Supporters of the top two candidates for the Democratic National Chairman rallied in the lobby of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta Friday morning in anticipation of the tight race between Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and former Obama Labor Sec. Thomas Perez expected to be decided Saturday along with other senior party positions.
Ellison has garnered the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ liberal progressives while Perez has more establishment oriented Hillary Clinton supporters among the 447 voting Democratic state officials at the DNC meeting.
The Associated Press last reported that Perez leads Ellison with 205 votes against Ellison’s 153, but the winner can only be declared if the individual has a clear majority of the votes– at least 224 to be exact. However, Ellison spokesman Brett Morrow disputed the count as “totally inaccurate” and told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Ellison and his campaign team “incredibly confident.”
However, Indiana’s Jaime Harrison started Thursday solidly in third place for the chair and ended the day by throwing his support to Perez. Harrison had around 27 DNC members supporting him and according to NBC News, he could swing around 20 of those members Perez’s way.
Meanwhile, though, Ellison continues to rack up support from progressive base of the party. The Minnesota congressman’s campaign released a joint letter of endorsement from five different groups within the Progressive Change Campaign Committee touting Ellison’s credentials.
The letter stated, “The DNC has traditionally operated separate from groups like ours that organize millions of people. If Keith Ellison was Chair and proposed partnering on state-level voter registration activities and issue mobilization rallies, we would be eager to engage in that conversation.”