Nevada Democratic Party Staff Quit After Socialists Take Leadership: Report

Observers and members of the media look on as Clark County election workers scan mail-in ballots at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 20, 2020. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

All the staff of the Nevada Democratic Party quit after Democratic Socialist (DSA) candidates took over leadership positions.

On Saturday, Judith Whitmer, who was elected Chairwoman of the Nevada Democratic Party, received an email from Alana Mounce, the party’s executive director, announcing that she would be leaving her position.

Mounce first congratulated Whitmer and then said she was quitting along with every other employee and consultant, who would be taking their severance packages with them, according to a report from The Intercept.

Judith Whitmer, the former Clark County Democratic Party Chair and Clark County Left Caucus Chair, ran on the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) slate. Her DSA coalition won 2 vice-chairs, and a party secretary and treasurer.

Regarding the mass exodus of party staff, Whitmer told The Intercept, “We weren’t really surprised, in that we were prepared for it,” “But what hit us by surprise and was sort of shocking is that for a slate that claimed that they were all about unity, and kept this false narrative of division going on throughout the entire campaign—in fact, they kept intensifying that—that’s what was surprising about it, was the willingness to just walk away, instead of working with us.”

Former Clark County Democratic Chair Donna West, Whitmer’s predecessor who resigned last summer, said Whitmer didn’t try to bridge gaps within the party.

She “does not listen to others’ opinions and really take those on board,” “I found that working with her could be really difficult, that she doesn’t really collaborate well, and doesn’t work to build consensus,” West said.

The Nevada Democratic Party didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comments.

In the past few years, DSA-leading Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign invested in Nevada to motivate young Latino voters, helping him win the Nevada caucuses in the 2020 election.

Democratic presidential hopefuls former Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Sen. Bernie Sanders greet each other with a safe elbow bump before the start of the 11th Democratic Party 2020 presidential debate in a CNN Washington Bureau studio in Washington on March 15, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

After Sanders’ campaign closed, his supporters didn’t stop, instead, they utilized the momentum to push forward, winning a majority on the state’s Democratic board in the summer of 2020.

The Intercept said it’s a battle between the “insurgent progressive wing of the party” and “what’s known in Nevada as the Reid machine—a tightly run operation still guided by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.”

Then-U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 8, 2016. Alex Wong/Getty Images

In the 2016 election, Sanders organized his own supporters while Reid was working for Hilary Clinton, Sanders’ opponent and winner of the primary.