Democrats haunted by ghosts of Obama’s DNC

State party leaders couldn’t be more thrilled that Joe Biden has thrown his weight behind one of their own, former South Carolina Democratic Party chief Jaime Harrison, to chair the Democratic National Committee.

But many party leaders and DNC members are expressing alarm over Biden’s decision to make his former campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, one of the key players in charge of his political portfolio — they view her as a culprit in the kneecapping of the national party that occurred during former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Obama tapped Dillon to serve as executive director of the DNC when he entered office, while at the same time his allies built up the outside political group Organizing for America as a separate infrastructure that competed with the national party. More than a decade later, many Democrats remain furious about OFA, which they believe sapped financial resources from the DNC and led to massive down-ballot losses under Obama — losses they’re still trying to recover from.

“I do not perceive Ms. O'Malley Dillon as being an ally to the grassroots,” said Colorado-based DNC member Jeri Shepherd. “I would like to be proven wrong.”

State party leaders complain of being underfunded during that period, and point to Dillon as the person negotiating with them at the national committee. Biden’s rollout of his slate of DNC officers last week — which some party officials complained came without adequate consultation — was viewed as a throwback to that era.

“All of us are wary of Jen Dillon and how she managed this for Obama, and it appears to be the same operating procedures,” said a DNC member who requested anonymity to speak freely. “There is no love there on either side. … She’s a Beltway person, not a grassroots investor, and treats us all like village idiots frankly.”

Biden announced his preferences for DNC leadership roles around 6 p.m. Thursday, only a few hours before contenders for the positions were required to file statements of candidacy. That led to grumbling about a lack of advance notice, and frustration among those who were not asked for their input on the choices. They also said it prevented any opposition from organizing for vice chairs.

Amid the dearth of information, a handful of DNC members had quietly worked to prepare a slate of officers that could have been submitted at the last minute if necessary, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Another state party leader, who declined to speak on the record, said that “some of the concern about Jen is that she was one of the architects of OFA, and she was also one of the people who, at the DNC during that time, really stripped a lot of resources away and invested them in an outside organization.”

The person added that, while they “don’t want to take anything away from her brilliance in her work,” O’Malley Dillon “is not a party person.”

O’Malley Dillon, whose formal role will be to serve as Biden’s White House deputy chief of staff, was among a group of Biden’s senior advisers who counseled him on his slate of DNC officer picks. She is expected to help manage his political portfolio in the White House and beyond.

Howard Chou, vice chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, praised O’Malley Dillon’s work for Biden’s 2020 campaign, but said, “I hope that she understands how important state party infrastructure is.”

“I don’t know her personally. But just from previous experiences of what happened in state parties during the Obama era, we can’t make that mistake again,” he said, adding that the party must focus on “empowering state structures and grassroots voices, and the ability to work collaboratively.”

Several other state party leaders and DNC members vigorously defend O’Malley Dillon. They said that she demonstrated her commitment to state parties last year, when Biden’s team worked closely with the DNC and she oversaw a coordinated program between the campaign, state organizations and the national party that sent more than $100 million to those groups — a level of collaboration they said hadn’t taken place in years.

“Jen O’Malley Dillon made the fundamental decision to treat state parties as partners,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “All of our conversations with her and the DNC give me great confidence that the DNC and the Biden leadership will keep upgrading the local and state infrastructure as we go into 2022 and 2024.”

Some Democrats said they saw her as working on their behalf from the inside while she was at the DNC under Obama, and that the idea of OFA started before she even joined Obama’s campaign. Others made the case that financial resources for state parties didn’t change during her time there, though state party heads dispute that.

“I did not blame her. I just think it was a policy at the White House,” said Carol Fowler, then-leader of the South Carolina Democratic Party, who negotiated with O’Malley Dillon on behalf of state organizations. “I always felt that she was on my side.”

Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chair who previously led the Association of State Democratic Committees, said “anyone who’s talking doesn’t know what they’re talking about” because “she was the one champion we had.”

One factor that even O’Malley Dillon’s harshest critics take comfort in is the fact that Biden has struck a very different posture toward the party than Obama. Biden is an institutionalist, whereas Obama campaigned as a party outsider. Biden also vowed to not create an external group such as OFA.

A Biden transition source said that his team has learned lessons from the past, and that he personally chose his slate of DNC officers, including Harrison, a former state party chair himself who was backed by state organization leaders. The person also stressed that Harrison will be running the DNC, while O’Malley Dillon will be advising Biden in his role as leader of the Democratic Party.

"The President-elect has been an enthusiastic champion of Democratic candidates up and down the ballot and local Democratic committees. He made empowering state parties a priority as the Demoratic nominee for president,” said TJ Ducklo, a Biden spokesperson. “The President-elect and his entire team will be close partners with the DNC under Jaime Harrison's leadership, so state parties can thrive and continue to elect Democrats at every level of government.”

Still, Biden’s history — and Harrison’s presence — has not completely ameliorated some Democrats’ concerns.

“The biggest concern state [party] chairs have is that Jaime will be hamstrung,” said the DNC member. As for Biden, he “is a bit busy.”

O’Malley Dillon’s supporters said her critics will soon realize they’re wrong about her.

“Jen guided President-Elect Biden to a historic victory by working closely with Democrats across the country and making unprecedented investments in Democratic state parties — including a multi-million dollar field operation that was totally coordinated and integrated with our state party partners,” said Mary Beth Cahill, CEO of the DNC. "Anyone who didn't notice the close partnership she established between the DNC and the Biden campaign during the general election and the emphasis she put on supporting Democrats' state organizations wasn't paying attention."