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Progressive Magazine Publishes Previously Secret DNC Membership List
Corporate lobbyists and big-time fundraisers are among the Democratic National Committee members set to decide on the organization's leadership in the coming weeks.
Jan 10, 2025
With the Democratic National Committee set to vote on its next chair in just over three weeks, a progressive magazine on Friday published in full a previously secret list of the DNC members who will decide on the next leader of the party organization in the wake of the disastrous November election.
The American Prospect's Micah Sifry reported that he obtained the closely guarded list from a "trusted source with long experience with the national party."
"This person thinks it's absurd that the party's roster of voting members is secret," Sifry wrote. "Indeed, since there is no official public list, each of the candidates running for chair and other positions has undoubtedly had to create their own tallies from scratch—making it very likely our list comes from a candidate's whip operation."
Based on the DNC's public statements, it was known that the DNC has 448 active members who will decide on key leadership posts in the coming weeks. But the identities of the individuals were, until Friday, kept under wraps.
Michael Kapp, a DNC member from California, told the Prospect that the committee's leadership "holds tightly to the list to prevent any organizing beyond their control."
"Knowing who has actual voting power over the DNC's governance may give grassroots activists around the country who care about the party's future some greater capacity to focus their efforts on the people who actually pull the levers."
The newly revealed list includes more than 70 "at large" members who were all "whisked into their current positions on the DNC roster by [outgoing chair] Jaime Harrison in 2021," Sifry wrote.
"According to DNC bylaws, at-large members must be voted in by the rest of the membership, but the current class was put forward by Harrison as a single slate that was voted on up-or-down as a bloc," Sifry added. "The hacks definitely stand out among Harrison's handpicked cohort. Those include top fundraisers Kristin Bertolina Faust and Alicia Rockmore of California, Carol Pensky of Florida, and Deborah Simon of Indiana, as well as David Huynh of New York, whose main claim to fame appears to be his work as a consultant to now-jailed cryptocurrency hustler Sam Bankman-Fried when he appeared to be the Next Big Funder of the Democrats in 2021-2022."
The list also includes several lobbyists—such as Scott Brennan, a DNC member from Iowa who works for a lobbying firm with clients such as JPMorgan Chase and PhRMA—as well as union leaders, including American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
The DNC membership list was revealed as the organization prepares to vote on key leadership posts, including the committee's chair and vice chair positions.
Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley are among the contenders for the chairmanship.
James Zogby, a longtime DNC member and outspoken progressive, is running for a vice chair post with the goal of improving "accountability and transparency" at the committee and curbing the influence of dark money—something the DNC has repeatedly refused to address.
Sifry acknowledged Friday that "making the DNC's membership roster public may have little overall effect on the direction of the organization."
"It is, after all, highly dependent on big money and exquisitely attuned to the political needs of the party’s leading officials in Congress," he noted. "According to OpenSecrets, the top contributors to the DNC in the 2023-2024 cycle, after House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' campaign organization, were Bain Capital ($2.9 million), Google parent company Alphabet ($2.6M), Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins ($2.5M), community media conglomerate Newsweb Corp. ($2.5M), Jeffrey Katzenberg’' holding company WndrCo ($2.5M), Microsoft ($2.4M), Reid Hoffman’s VC firm Greylock Partners ($2.4M), real estate developer McArthurGlen Group ($2.2M), and hedge fund Lone Pine Capital ($2.2M)."
However, Sifry added, "knowing who has actual voting power over the DNC's governance may give grassroots activists around the country who care about the party's future some greater capacity to focus their efforts on the people who actually pull the levers."
"What they do with that potential," he wrote, "is up to them."
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James Zogby Launches Bid for DNC Leadership With Pledge to Take on 'Dark Money'
"Democratic voters should decide who wins our primaries, not outside groups," said the longtime Democratic National Committee member and outspoken progressive.
Dec 19, 2024
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!"
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After $16 Billion Election, Nonprofit Tracking Money in Politics Lays Off 1/3 of Staff
"This is an absolutely devastating development on the precipice of the next administration," said one journalist.
