sen. charles schumer, who is in line to become the senate democratic leader, is throwing his weight behind a progressive, rep. keith ellison of minnesota, to be the next head of the democratic national committee, a spokesman said. the new york democrat joins sen. bernie sanders of vermont<u+2014>whose democratic primary challenge to hillary clinton energized progressives<u+2014>and liberal leaders in backing mr. ellison. mr. ellison has also won praise from sen. elizabeth warren of massachusetts, a liberal icon, who said thursday night on msnbc that he would make a <u+201c>terrific dnc chair.<u+201d> the endorsements from those influential democrats come at a time when the party is wrestling with an identity crisis and a leadership vacuum in the wake of the unexpected defeat of hillary clinton and the party<u+2019>s failure to win control of the senate. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for politics, policy and national security news. out of the wreckage of the election losses, the party<u+2019>s left wing is angling for an overhaul of the dnc and its leadership to make it more progressive and in tune with grass-roots activists. many progressive groups have rallied behind mr. ellison, though he hasn<u+2019>t formally announced his bid for dnc chairman. he said in a thursday night conference call with progressive activists that he would make an announcement on monday. mr. ellison, an african-american muslim, serves as co-chairman of the house progressive caucus and was an early backer of mr. sanders. he was first elected in 2006. mr. schumer<u+2019>s endorsement was first reported by politico. the heavyweight endorsement and support of the progressive activists will make him a formidable candidate for the job. also in the running for the job is former dnc chairman howard dean, who said in a thursday twitter message that the party needs <u+201c>organization and focus on the young,<u+201d> as well as a strategy for competing in all 50 states. <u+201c>i am in for chairman again,<u+201d> he wrote. the new chairman, who will succeed interim head donna brazile, will be chosen at the next meeting of the dnc early next year. progressive critics of the party establishment, including sanders supporters, have been arguing that the dnc has become too much of a fundraising machine that isn<u+2019>t connecting with rank-and-file voters, and that contributed to the party<u+2019>s failure in the election. they have argued that the dnc should be more focused on grass-roots organizing. asked about the dnc role in thursday night<u+2019>s conference call, mr. ellison said, <u+201c>the key here has got to be a turnout-based, grass-roots-based democratic party that uses relationship building, one on one.<u+2019><u+2019> mr. schumer seemed to embrace that view of the dnc<u+2019>s changing role in backing mr. ellison. <u+201c>without a democratic white house, schumer<u+2019>s view is the dnc is where grass-roots organizing in sync with legislative battles should be organized,<u+2019><u+2019> said schumer spokesman matt house. write to janet hook at janet.hook@wsj.com
schumer, liberal leaders rally behind rep. ellison for dnc chair    - wsj
janet hook