ATLANTA _ By a razor-thin margin, Tom Perez was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee Saturday, putting a veteran of the Obama administration in charge of rebuilding a party devastated by the results of the 2016 elections.
The new Democratic leader immediately promised to make President Donald Trump a one-term president, calling him the "worst president in the history of the United States."
"I know we can win the battles ahead," Perez said. "I know we will win the battles ahead when we put our values forward, when we lead together."
Perez, who was secretary of labor under President Barack Obama, narrowly defeated Keith Ellison on the election's second ballot, winning 235 votes from members of the Democratic National Committee. Ellison, a congressman from Minnesota, won 200 votes.
The race pitted the party's establishment, which backed Perez, against liberal activists who supported Ellison to take control of a party in disarray since Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump last year.
Perez moved immediately to reach out to Ellison supporters, saying that his first act as chairman would be making the congressman his deputy chairman.
In a speech after the vote, Ellison urged his supporters to "give everything you got to support Chairman Perez," saying the party had to unite against Trump.
"We don't have the luxury, folks, to walk out of this room divided," he said. "We don't have that luxury."
Signs of division, however, were apparent as interim DNC chair Donna Brazile announced the vote totals, with a group of about a dozen supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt., who backed Ellison, yelling "party for the people, not big money." The group continued yelling even as the congratulatory speeches began on stage.
In his victory speech, Perez sought to refocus attention back on Trump.
"Someday they're going to study this era in American history and they're going to study it alongside the Know-Nothing Movement and they're going to ask the question of all of us, 'Where you were in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the United States?'" he said. "And we will all be able to say the united Democratic Party led the resistance and ensured this president is a one-term (president)."