Nov 08, 2024
Journalists and other critics of how money influences U.S. politics expressed alarm and disappointment in response to Friday reporting that shortly after the nation's latest election, the research nonprofit OpenSecrets had to lay off a third of its staff.
Citing a current staffer, Politico's Daniel Lippman revealed that OpenSecrets "laid off 10 employees yesterday due to financial difficulties" and "much of the research team were among the casualties, which constituted around a third of the group's total headcount."
According to the Politico Playbook newsletter:
Executive director Hilary Braseth wrote in an email to supporters that "OpenSecrets remains committed to its mission—serving as the trusted authority on money in American politics—but our task has become more difficult as groups have opted to fund a partisan outcome rather than nonpartisan democratic infrastructure."
She said in a subsequent email to Playbook that the layoffs were "a necessary first step to make our organization sustainable," and that she had "no doubt that our team will continue to produce the high-quality data that the public has come to rely on."
With a mission "to serve as the trusted authority on money in American politics," OpenSecrets envisions a country in which citizens "use data on money in politics to create a more vibrant, representative, and responsive democracy."
In response to the layoffs, numerous reporters took to social media on Friday to share how they—like Common Dreams—have used what National Public Radio media correspondent David Folkenflik calledthat "an invaluable resource for many a journalist and researcher—utterly nonpartisan but a source for transparency about money in politics now under financial threat."
"Terrible news!" declaredNerdWallet data journalist Joe Yerardi. "The folks at OpenSecrets have helped me so many times on stories. The [organization] does such vital work."
Other reactions included:
- Wall Street Journal reporter Maggie Severns: "OpenSecrets is an important resource on money in politics, this is terrible to see."
- Politico deputy national editor Zach Montellaro: "This stinks—OpenSecrets is a great resource for campaign finance data and following the money."
- Digiday senior reporter Marty Swant: "Sad news for a critical team that helps shed light on dark money in politics."
- McClatchy and Miami Herald investigative reporter Ben Wieder: "This is such sad news. OpenSecrets is such an important resource for journalists and anyone who cares about money in politics."
- The New Republic breaking news writer Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling: "This is an absolutely devastating development on the precipice of the next administration."
Republican President-elect Donald Trump—known for "outright scandals and blatant corruption" during his first term—defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day earlier this week, . The GOP also seized control of the U.S. Senate and is on track to win a majority in the House of Representatives.
In a Tuesday analysis, OpenSecrets' Albert Serna Jr. and Anna Massoglia detailed how about $16 billion "went to influence federal elections and another $4.6 billion was raised by state candidates, party committees, and ballot measure committees for 2023 and 2024 elections."
The pair also highlighted Tuesday that this cycle "has broken the record for outside spending," with about $4.5 billion from independent groups such as super political action committees; dark money accounted for over $1 billion in total contributions to organizations like super PACs; top donors had outsize influence; and donations to support or defeat various ballot measures have also set "several records."
Jimmy Cloutier, a former OpenSecrets reporting fellow now at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said Friday in response to the layoffs that "I'm devastated for my former colleagues—and shocked that this news comes just days after the most expensive election in U.S. history."
Investigative journalist Dave Levinthal, who also previously worked for the organization, said that "this is heartbreaking news, not just for us OpenSecrets alums, but anyone who cares about genuinely nonpartisan research and reporting plus political/governmental transparency."
Healthcare Across Borders executive director Jodi Jacobson said Friday that "this is unacceptable and unconscionable and shows how perverse our funding streams are. We can sink over a billion into a political campaign but not fund one of the most critical tools of accountability at a time when we need it most?"
Some responded to the layoff news with calls for donations to OpenSecrets. Filmmaker Adam McKay declared: "Legacy news media has all but blacked out money's outsized control of [government] so this is one of the few places to find out who is bribing your candidate or [representative]. Donate if you can ASAP."
Issue One research director Michael Beckels said: "Care about being able to follow the money in politics? Today would be a good day to donate—or become a monthly donor—OpenSecretsDC, one of the best groups around for understanding the flow of money in state and federal elections."
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