Randi Weingarten, the president of a national teachers union influential in Democratic politics, has left the Democratic National Committee while citing a disagreement with its chair, Ken Martin, in the latest sign of internal discord in the party.
Weingarten, who leads the American Federation of Teachers and has served as an at-large member of the DNC for decades, wrote in a letter to Martin this month that she would decline his offer to reappoint her to an at-large position. Martin had recently removed her from the DNC's Rules and Bylaws committee, where she served since 2009. Weingarten was also vocally supportive of David Hogg, the Gen Z activist who departed his role as DNC vice chair last week after a messy dispute with Martin and other party officials.
"While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities," Weingarten wrote in her letter to Martin obtained by The Washington Post.
The letter, dated June 5 and first reported by the New York Times, did not elaborate on her reasons for leaving. A person close to the DNC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal issue, pointed to Weingarten's support for a rival candidate for DNC chair this year: former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler. Since Wikler's loss, Weingarten has "been on the other side of the fence as Ken," making her exit unsurprising, this person said.
The letter became public as infighting at the DNC has already spilled into the open. Hogg, the young activist elected DNC vice chair this year, blindsided other party officials with his plans to back through his separate group young liberals in primaries against a select group of "out-of-touch, ineffective" Democratic lawmakers. He tapped into a broad sentiment that Democrats had allowed some of their eldest leaders to linger too long in office, but drew pushback from colleagues who said party officers should stay out of primaries.
The open conflict was so frustrating to Martin that he privately told Hogg he had "destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership I need to" -- comments that leaked to Politico last weekend and led several DNC officers to publicly accuse Hogg of secretly recording. Hogg denied it.
Hogg last Wednesday announced he would step down from his vice chair role after DNC members voted to redo the vice chair election.