Pelosi backs Ben Wikler for DNC chair

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has backed Wisconsin state party chair Ben Wikler to lead the Democratic National Committee (DNC), following an endorsement by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) earlier this month.

“For several years, I have had the honor and success to work with Ben Wikler from his thousands of events to save our health care at MoveOn to his winning tough elections in Wisconsin including Justice Janet Protasiewicz and Senator Tammy Baldwin,” Pelosi said in a statement.

“As a former State Chair and longtime DNC member, I have enormous respect for the DNC and the grassroots activism it engenders. It is with great confidence that I endorse Ben Wikler for Chair as the candidate best suited to lead us to a stronger DNC and many Domocratic victories,” she added.

Politico first obtained the statement from the California Democrat.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to receive Speaker Emerita Pelosi’s endorsement for a DNC Chair campaign that is surging at this decisive moment,” Wikler said on social platform X on Wednesday. “Together we will unite our party, fight through this moment of crisis, and win victories that make a difference in people’s lives.”

The DNC chair election is happening on Saturday. Among Wikler’s competitors are former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Minnesota state party chair Ken Martin, and Faiz Shakir, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) former campaign manager.

Schumer announced that he was backing Wikler earlier this month, saying in a statement on X that he has “said since the day after the election that Democrats should view this moment as a challenge.”

“We must listen to the American people, learn from the results, and move forward stronger,” Schumer added. “That’s why I am enthusiastically supporting @benwikler to be the next Chair of the DNC.”

Wikler has also previously captured endorsements from groups like the centrist Third Way and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Mychael Schnell contributed.

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