The DNC Asked All Its Staffers To Resign

Amidst internal conflict and a push for party reorganization, reports that the DNC asked all staffers to submit their resignations by next month have emerged. According to sources interviewed by NBC News, staffers were asked to submit letters of resignation dated April 15 following the election of former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in late February.

These requests for resignation came after DNC layoffs following the 2016 presidential election, and reports prior to Perez's election said that staffers expected the move prior to the chairman race. Bustle has reached out to the DNC for comment regarding the reports of resignation requests.

According to NBC News (who initially broke the story), widespread turnover is common when parties elect new chairmen, but this blanket request for resignations is intended to assist Perez in rebuilding the party from scratch following the shocking defeat of Hillary Clinton last November. He hired a committee to aid his transition, and that committee is now reportedly interviewing new staff for the positions that will soon be vacated.

This latest news from within the party came after the hard-fought battle between Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison for the DNC chairmanship -- a battle that many believed symbolized the warring progressive and centrist factions within the party that came to a head during the fight between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders for the party's presidential nomination. Following his win, Perez made Ellison deputy chair of the party.

Despite progressive doubts that Perez would adequately distance the party from its' "establishment" roots after both his win and the presidential election, his move make Ellison deputy chair and now to completely re-staff the party appear to be a step in the right direction. Many further left than Perez and Clinton were critical of the party's initial response to Trump's win, and those fears haven't subsided in their subsequent responses to the president post-inauguration.

As the party works to develop successful legislative responses to a Republican-controlled House, Senate, and White House, having a party staffed with people close to their failed candidate would have been political suicide. In the most optimistic scenario, Perez and the party's decision to clear out their staff and fill their positions with fresh bodies could be a means of dramatically changing a party that appears to many to be slowly dying. We must now wait and see who fills the DNC's soon-to-be-vacated staff positions and whether or not their makeup will forebode success or failure in the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential election.