Staff shakeup begins at Dem campaign committee

The House Democrats’ campaign arm is shaking up its staff in the wake of a dismal election cycle that led to vocal — and highly unusual — complaints from some lawmakers that the office needed a change in personnel.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), announced the changes Friday, drawing immediate praise from some of the junior members who’d agitated most loudly for a staff makeover. 

“This is one leg of the stool that I think is very necessary, and I’m encouraged by it,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said Friday by phone. “But there’s more to come.”

Staff positions are frequently revolving on Capitol Hill — particularly in campaign offices — and sources said the changes were planned irrespective of the elections. But the unorthodox grousing from lawmakers has put a special focus on the recent reshuffling at the DCCC. 

Gallego last week had hammered the DCCC staff, “starting from the top and almost all the way through middle-management,” for being “nothing but bureaucratic and ineffective for many, many years.”

Luján has rejected such criticisms, praising his aides for their tireless efforts to get Democrats elected. 

“In the 2016 cycle, the DCCC staff poured their blood, sweat and tears into their work in order to best serve the House Democratic Caucus, our candidates and the American people,” he said Friday in a statement. “For those staffers that are departing, let it be known that I respect you, I learned from you, and I’m deeply grateful for your commitment to a stronger democracy.”

Most notable among the changes, Luján tapped Dan Sena as the DCCC’s executive director heading into the 2018 midterms. Sena, who served as deputy executive director in the 2016 cycle, is a New Mexico native of Hispanic descent who’s worked previously on the campaigns of Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the retiring Senate minority leader. 

Sena will replace Kelly Ward, who’s been with the DCCC since 2010, serving as executive director for the last two cycles. Ward has not said where she’s headed next. 

Luján also named a new chief of staff, Aaron Trujillo, who was a senior adviser to the DCCC chairman in the most recent cycle, and promoted Meredith Kelly, the office’s national press secretary, to communications director. 

Jackie Forte-Mackay, who’s served as the DCCC’s chief financial officer for the last 12 cycles, will remain in that spot.

Other senior positions will be named “at a later date,” the office said.

The election drubbing had also prompted changes in Luján’s position, empowering the full caucus to elect the DCCC chairmanship spot, which had previously been appointed at the discretion of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). 

Last week, Democrats elected Luján to a second term in an uncontested vote that sent a clear message that even the loudest DCCC critics didn’t blame him for the party’s election misfortunes. 

Gallego and the other Democratic insurgents — including Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) — have argued that the process of electing the DCCC chairman will both empower Luján within the office and make the campaign arm more answerable to the caucus as a whole. 

“He’s been in touch with many members, and [is] promising really to shake up things and make the organization more accountable,” Gallego said of Luján. “So we’re happy at the steps he’s taking, and we’re going to continue seeing this.”

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) had considered a challenge to Luján last week, but decided against it after he was offered the chance to lead a “deep-dive” examination of the party’s election struggles, complete with a budget and a staff. 

Maloney has said one goal of the post-mortem is “to build a better DCCC working as a team.”

“It’ll involve all the stakeholders who participated in this election,” he said last week, “and after we get all that data and all that input we’ll develop specific recommendations.” 

The first parts of the report will be unveiled at the Democrats’ issues conference in February.