Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Sunday said he has no intention of resigning, despite several Democratic lawmakers calling on him to do so in the wake of last week’s Iowa caucuses fiasco.
Perez told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he’s “mad as hell” about the multiple operational breakdowns during this year’s Democratic caucuses in Iowa. And though he takes some responsibility for the mess, he said he hasn’t considered stepping down over it.
“Some Democrats are calling for your resignation,” said host Jake Tapper, listing Reps. Marcia Fudge of Ohio and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota as examples. “Have you considered resigning?”
“Absolutely not,” Perez replied. “My job when I came in was to rebuild our infrastructure, to win elections, and when you do that, sometimes you gotta make tough decisions... We have been winning. This is what it’s about.”
Perez on Thursday called on the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass the caucus results after a third-party app used by caucus managers failed to properly submit data, causing major delays in tabulating the results.
He told CNN on Sunday that there will be a “conversation” about whether Iowa should keep its status as the first state to hold a presidential primary contest each election cycle following this year’s chaos.
“It’s very necessary,” Perez said.
As of Sunday, results from the Feb. 3 Democratic caucuses showed former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) virtually tied.
Whoever nabs the most state delegate equivalents in the race is declared the winner by The Associated Press. But Sanders and Buttigieg are separated by a fraction of a percentage point on that metric with 99% of precincts reporting, making it too close to call for the AP right now.
Sanders, during an earlier interview Sunday on “State of the Union,” slammed the “extraordinary” incompetence exhibited by Democratic Party officials during the Iowa caucuses.
“Do you think that the Democratic Party, whether the Iowa Democratic Party or the DNC, was trying to hurt you?” Tapper asked Sanders.
“I have no idea,” Sanders said. “We’re going to monitor the situation closely, but that’s not my impression at this point.”
“There are a lot of people in the Democratic establishment who are not, to say the least, enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders,” he continued. “But I’m not casting any ... political aspersions. The incompetence there in Iowa was just extraordinary.”