The Democratic Party is one of the major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party, Reform Party, and the Socialist Party of America . Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
Leadership[]
Officers:
- Chairman - Dr. Rajashima Reddy
- Vice-Chairman - Ben Wyatt
- Senate Leader - Joshua Segaric
- House Leader - Lana Del Rey
- DNC Presiding Officer - Matthew T. Williams
Caucuses:
- New Democratic Caucus
- Progressive Caucus
History[]
Factional Disputes and Embezzlement Scandal[]
In late November 2020, tensions between the conservative Blue Dog Caucus and the Progressive faction came to a head. Following a heated disagreement with high-profile Progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then-Chairman and Blue Dog Richard Kennedy, supported by Hercules Le Poirot, summarily expelled her from the party and blacklisted her.[1] This only heightened controversy, as the Democratic National Caucus was not consulted beforehand. Kennedy himself, under pressure from the Party membership, soon resigned as Chairman on 28 November 2020 when news of the incident broke in national press. Poirot was appointed Interim Chairman pending Party elections, but was very shortly dismissed for his role in the AOC expulsion as well, and ultimately fellow Blue Dog Tanya Chesham-Leigh took the office.
Chesham-Leigh reinstated AOC's membership and appointed her Vice-Chair in an attempt to appease the Progressives. This kept the peace until Progressive candidate James Harding lost the election for Party Chair on 1 December 2020. That same day, Ocasio-Cortez declared she was splitting from the Democrats to form her own party, the Antifascist Party, invited others to join her, and embezzled $140 million from the Democratic Party treasury on her way out.[2]
News of the theft quickly spread to the authorities, and AOC returned $130 million of the stolen funds to the Democrats. While it does not appear she has been arrested as of 13 December 2020, she has been blacklisted once again by the Democrats, and neither she nor any of her fellow AFP members have made any public appearance since then.
Aftermath of the Scandal[]
In the two weeks following the incident, many members lost confidence in the Party, and many Progressives and Blue Dogs left for the Socialist Party of America and the Republican Party, respectively. As a result, the Democratic Party lost its plurality in the subsequent election cycle, falling to third place in the House with 31 representatives, trailing behind the GOP's 54 and SPUSA's 51.
Former Vice-Chair Leo Brooks has stated that the Democratic leadership is working to restructure the Party and increase transparency and diversity within membership.