DNC rocked by high-profile departures as future is in question

An ongoing debate over the past and future of the Democratic party has taken on new urgency this month after Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, announced she would not rejoin the Democratic National Committee as a member-at-large. Her resignation, alongside that of labor leader Lee Saunders, is the latest body blow for the DNC. Whether these moves could lead to real changes at the highest levels of Democratic politics depends on what leaders do next.

'New strategies, new thinking'

"I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging," Weingarten said in her resignation letter to DNC Chair Ken Martin. She and Saunders seem to regard the DNC as an "inward-looking body" that has "failed to innovate," said The New York Times. And by leaving the DNC, the two former party officials have issued a "major rebuke" to Martin, representing a "significant erosion of trust" in the party that is "locked out of power and grappling for a message and messenger" to use against the Trump administration.

"These are new times. They demand new strategies, new thinking and a renewed way of fighting for the values we hold dear," Saunders said in his resignation letter. "We must evolve to meet the urgency of this moment." Weingarten cited difficulties "enlarging our tent" and frustrations around "actively trying to engage more and more of our communities."

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The dual departures (in Weingarten's case, after more than two decades at the DNC) show the party "embroiled in factional disputes," said Politico. The episode will "only further finger-pointing" and "intensify criticism among Democrats." Weingarten spent much of the past year on opposite sides of the fence as Martin, having supported both former DNC vice chair David Hogg, who recently left his position after clashing with Martin, and Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, who ran against Martin for party chair in January. Martin's decision not to appoint Weingarten to the Rules and Bylaws Committee was a "move she could not live with," said one former DNC member to the Washington Examiner.

These DNC departures are a "major setback" for the party's relationship with organized labor, a "cornerstone of its electoral coalition," Newsweek said. Still, it remains to be seen how electorally damaging they will be. In her resignation letter, obtained by the Times, Weingarten said that her American Federation of Teachers union would remain focused on "electing pro-public education, pro-working family candidates" and promised the group would remain "especially engaged in the 2025-26 elections."

'People are sick of hearing about drama at the DNC'

Although "history suggests" that, as the party out of power, Democrats are in a prime position to pick up congressional seats in 2026, the "multiple fractures" facing the DNC present a "real risk," said The Hill. The party will also have to "contend with a number of high-profile primaries in the year ahead."

"I think people are sick of hearing about drama at the DNC," said party Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta at MSNBC after Weingarten and Saunders' announcements. "I'm sick of talking about it." While the full impact of the organization's schism remains unclear for now, Kenyatta painted a picture of a party still unified in its broader goals, even after the departure of longtime stalwarts.

"One thing is crystal clear," said Kenyatta. "I know where we must be as a party, and that's on the side of working people and working families."