Longtime Democratic National Committee member James Zogby formally launched his candidacy for DNC vice chair on Thursday, citing the urgent need for internal party reform in the wake of the disastrous 2024 election.
Zogby, the founder of the Arab American Institute and a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights and other progressive causes, has served on the DNC for more than three decades, and he's used his positions on the body's Executive Committee, Resolutions Committee, Unity Reform Commission, and other panels to push for changes such as a ban on dark money in the Democratic primary process—a proposal that the DNC has twice refused to even consider.
Eliminating dark money from Democratic primaries is one of five points on Zogby's platform, which also includes changes to ensure "accountability and transparency" with the DNC's finances, building the "organizing capacity" at the state and local levels, and "increasing Democratic Party membership."
"The DNC is supposed to serve as the governing body of the party, but we've been reduced to props who fill chairs at meetings and listen to speeches," Zogby told Common Dreams on Thursday. "Our input isn't sought, nor do we fulfill our responsibility to review and evaluate the budget. Control has been surrendered to consultant groups and the White House."
On his website, Zogby writes that the massive influx of dark money into Democratic primaries is "something that we and our state parties can regulate or call out."
"Democratic voters should decide who wins our primaries, not outside groups," he added.
Zogby announced his intention to run for DNC vice chair in a column for The Nation earlier this month, but his candidacy wasn't official until he secured the required number of endorsements on his nominating petitions—a goal he achieved last week.
In a statement on Thursday, Zogby said his candidacy for a vice chair position has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others.
"In the aftermath of our 2024 electoral defeat, many in our party have been engaged in hand-wringing and soul-searching in an effort to understand what went wrong—and what we must do differently moving forward," Zogby wrote in his Nation column. "Like any good Democrat, I have my views on all of these matters, but that's not why I'm running for one of the vice-chair positions of the Democratic National Committee."
"The issues I intend to raise," he continued, "are those related to governance and party building: the need for budget transparency and accountability; the need to address the financial drain and loss of decision-making control created by our dependence on outside consultants; the need to build state parties; the need to take 'dark money' out of our primaries; and the need to create a sense of belonging and engagement that brings young people and others who feel rejected and disenfranchised into our party, finding a place for them in our work."
Politicoreported last month that the DNC is "expected to elect a new slate of officers, including chair and a handful of vice chairs, early next year as it charts a path forward after losing" to President-elect Donald Trump in last month's election.
David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, announced earlier this week that he's running for a vice chair post.
As for DNC chair, several candidates have officially announced they're vying for the position, including Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Rahm Emanuel, the disgraced former mayor of Chicago, is also reportedly considering a run, drawing ire from progressives.
"Rahm is a symbol of everything that's wrong with the Party: coziness with corporate America, a brand of politics completely disconnected from working people, and an old way of thinking about elections that has failed Democrats time and again," the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution wrote in an email on Thursday.
"We're in a fight for the very future of this country," the group added. "Trump is heading into a second term after beating the Democratic Party elites AGAIN. Yet, corporate Democrats are still fighting progressives harder than they fight MAGA extremism. But there’s hope if we elect a DNC Chair that takes the Party in a new direction. Rahm is NOT the leadership we need right now!"
