Faiz Shakir, a longtime Democratic political operative who managed Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, is jumping into the race for chair of the Democratic National Committee just a few weeks before the vote.
DNC members are set to vote for a new chair on Feb. 1, as the party takes its first steps toward rebuilding after losing the 2024 presidential election. Current DNC chair Jaime Harrison said after Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat to President-elect Donald Trump that he would not seek a second term running the party organization.
In the aftermath, a handful of candidates have jumped in, led by a pair of Midwestern state party chairs: Minnesota’s Ken Martin and Wisconsin’s Ben Wikler. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is also running alongside a handful of other candidates, but Martin and Wikler have attracted the most attention so far.
Now, though, Shakir has joined the competition with 17 days to go, he confirmed to NBC News. The New York Times first reported Shakir’s entry into the race.
Shakir told the Times that he’s running because the Democratic Party brand is “broken” and wants to see the campaign for chair focus on broader issues confronting the party as opposed to the details of how the DNC itself would be run.
Shakir has held a number of different roles across the Democratic Party over decades of work. Since managing Sanders’ second presidential campaign, he has directed the nonprofit More Perfect Union, which describes itself as an advocacy journalism outlet. Previously, Shakir was the political director at the ACLU and an aide to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and former House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
