforts. It was a great turnout of progressive allies, including: #AllofUs, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, America Votes, American Family Voices, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), Bold Progressives, Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), Brady Campaign, Center for American Progress - Generation Progress Action, Center for American Progress (CAP), Civic Engagement and Leadership Institute for Everyone (CELIE), Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, DCCC, Democracy for America, Democracy Partners, Democratic GAIN, Democratic Municipal Officials, DLCC, Emerge America, EMILY'S List, Equality Federation, Flippable, For Our Future, Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Grassroots Campaigns Inc (GCI), Hub Action, Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible - North Side Action & Resistance, Jamie Raskin for Congress / Democracy Summer, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Make It Work, Mi Familia Vota, Moms Demand Action, National Action Network, National Democratic County Officials, National Education Association (NEA), National People's Action (NPA), New Leaders Council, NIAC, NOBEL Women, Patriotic Millionaires, People Demanding Action (PDA), Planned Parenthood, Population Connection Action Fund, Progressive Congress / Progressive Congress Action Fund, Progressive Global Strategy Project, Run For Something, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Sierra Club, Sister District, Social Security Works, Spread The Vote, State innovation exchange, Stronger US, Sunrise, The Collective, Public Interest Network, Truman National Security Project, UltraViolet, United State of Women, Voices for Progress, Voto Latino, WNDC, and Young Democrats of America.
 
On Tuesday, Deputy Chair Keith Ellison, Vice Chair Grace Meng, and I met with the House Democratic Caucus to discuss the Resistance Summer program and how we’re working to restructure the DNC to get more Democrats elected up and down the ballot.
 
On Wednesday afternoon, I spoke to NowThis about Trump’s unconscionable train wreck of a budget, and how his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is threatening to dismantle our public school system and make it harder for students to achieve the American Dream. My parents always taught me that education is the great equalizer, and Secretary DeVos might want to learn a thing or two about our education system before she tries to cut more than $9 billion from education funding. You can watch the videos here and here.
  

That evening, I went on Late Night with Seth Meyers to discuss the GOP’s disastrous health care bill and how Democrats are fighting back. You can watch my interview here.

Meanwhile DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison was back in DC hosting Representative John Lewis and activist Heather Booth for a Special Episode of Democrats Live to discuss our efforts to organize the resistance to the Trump agenda, including the upcoming Resistance Summer, launching nationwide on June 3^rd. You can watch their discussion here.

Folks from across the country are submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook and YouTube, or at live.democrats.org.
 
On Thursday, the DNC launched a commission to combat the Trump administration’s voter fraud misinformation campaign and voter suppression task force. When I ran for chair, I pledged to make voting rights a priority. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We created the Commission on Protecting American Democracy from the Trump Administration in response to the real threat to democracy posed by President Trump’s sham voter suppression commission.
 
The commission will debunk the Trump administration’s myth of widespread voter fraud in America and demonstrate the difficulty of voting in areas affected by voter suppression. The commission will also highlight and promote best practices for making voting easier and dismantling obstacles to casting a ballot. I’m thrilled to have Jason Kander, President of Let American Vote and former Missouri Secretary of State, and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL) serving as chair and vice-chair, respectively.
 
Throughout the week, the DNC has also continued to hold Congressional Republicans accountable for their inaction in the face of Trump’s blatant interference in the Russia investigation. We’ve highlighted these Republicans in our ongoing Profiles in Cowardice series.

As we head into Memorial Day weekend, we are also paying tribute to all of the brave Americans in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Their patriotism reminds us that we should never take our liberties for granted. We are grateful to the families of these fallen heroes and to all those who have served in our armed forces.
 
Let us continue to be inspired be their courage and recommit ourselves to the values they died protecting: freedom, equality, justice, and opportunity for all.

Best,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

May 20, 2017

Week 11: Announcing Resistance Summer

Dear DNC Member,  

When I ran for Chair, I promised an “every-zip-code strategy” for the Democratic Party. This week, we took a major step toward putting those words into action when we officially announcedour Resistance Summer program.  Please click here for an overview of the Resistance Summer program.
 
We’re partnering with state parties and external allies to invest in local organizing projects over the summer, and we’ll be giving our candidates more of the tools and resources they need to succeed up-and-down the ballot in 2017, 2018, and beyond.
  
In Georgia, for example, we announced yesterday a major investment in the Democratic Party of Georgia's field program that will allow the state party to hire 10 new field organizers to supplement Democrat John Ossoff'.  In April, over 48,000 African American voters, nearly 18,000 AAPI voters, and nearly 12,000 Latino voters were registered to vote in GA-06 but did not cast ballots.  Ossoff is running an impressive grassroots campaign with a powerful economic message.  He'll bring fresh, accountable leadership to Washington to fight for the best interests of Georgia families.

