(DCNF)—CNN political analyst Leah Wright Rigueur said Friday that independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams should play key roles in determining the leadership of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The DNC is slated to elect a chair, vice chairs, treasurer, secretary and national finance chair, according to a committee press release on Nov. 25. Wright Rigueur, on “CNN This Morning,” argued that Sanders and Abrams have consistently aligned with the priorities of Democratic voters, making them strong candidates to assist in shaping the party’s leadership.
“As you hear somebody like [DNC chair candidate] Marianne Williamson, who kind of emerges every four years to say these things, we have to remember that Marianne Williamson’s biggest endorsers have been billionaires,” Wright Rigueur said. “And that’s not actually very much in touch with where the Democratic base wants to be right now, as they said resoundingly, in this last election cycle. The person, the people actually, that they should be listening to are Bernie Sanders and Stacey Abrams.”
“Those are the two people who have been very consistent and very in touch with the American public that have been related to the Democratic Party,” she continued. “Those are the people that are going to help pick the leadership of the Democratic Party, or at the very least, should be helping to pick the leadership of the Democratic Party as we move forward into this next election cycle.”
Outgoing DNC chair Jaime Harrison and the DNC staff will remain neutral and avoid endorsements or campaign efforts for any of the candidates, according to the release.
“The DNC is committed to running a transparent, equitable, and impartial election for the next generation of leadership to guide the party forward,” Harrison said.
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Sanders wrote a statement posted to X on Nov. 6, suggesting Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump was attributable to the Democratic Party neglecting working-class voters.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he wrote. “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
Abrams served in the Georgia House of Representatives between 2007 and 2017. She subsequently lost in her two gubernatorial bids to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 and 2022, but she maintained after the 2018 election that she was victorious.
