Faiz Shakir, a longtime Democratic political operative who managed Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, is jumping into the race for chair of the Democratic National Committee just a few weeks before the vote.
In an interview with NBC News, Shakir said the Democratic Party leadership needs to refocus on broader issues confronting the party as opposed to the details of how the DNC itself would be run.
“We are debating how clean to keep the kitchen while the Titanic is going down,” Shakir said of why he’s throwing his name in the race. “The Democratic brand is the issue, and we’re spending time worrying about, oh, the consultant contract and whether this state party has enough funding here or there.”
DNC members are set to vote for a new chair on Feb. 1, as the party takes its first steps toward rebuilding after losing the 2024 presidential election. Current DNC chair Jaime Harrison said after Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat to President-elect Donald Trump that he would not seek a second term running the party organization.
In the aftermath, a handful of candidates have jumped in, led by a pair of Midwestern state party chairs: Minnesota’s Ken Martin and Wisconsin’s Ben Wikler. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is also running alongside a handful of other candidates, but Martin and Wikler have attracted the most attention so far.
Now, though, Shakir has joined the competition with 17 days to go, he confirmed to NBC News. The New York Times first reported Shakir’s entry into the race.
Shakir suggested while there is a place for social media posting and high-level forums among Democratic leadership, the party needs to focus on personal interactions.
“In a society right now where people feel increasingly alone and isolated, you know, often on digital media, can we be one of those organizations that fills in the gaps to become a place of gathering in person, to build community with one another, to make us human again?” he said.
Those olive branches, Shakir suggested, should include sending pizza to striking union workers, and having a Super Bowl watch party with beer, as ways to ingratiate folks to the Democratic Party.
“When you stick your head out and say, hey, I’m going to do something that you didn’t expect me to do, they will notice,” he said. “It just requires, you know, challenging the way you conventionally might think about what the DNC does.”
Shakir’s decision to run for DNC chair comes after he poured cold water on the idea in November, when he joined NBC News’ Chuck Todd on “The Chuck ToddCast.”
“I do not think I could actually wage a campaign and win,” Shakir said then. “I don’t think anybody wants me to be the DNC chair.”
Shakir walked those comments back speaking to NBC News on Wednesday.
“I had some assumptions of people who I thought might run, who decided not to,” Shakir said.
Shakir has held a number of different roles across the Democratic Party over decades of work. Since managing Sanders’ second presidential campaign, he has directed the nonprofit More Perfect Union, which describes itself as an advocacy journalism outlet. Previously, Shakir was the political director at the ACLU and an aide to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and former House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
