HuffPost Hosting DNC Debate Jan. 18
HuffPost Hosting DNC Debate Jan. 18
Ryan Grim and Kate Sheppard
Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is hosting a debate between the declared candidates for the chair of the Democratic National Committee in January at George Washington University.
The DNC election is scheduled to be held during the party organization’s winter meeting in late February, a month after the Jan. 18th debate, which will be broadcast live on Facebook.
The first major candidate to jump in the race, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who built up a head of steam, has racked up endorsements from across the political spectrum, including Sanders, the AFL-CIO, incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
Ellison, a Muslim, has also faced a smear campaign led by Haim Saban, a major Jewish Democratic donor, who has called Ellison an “anti-Semite” and warned that he “would be a disaster for the relationship between the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.” Ellison has been attacked for his prior positive remarks about the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan, a charge that was also made against Barack Obama early in his career, a precursor to an Islamophobic campaign that would dog Obama throughout his presidency. (In a debate, Hillary Clinton criticized Obama for “denouncing” Farrakhan but not “rejecting” him. “I reject and denounce,” Obama replied.)