Back in Washington, Donald Trump's crumbling, chaotic administration is deteriorating faster than ever before.  So as we work to boost out own candidates, we've also been ramping up the pressure to hold Trump and the Republican Party accountable, especially when it comes to the growing Russia scandal.
 
This week, we launched a new website mapping out Trump’s sprawling web of ties to Russia alongside a petition calling for an independent investigation that’s already garnered more than 700,000 signatures.
 

On Tuesday morning, Trump confirmed reports that he shared highly-classified intelligence with a hostile foreign actor, gravely jeopardizing our relationship with Israel and hurting our efforts to combat ISIS. We also found out this week that Michael Flynn and other advisers to Trump had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russian officials during the campaign. And although the appointment of Robert Mueller to serve as a special prosecutor was a step in the right direction, it’s not enough.

It's no wonder Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans didn't want a special prosecutor.  Trump's first priority has been to protect himself at the expense of the American People's security.  no matter how hard Trump tries to tear down the institutions of our democracy, he can't avoid the pressure of the American people.
 
When I worked as a prosecutor at the Justice Department, our currency was independence; our loyalty was to the law; our mission was to find the truth. Right now, Donald Trump is waging war on that independence -- with no regard for the law or the truth. And as long as Republicans continue putting party over country, justice will never be served. Their complacency is complicity, and history will remember them as cowards.
 
We’ve been keeping track of the GOP’s worst and weakest Profiles in Cowardice here.

On Wednesday, DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison hosted Rep. Carolyn Maloney and members of Democrats abroad to discuss the growing resistance here at home and overseas. You can watch their discussion here.

Folks from across the country are submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook andYouTube, or at live.democrats.org.
 
As President Trump embarks on his first overseas trip, the world is watching. It’s up to Democrats to lead with our values, protect our democracy, and ensure that the resistance grows stronger each day.

Best,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

May 12, 2017

Dear Fellow DNC Members,  

 
I am excited to inform you that after an extensive search and interview process, Jess O’Connell has accepted the position of CEO of the Democratic National Committee. Jess joins the DNC from EMILY’s List, the largest political organization dedicated to women running for office in the United States, where she served as Executive Director. She has an impressive progressive track record and I am honored that she will lend her talents to rebuilding and strengthening our Party.
 
We interviewed more than 20 candidates for CEO, working closely with all of our officers to ensure that we identified the most qualified, effective, and energized candidate for the role. I am confident that Jess’ experience as a grassroots organizer and as a leader who has helped hundreds of Democratic candidates win up and down the ballot will be invaluable as we gear up for critical elections in 2017, 2018, and beyond.

Under her tenure, EMILY’s List provided some of the biggest electoral victories for Democrats in recent years, including helping to elect the most diverse Congress in history. She’s managed campaigns and large organizations, from the Center of American Progress to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and she’s driven culture change while translating movements into votes. She will also be the first openly LGBT person to serve in the CEO role.
 
Jess understands our current political landscape, and I am thrilled that she will be joining our leadership team and working with all of us to jump-start Democratic victories in every territory and state. This includes overseeing the innovative restructuring efforts we discussed earlier this week, including:
 

• Making grassroots organizing part of the fabric of the DNC by standing up a new Mobilization Department, staffed by full-time organizers whose mission is to engage directly with grassroots movements across the nation.

• Continuing to build out and fortify the DNC’s technology infrastructure, including by recruiting a new Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer who will overseeing an expanded team of engineers and analytics staff.

• Standing up a Voter Protection and Empowerment unit at the DNC to play offense on voting rights and redistricting.

• Bringing together the first truly multi-channel grassroots fundraising effort to ensure a thriving small-donor base and a party accountable only to the people.

Jess will be transitioning over to the DNC in the coming weeks. Please join me in congratulating Jess and welcoming her to the Party.
 
Sincerely,

Tom

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

May 5, 2017

Week 9: The Resistance is Growing

Dear Fellow DNC Member,  

This week I rallied with Democrats in front of the U.S. Capitol just before House Republicans cast their shameful votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, our efforts to stop them fell short, but our fight is far from finished.
 

The 24 million who could lose access to health care is not just a number—it represents fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and even newborn babies with heart diseases or cancers that are too costly to treat without affordable insurance. Worse still, the GOP plan would also decimate women’s health care in particular and defund Planned Parenthood. As the bill heads to the Senate, the DNC is firing on all cylinders, organizing Democrats and our allied groups to fight back. Regardless of whether or not Trump and the GOP succeed in repealing the ACA, they will face the consequences for their assault on our health care on Election Day.
 

On Democrats Live Wednesday night, DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison hosted Congressman Dan Kildee who represents Michigan’s 5^th congressional district. They discussed the Flint water crisis, the Republican effort to roll back consumer protections and repeal the ACA, and how Democrats are fighting to help people who are still hurting in the aftermath of the financial crisis. You can watch their conversation here.

