Top aides leave Dem campaign arm amid diversity complaints

WASHINGTON (AP) — A mass departure of top aides shook House Democrats' campaign arm today, an exodus prompted by complaints from Hispanic and black lawmakers the organization's staff lacked diversity.

Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement late Monday she had "fallen short" and promised to "work tirelessly to ensure that our staff is truly inclusive." Executive Director Allison Jaslow announced her departure and a DCCC aide said five other senior aides had also resigned.

The tumult comes in a period when race has become a partisan battlefield, after a series of Twitter attacks by President Donald Trump on House Democrats of color. In his latest blasts, he has disparaged Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and his city of Baltimore, which is majority black.

The shake-up also occurred as both parties are already fundraising and recruiting candidates for the 2020 elections, in which Democrats will be defending their House majority. The DCCC outspent its counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, in the 2018 elections that saw Democrats regain House control after eight years in the minority.

Lawmakers complaining about the DCCC's staff have included Texas Democratic Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez and Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Bustos, 57, became chairwoman of the campaign committee after the 2018 elections, arguing she would be effective because she has represented a swing district that swung to support Trump in 2016.

Hispanic lawmakers became disenchanted after she replaced top staffers, including many minorities, with aides who were largely white, said an aide to Gonzalez who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. New committee leaders often name long-time aides to their staffs.

In a statement last weekend, Gonzalez and Vela said the DCCC was "in complete chaos." They said Bustos should appoint a person of color to be executive director "to restore confidence in the organization and to promote diversity."

Fudge also told Politico, which first reported about the DCCC's disarray, about her unhappiness about the committee's lack of diversity.

"It is shocking, and something needs to be done about it," she said.