DNC Descends Further Into Chaos As More Top Officials Quit
Published 3 hours ago
on June 16, 2025
By Mark Steffen
More top officials resigned from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the weekend, throwing into disarray the party’s plans to finalize leadership as it prepares for the make-or-break midterms next year.
Randi Weingarten, the longtime union leader of the American Federation of Teachers, resigned in a letter stating she publicly disagrees with the direction forged by DNC Chair Ken Martin.
“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging,” Weingarten wrote to Martin in announcing her departure.
Joining her in exiting is Lee Saunders, president of the influential American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, who told Martin she is declining his offer to remain an at-large voting member in the party.
Both resignations are effectively a vote of no confidence in leadership at the DNC, which has been beset by turmoil amid a separate leadership struggle with former DNC co-chair David Hogg after he was ousted in a secret vote approved by Martin. Both women’s letters indicate that the believe Martin is failing to expand Democrats’ coalition at a critical juncture for the party.
However, all three were not on the same side of the leadership battle to begin with. Weingarten and Saunders previously supported Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, during his run for chair against Martin in January.
Shortly after, Martin stripped Weingarten of her role as head of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, a powerful body that sets the timeline and procedures for the party’s presidential nominating conventions.
In her letter, Weingarten stated she will be declining Martin’s offer to remain on the broader national committee where she has served since 2002. She had been a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee since 2009.
“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities,” Ms. Weingarten wrote in her resignation letter to Mr. Martin, the NYT reported.
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