Tom Perez nearly has all the support he needs to lock up the Democratic National Committee chairmanship his campaign said Tuesday.
Of the 224 votes needed to win when votes are cast in late February, the former Obama labor secretary has the support of 180 of 224 DNC members, Perez’s campaign said in an email. Arlanda Williams, a DNC member from Louisiana, was number 180, the Perez camp said.
The threshold a candidate needs to pass in order to win represents just one vote above half the 447 voting members.
The announcement comes as Perez is mounting a fierce challenge to Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who at the start of the process was viewed as the front-runner. Ellison has the backing of some high-profile progressives like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
When asked to comment on Perez’s support count, Brett Morrow, a spokesman for Ellison’s campaign, supplied a short reply to Washington Examiner: “Perez claimed that. Not Ellison.”
Perez has the support of power players like former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder.
The DNC chair race includes seven major candidates, who have participated in a string of public forums in the past several weeks.
Democratic insiders will cast their votes during the DNC’s winter meeting in the final week of February. There could be multiple rounds of voting, should one candidate not receive the requisite number of votes to win on the first try.
