DNC Chairman Tom Perez’s brazen rejection of pro-life Democrats has now been condemned by some of his party’s most powerful voices. In recent days, both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., rebuffed Perez’s suggestion that Democrats must uniformly support abortion rights.
Now, even progressive champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is publicly disagreeing with the chairman of her party.
“I am strongly pro-choice. I am strongly pro-choice, and I will fight,” Warren told HuffPost, continuing, “But that’s not how everyone in the party feels.”
“I recognize that not all of my colleagues agree with me. I’ll do everything I can to persuade them, but they are my colleagues, and that’s just how it is with the Democrats,” the senator concluded.
But is that really “just how it is with the Democrats”?
Until Perez reverses course, it doesn’t seem that way.
Perez’s line in the sand against candidates such as Omaha mayoral candidate Heath Mello (whose record is not as “pro-life” as people initially believed) was drawn because hardline groups like NARAL pressure the party to abandon pro-life candidates. Without a signal from Perez that his committee will support Democratic candidates who disagree with the party’s platform, respecting the outlook of influential leaders like Warren, Sanders, and Pelosi, it’s hard to believe he will not cave again.
That Warren, one of the Democrats’ staunchest progressives, is pushing back against Perez, should send the DNC a message loud and clear.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
