Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Wednesday officially endorsed South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the race to become the next Democratic National Committee chairman.
“Most important thing — he’s the outside-the-beltway candidate,” Mr. Dean, a former DNC chairman, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“This party is in trouble. Our strongest age group for us is under 35, and they don’t consider themselves Democrats,” he said. “They elected Barack Obama twice; they didn’t elect Hillary Clinton but voted 58 percent for her.”
“They don’t come out during the midterms. They don’t come out for down-ballot voters. Our leadership is old and creaky, including me, and we’ve got to have this guy … running this party,” Mr. Dean said of Mr. Buttigieg, who is 35.
On Monday, Mr. Dean had said on MSNBC that he was kind of supporting Mr. Buttigieg.
Democrats are slated to pick their new chairman this weekend. Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Rep. Keith Ellison are seen as the front-runners.
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• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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