As the Clinton campaign gets into gear for the Democratic Convention and the general election campaign, they are bringing new leadership to the DNC.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is taking the reins of the Democratic National Committee, installing a new top official on Thursday to oversee the party’s day-to-day operations through the general election.
Brandon Davis, national political director for the Service Employees International Union, will become the general election chief of staff for the Democratic Party. His selection formalizes the coordination of the Clinton campaign and the committee, a stark contrast to Donald Trump who is currently at odds with his party.
Robby Mook, the Clinton campaign manager, arrived Thursday morning at Democratic headquarters on Capitol Hill to introduce Davis to the party’s staff.
“We have a lot of work to do over the next five months to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president,” Mook said as he introduced Davis, according to a person in the room. “With so much at stake in this election, we could not ask for a better partner in that mission than the team here.”
Debbie Wassermann Schultz will retain her title, but her position now becomes more about formality than function – something that will please a lot of Democrats. But it is important to know that this move is not necessarily a result of those complaints. This is standard protocol once the party has identified its presumptive nominee.
In an interview on Thursday, [Howard] Dean recalled how he transitioned immediately to simply raising money and campaigning for Barack Obama in 2008 after Paul Tewes, a trusted Obama aide, stepped in to lead the committee.
“We basically just turned it over to him and I left the building to him. He ran the DNC,” Dean said. “It was very clear I wasn’t going to be running the DNC as soon as there was the a nominee.”
It’s hard to gather much information about Brandon Davis at this point – other than the fact that he has been the national political director for SEIU. Markos Moulitsas writes that he’s known him for years and that he’s “smart, energetic, passionate, and competent as f*ck.” By choosing him, Clinton also continues to tap into young millennials of color to energize both her campaign and the Democratic Party in a way that builds for the future.
See Davis discuss the future of the electorate on an SEIU panel below:
