WASHINGTON — Democrats are having trouble surmounting differences over the bitter 2016 election amid revelations of a contemplated effort to replace Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee, deepening party strife just before Tuesday’s closely watched Virginia governor’s race.
The fate of that bellwether election will likely make a weighty statement about Democratic prospects in 2018 and beyond.
“Everywhere I go right now, we’re focused on elections … and what the people are telling me is they want to know how they’re going to get their good jobs back, how are they going to get health care,” said Tom Perez, the party’s chairman, on Sunday.
Perez then launched into an attack on the 2016 claims of his predecessor, interim DNC leader Donna Brazile, as “ludicrous” and “without merit.”
The dueling across the Sunday news show platforms was triggered by the disclosure that Brazile, the DNC chair during the final months of the campaign, considered an effort to replace Clinton with then-Vice President Joe Biden because of health concerns.
Brazile, who claimed “tremendous pressure” to devise a backup ticket after Clinton fainted at an event, pushed back at critics: “Go to hell. I’m going to tell my story.”
The dispute was spurred by Brazile’s revelations in a memoir being released Tuesday and reported on by The Washington Post. It reflected simmering tensions between establishment and insurgent wings that will set the party’s future course on issues from its platform to the primary schedule and use of superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials who get a say in the nomination — in the 2020 presidential race.
