In Phoenix, Democrats debate party's future, need for unity against Donald Trump

As Democrats continue to reel from Donald Trump's unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, seven candidates vying to lead the Democratic National Committee gathered in downtown Phoenix on Saturday to hash out their competing visions of the party's future.

The opinions on how to heal wounds left over from the party's primary and forge ahead in the new Trump era came from across the Democratic spectrum, from U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the progressive Minnesota Democrat seen as the favorite of the liberal wing energized in 2016 by Sen. Bernie Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, to U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, the veteran of President Barack Obama's Cabinet who is seen by many as the establishment party choice in the race.

Other candidates for DNC chair include Sally Boynton Brown, Idaho Democratic Party executive director; Ray Buckley, New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman; Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.; Jehmu Greene, Fox News political analyst; and Jaime Harrison, South Carolina Democratic Party chairman.

The DNC will choose its new leader next month in Atlanta. In the meantime, the hopefuls are mounting what resemble traditional political campaigns for the post, with rallies, campaign signs and buttons, websites and communication strategies.

What should the party's future look like?

At the first of four DNC regional forums, the chair candidates pitched their leadership qualities and laid out their plans to

bring the party back together.

Ellison said his record in Minnesota demonstrates an ability to motivate voters to participate and get Democrats elected.

"There are no statewide Republicans in Minnesota," said Ellison, who in 2006 became the first Muslim elected to Congress. "And the reason why is because I had turned out the vote and turnout in the 5th Congressional District. I used to have the lowest turnout in the state of Minnesota; now my congressional district has the highest."

Ellison said he was proud to support both Sanders and Clinton in 2016, one in the primary and one in the general, and it's important that all Democrats are on the same page.

"Part of unity is being a chair who will go where people are conflicted and help them sort out the conflict," Ellison said.

Calling Trump a misogynist, Ellison invited Democrats to join the resistance and "a cause that will inspire and reach out to Americans all over this country to restore our great democracy."

In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Perez, the Obama Cabinet member and former Justice Department official, recalled his role in the legal battle against Arizona's controversial immigration law known as Senate Bill 1070 — signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010 — and against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the immigration hard-liner who voters ousted from office last year.

"I enjoy being back here because people say to me often, in our DNC chair, we need a fighter," Perez said. "And Arizona has been ground zero for some of the most important fights I've been involved in."

Perez said the DNC represents "a turnaround job."

"The DNC isn't firing on all cylinders," but its problems are fixable, he said.

"We need a DNC chair who can take the fight to Donald Trump, who can communicate a very powerful message of economic opportunity and inclusion," Perez told The Republic. "Who can speak to every stakeholder group in our big tent and who can really implement a 50-state strategy where we're building, from the bottom up, parties that can field candidates from school board to senator and help us take back statehouses and Congress."

Moving forward after a divisive election

The DNC took some big hits in the 2016 election. The committee was hacked — U.S. intelligence authorities have concluded it was the Russians — and exposed internal emails reflecting a seeming organizational bias toward Clinton over Sanders that led to the resignation of DNC chairwoman U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. The episode cast a shadow on the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Though Clinton, a former secretary of State, won the popular vote in last year's presidential election, Trump carried enough states to win where it counted, the Electoral College. He is set to take the oath of office on Friday.

Hopes that Clinton might even carry the traditional red state Arizona, which polls suggested was possible at one point, were dashed, although Democrats view passage of a statewide minimum-wage increase and the defeat of Arpaio as bright spots.

At the Phoenix forum, unity and reconciliation were frequent themes, but some candidates resisted getting stuck in the crossfire between the Clinton and Sanders factions.

"Donald J. Trump will be president of the United States in less than one week. We don't have time to re-litigate the 2016 primary," Buttigieg said.

As a mayor, Buttigieg said his job consists of bringing together different, and often clashing, coalitions to hold the community together.

While the Democrats may have some problems, there is no majority for "Trumpism" in America, he said.

"We won the popular vote for a reason: We have the right values," Buttigieg said.

Greene told the Democratic audience in the Sheraton Grand Phoenix ballroom that, as a TV analyst, she has spent the last seven years "fighting the good fight in the belly of the beast at Fox News."

She said she welcomes a real discussion about shared values but also warned against perpetuating the Clinton/Sanders rivalry.

"It was very clear that the media wants this race to devolve into the Clinton-Sanders rehash," Greene said.

The media, she said, "were fed in the 2016 election exactly what they wanted and delivered Donald Trump."

Harrison said he frequently is asked whether he is a Sanders, Clinton or Obama Democrat.

"Guys, I grew up in South Carolina. All I ever knew was just being a Democrat," Harrison said to applause.

Harrison also blasted Trump for attacking, via a Saturday tweet, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil-rights icon.

"We have to resist," he said. "We have to fight like our lives depend on it, because, you know what? They do."

Boynton Brown said the are other differences within the party besides just the Clinton-Sanders rift, such as an urban-rural divide.

Presenting herself to the crowd as a fellow party worker, Boynton Brown said she actually dislikes the word "unity."

"To me, it says that one side is going to win and the other side is going to lose and just has to deal with it," she said. "I like the word 'harmony' a lot better."

Buckley also appealed to Democratic frustration, saying he was "sick and tired of losing elections" and emphasizing that he knows how to defeat Republicans. His home state of New Hampshire once was considered a Republican stronghold but now has an all-female Democratic Capitol Hill delegation.

"In the last 10 years in New Hampshire, we have won 11 out of the last 13 statewide races," Buckley said. "We know how to win. ... We have turned from deep red to light red to purple and now we are leaning towards blue."

Another chance for the party's liberal wing

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., was on hand at the forum helping Ellison, whom he has worked with for years as a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Grijalva said he believes Ellison represents the future, and has the support of the progressive Sanders wing and "the very independent wing of the Democratic Party."

"Obviously, Tom Perez, who entered the race with the support of institutional Democrats and Obama, and the Clinton Democrats, is a formidable candidate," Grijalva said. "But if the delegates are looking at where the future of where this party is going to be, and what we need to do, Keith would be ideal because he brings an outside passion. This cannot be an insiders' decision anymore and it would behoove us to look at where we need to be down the road."

And while Perez may be tough to beat for the DNC job, Grijalva stressed that "it's not about how much more money do we raise.

"It's about how do we raise the passion and the loyalty of our voters so that they turn out and we have a good election in two years," he said.

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.