Democratic National Committee No Longer Listed As Women’s March Partner
Women’s March Co-Chairwomen Linda Sarsour (L) and Tamika D. Mallory speak during the Women’s March ‘Power to the Polls’ voter registration tour launch at Sam Boyd Stadium on January 21, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
By Aiden Pink January 15, 2019
Updated 2:55 p.m.
The Democratic National Committee is no longer listed as a partner of the Women’s March, the latest prominent organization to abandon the movement ahead of its third annual event on Saturday.
The Women’s March has been plagued for nearly a year by accusations of anti-Semitism against its leaders, which has also prompted groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Emily’s List to withdraw support last week.
A Jewish Democratic operative told the Forward that Jewish, pro-Israel and LGBT groups had been lobbying Democrats for months to disaffiliate from from the Women’s March over its leaders’ ties to the anti-Semitic and homophobic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
The operative added that top party leaders grew more receptive two months ago after a Tablet investigation alleged that the Women’s March leaders were themselves anti-Semitic, and not just allied with a prominent anti-Semite.
The DNC had not been a sponsor of the march in previous years, though DNC chairman Tom Perez spoke at the Women’s March main event last year in Las Vegas. The DNC was listed for the 2019 march as one of 175 partner organizations in a tweet from the Women’s March account on January 10. But by the 15th, the organization was no longer listed on the Women’s March website.
“The DNC stands in solidarity with all those fighting for women’s rights and holding the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers across the country accountable,” DNC Deputy Communications Director Sabrina Singh said in a statement. “Women are on the front lines of fighting back against this administration and are the core of our Democratic Party.”
The Jewish Democratic Council of America praised the DNC’s move. “JDCA supports the objectives of the Women’s March and stands with sister marches across the country this weekend. At the same time, we welcome the DNC, SPLC, Emily’s List, and other organizations’ decision to not sponsor and participate in the Women’s March and take a principled stand against anti-Semitism,” JDCA executive director Haile Soifer said in a statement.
BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday that of the 11 announced or presumed Democratic presidential candidates they asked, four – Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Sherrod Brown and Cory Booker – said they would not be attending the march, and seven more did not respond to their questions.
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
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