When Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is pressed about the huge number of candidates running for president, he turns to a favorite sports analogy to dismiss the concerns.
“I coach basketball. This is my 14th year in a row coaching at least one of my kids,” he says.
“I’ve never met a basketball coach who came to me and said, ‘Tom, I’ve got a problem. I’ve got too much depth on my team,’” says Perez.
The former Obama-era Department of Labor secretary told us that he has coached his two daughters and one son in recreational leagues and that mentoring young athletes has been rewarding.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he told us after concluding a roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
“My daughter’s 23, so now like at Christmastime, these kids I coached, the biggest return on investment I can imagine is that they come over at Christmas and want to hang out,” said Perez with a broad smile.
“It’s every parent’s dream to have their adult children actually like to spend time with them.”