Folks from across the country have been submitting tens of thousands of questions and hundreds of thousands are viewing the DNC’s live broadcasts. Follow Democrats Live on Facebook, or at live.democrats.org.
 

Today we kicked off our inaugural meeting of our Unity Reform Commission. The Commission was established at our convention last summer to review our presidential nominating process, make recommendations to increase participation and inclusion in our primary and caucus process, and encourage more voters to participate. Veteran strategist Jen O’Malley Dillon and labor leader Larry Cohen have graciously agreed to serve as our chair and vice chair. You can find out more information about the commission and share your feedback here.
 

One of the most effective ways we can bring more people under the big tent of our party is to make sure we’re always telling the story of what it means to be a Democrat. We need to take our message into communities we've neglected for too long—whether they're urban communities we've taken for granted or rural states we've written off. We can't just talk about how Trump and Republicans are moving us backwards.  We also have to share our vision for how Democrats will move us forward.
 

As our Party grows and changes to better serve the people we represent, our resistance against Trump and the GOP is growing too. From the Women’s March on January 21^st to last weekend’s Climate March and the surging opposition against ACA repeal, millions of Americans are standing up and fighting back against an administration that is anathema to the values we hold dear. That energy shows no signs of waning, and we’re working every day at the DNC keep it growing.
 

We all succeed only if we all succeed.

Best,
 
Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

April 28, 2017

April 22, 2017

April 18, 2017

Week 7: Come Together & Fight Back

Dear Fellow DNC Member,  

This week we officially announced the details of our Come Together and Fight Back tour. Senator Bernie Sanders will be our special guest along with DNC officers and local elected officials in key states around the country where we’ll connect with diverse groups of voters, energize the growing grassroots resistance against the Trump Administration, and share the Democratic Party’s vision and values. We’ll be rallying support for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, pay equity for women, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, combating climate change, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, criminal justice reform, comprehensive immigration reform, and tax reform and expanding access to affordable health care.  For more details about the Come Together Fight Back tour, please visit https://fightbacktour.com.
 
On Monday night, I was honored to share the stage with Rev. Dr. William Barber and USW President Leo Gerard to speak to our brothers and sisters at the United Steelworkers’ annual constitutional convention in Las Vegas. The theme of the convention was “The Power of Unity” – something our country deeply craves right now. As we work toward earn back the trust of working families, labor unions will be among our most important partners. You can watch my remarks to the steelworkers here.

 
I also had the honor this week of delivering the Democratic Party’s weekly video address. I highlighted President Trump’s assault on working families in his first three months in office, his administration’s efforts to roll back protections for student borrowers, and a preview of our upcoming tour. You can watch the address here.
 
On Democrats Live Wednesday night, I hosted Rep. Jamie Raskin who represents Maryland’s 8thdistrict – my home district – in Congress, and Heather McGhee, president of Demos. We talked about the failures and broken promises of the Trump Administration as we approach the milestone of his first 100 days. We discussed the dangers of having Judge Neil Gorsuch, someone who has gone out of his way to side with big money over ordinary citizens, on the Supreme Court. And we talked about what Democrats can do to stand up, fight back and make government work again for working families.
 

 
Follow Democrats Live on Facebook, or at live.democrats.org.
 
It’s almost Tax Day, so in Washington and cities everywhere this Saturday, voters will be out in full force participating in Tax Marches. We’re demanding that Trump come clean about what he’s hiding in his tax returns, and calling on Congress to reform the tax code to make wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share. We’ve been encouraging our state and local parties to get involved to help keep up the pressure, and I hope you will find a way to participate as well. You can find more information about participating here.
 
This past Monday was the day that one of the important retirement security reforms we wrote at the Department of Labor under President Obama was supposed to take effect. The rule simply states that financial advisers must put the interests of their customers first when it comes to investment advice. Unfortunately, Donald Trump sided with the big banks, took steps to halt the rule, and hopes to roll it back entirely. But progressives aren’t backing down. Some of the good public servants that I used to call my colleagues at the Department of Labor are resisting and refusing to turn their backs on Americans saving for the dignity of a secure retirement. You can read about their resistance here. You can also read a recent op-ed I wrote with my former DOL Chief of Staff Matthew Colangelo about the GOP’s broader assault on retirement savings here.
 
Our resistance is working and our unified movement against the Republican Party is growing. We’re in the middle of Congress’ recess, and in states across the country, Republicans are running scared from their own town halls and their constituents’ demands for answers. We’re on offense for the first time in a long time. We’ve got Republicans’ on their heels. Now we need to knock them on their ass! I look forward to keeping up the pressure and marching forward with you shoulder to shoulder.

 
We all succeed only if we all succeed.

I hope you have a safe and happy Easter weekend,

Tom
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Tom Perez
Chair
Democratic National Committee

April 10, 2017