Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez admitted Monday that the party has its work cut out for them, as it’s suffering from both a crisis of relevance and a crisis of confidence.
“I understand that one of the basic pillars and adages of politics and of life is often, ‘What have you done for me lately? What do you stand for today?” Perez said during a speech to the International Association of Fire Fighters.
“I understand that not only did the Democratic Party not cross the finish line successfully in 2016, but when you look at the elections over the last eight years in states across this country, Democrats have lost over 900 seats.”
Democrats held far more governorships and Senate seats eight years ago than they do today, he added.
“I ran to be the chairman of the Democratic National Committee because I understood that the Democratic Party has both a crisis of relevance and crisis of confidence; that we have work to do; that the definition of insanity is to do the same old thing over and over again and think that this time you’re going to be successful.”
Perez went on to note that skeptical left-leaning folks shouldn’t feel as though the party has left them, because the “Democratic Party’s values of yesterday—of Ted Kennedy, of Joe Biden—are today’s and tomorrow’s values.”
Note to Perez: Until Democrats go back to focusing on the issues white working class voters care about, their electoral college nightmare will continue.