Perez denies report DNC is failing to deliver on $10M pledge to state parties
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez denied a new report alleging the DNC has failed to deliver on a pledge to raise $10 million dollar for state parties.
"False," he told Major Garrett on the latest episode of "The Takeout" podcast.
Vice News reported last Friday that six months after Perez announced an "unprecedented" rebuild of the Democratic party from the ground up with a $10 million fund dedicated to state parties, that money has not yet materialized. At the time of the report, according to Vice News, only one state had received a grant from the State Party Innovation Fund, and about two dozen states were still waiting.
On Wednesday afternoon after Perez spoke to Garrett for "The Takeout," the DNC announced its first wave of grants from the program, totaling nearly $1 million, and added that through the DNC's Every Zip Code Counts program, state parties have consistently been receiving $10,000 a month since October 2017.
Perez also pointed to a number of states where the Party has expended resources.
"We invested 1.5 million dollars in Virginia. We invested a million dollars in Alabama," he told Garrett. "When Nebraska needed some help last year in the mayors' race, we invested money in Nebraska. When Oklahoma needed some money because they were – last summer they had some special elections - we were able to win four seats there."
Perez claims the national party has increased its investment in state parties by a third already.
"And I could give you many other examples - they mayor's race in Atlanta. It got real tight at the end and in the last week, above and beyond what we had already invested, we invested another $50,000 or so."
Separately, Perez argued, members of the DNC team helped create ads for a number of candidates in the Virginia House of Delegates, and he claimed that the national party has directed funds to other projects.
"We help with technology assistance. We build an app so people can go door knock," Perez said. "We're investing money so that people can hire organizers. We're being meaningful partners with folks in the ecosystem."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the DNC's announcement Wednesday of its first wave of grants through the State Party Innovation Fund.