A top Democratic operative has abruptly resigned his position overseeing a crucial part of the party’s 2016 campaign effort.
The Guardian has learned that Michael Sargeant, the longtime executive director of the Democratic legislative campaign committee (DLCC) – the arm of the Democratic party that oversees campaign efforts in state legislative races across the country – has resigned.
In a brief statement provided to the Guardian, the DLCC announced Sargeant will be replaced on an interim basis by Heather Williams, who is the group’s chief operating officer.
Sargeant, who has been with the committee for nearly a decade-and-a-half, has helmed the organization since 2007.
The group has been ramping up its efforts in an attempt to take advantage of increased turnout in the 2016 presidential election to retake a number of state legislative chambers that Republicans took over after their success in the wave election in 2014. The DLCC is in the midst of a long-term campaign to take control of a number of state legislative chambers by 2020, when the US undergoes its next round of redistricting.
