Two prominent Democratic National Committee members who head major labor unions resigned from the organization, pointing to disagreements with its chairman, Ken Martin, in their resignation letters.
Randi Weingarten, the influential leader of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, refused to continue as at-large members of the DNC.
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A DNC member told the Washington Examiner that Weingarten’s exit came after she supported Ben Wikler, outgoing chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, over Martin, former chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, in this year’s chairship race.
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“She worked hard for his opponent. Martin then did not reappoint her to the Rules and Bylaws Committee. I think that was a move she could not live with,” said the DNC member, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
In her resignation letter, dated June 5, Weingarten referenced her disagreements with Martin’s leadership as a reason why she couldn’t continue as a DNC leader.
“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 said to Martin, according to the New York Times.
Saunders similarly suggested that under Martin’s leadership, the DNC is failing to enlarge its big-tent coalition, which has eroded since the 2024 elections.
“The decision to decline the nomination to the Democratic National Committee was not made lightly,” Saunders told the outlet. “It comes after deep reflection and deliberate conversation about the path forward for our union and the working people we represent.”
Democrats have struggled to find a cohesive message to counter President Donald Trump’s steamrolling of Washington, aided by the GOP-controlled Congress. Party members have vehemently disagreed over how aggressively to oppose Trump’s actions and over pressuring elderly Democrats to step down from office.
Weingarten and Saunders’s exits came less than a week after David Hogg, a controversial Generation-Z activist, declined to run again for the vice chairship of the DNC after the full body voted to hold new vice chair elections.
In April, Hogg announced a $20 million initiative to elect younger leaders by primarying elderly Democrats, drawing swift criticism from party members, including Martin. However, Weingarten was among the vocal Democrats who supported Hogg’s efforts.
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Leaked audio of Martin bemoaning Hogg’s antics as impeding his tenure added more tensions between DNC leaders, who accused Hogg of leaking the audio to Politico.
“I’ll be very honest with you, for the first time in my 100 days on this job … the other night I said to myself for the first time, I don’t know if I want to do this anymore,” Martin said.
Democratic Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who won a second election as DNC vice chairman, told MSNBC on Sunday, “I love Randi Weingarten and I respect the decision that she made in this moment.”
“But one thing is crystal clear: I know where she’s going to be, and I know where we must be as a party. That’s on the side of working people and working families,” he added. “We are in a moment right now where there’s an existential threat to both.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DNC, Weingarten, and Saunders for comment.
Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.