Hispanic Caucus endorses Cárdenas to lead DCCC

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Monday endorsed Rep. Tony Cárdenas (Calif.) as the next head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm.

Cárdenas is competing with New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) post, after Chairwoman Cheri Bustos (Ill.) announced last week she would not be seeking reelection following House Democrats’ disappointing showing in this month’s elections.

“Tony Cárdenas has demonstrated the vision, commitment, and record that will be needed to win in the next cycle,” wrote CHC First Vice Chairman Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). “He is committed to the idea that however much success is achieved we should never settle but instead continually strive to raise that bar higher.”

Cárdenas has led the CHC’s campaign arm, Bold PAC, over the past three election cycles, setting fundraising records and expanding the caucus to a record 39 members after the 2018 election.

His stint at the head of Bold PAC had some Democratic lawmakers clamoring for him to lead the DCCC once it became apparent that Democrats would lose seats after this month’s election.

The race against Maloney has become heated, as Maloney has poached at least two CHC members, Reps. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), to his side.

But Cárdenas won the endorsement of the CHC as a group, partly on a diversity argument.

“In order to successfully serve the people of America, our leadership must mirror our
increasingly diverse constituency,” wrote Gallego.

And Democrats are facing an especially tough 2022 cycle, with a razor-thin majority heading into the midterms of President-elect Joe Biden’s first term in office.

“We know that if Tony is elected Chairman of the DCCC, he will bring us together in order to successfully maintain and expand our Democratic majority so that we can accomplish our priorities for the people,” wrote Gallego.