Is this DNC speaker the next chair of the Democratic Party?
The drama at the top of the Democratic National Committee this past week, in response to the leaked trove of emails, means that the organization will be in need of new leadership after the November election. One possible replacement took the stage at the convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening.
Stephanie Schriock is president of EMILY’s List, which gives financial backing to pro-choice Democratic women candidates. Before joining the group in 2010, she earned a reputation as a fund-raiser and manager on such campaigns as Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential race and Al Franken’s 2008 run for the Senate.
But her speech tonight was about women candidates in general, and one in particular. “Over 31 years, EMILY’s List has helped elect hundreds more women to the House, and the Senate and every other office on the ballot,” she said. “Except one. Hillary Clinton may be our first woman president. But she will not be our last. Once that barrier falls, it will never, ever, ever be put back up.”
When DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down, and Donna Brazile took on the role temporarily, through Election Day, political insiders at the convention began to discuss who would fill the job. Schriock is often mentioned, with Politico reporting that she is the “leading candidate” and that Elizabeth Warren is a “long shot.”
From the podium, Schriock urged the election of Democratic women “up and down the ballot.”
“More women in the House. More women in the Senate — enough to take back the majority! And, yes, at long last, put a woman in the White House.”
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