Kentucky, virginia, and other state races. The Christian Science monitor event also asked about the ongoing impeachment inquiry against president trump. Good morning. I am linda feldman, Washington Bureau chief of the Christian Science monitor. Tom perez,oday is chair of the Democratic National committee. Congratulations on last night. A bit of background. Chairman perez is from buffalo, new york. He earned his bachelor degree from Brown University and a law degree from harvard. He served a number of government positions, clerked for a federal judge, was a prosecutor for ted kennedy, worked in the office of civil rights for president clinton, and in 2002, became the first hispanic member of the Montgomery County council in maryland. He became secretary of labor. In 2009, president obama named mr. Perez head of the Civil Rights Division at the u. S. Department of justice. In 2015, president obama made him secretary of labor, and in 2017, mr. Perez was elected chairman of the Democratic National committee, which brings us to today. To the ground rules. We are on the record here. Please know live tweeting no live tweeting while the breakfast is underway. There is no embargo when the session ends at 12 00. Soon as the breakfast and if you would like to ask me a question, please send a signal and we will allow for that if time permits. And now mr. Perez has opening remarks. Tom perez thank you. It is an honor to be here with all of you. ,wo and a half years ago i ran forf 2017, chair of the dnc under the promise that we would Work Together with our partners in the democratic ecosystem to build a 50 state party so that we are competing everywhere, every year, in every zip code, and we are doing exactly that. And new017, virginia jersey, those elections taught us that democrats could win again. A month later, doug jones victory in alabama taught us we could win everywhere. 2017 was about scale. What can we do across the sky and across the country at scale . We now have nancy pelosi as speaker of the house, even against the headwinds of gerrymandering where we had to win races. The last time we flipped this many governor seats from red to 1982. As historic gains in state legislatures. Work continues into 2019. Meani say the ecosystem, i the ecosystem. Yesterdays victory was a victory for all democrats. It was a victory for our democratic values. I cannot say enough about the great work of all the partners in the ecosystem. The Democratic Governors Association powerhouse invested 5 million alone in kentucky not to mention other efforts they made. Made investments in mississippi as well. About say a bit mississippi. We invested in jim hood. We are investing next year again because we are in it for the long haul. That is what a 50 state party does. What i learned from last night we indeed can win everywhere. About thetable to me victory in kentucky is the similarities it has to our victories last year in wisconsin. One, it starts with candidate quality. In wisconsin, we had a spectacular candidate for governor. In kentucky, a spectacular candidate for governor, steve bashir. Andy beshear. Andy is the attorney general, as you know. His father built, when he was governor of kentucky, one of the most effective healthcare exchanges in the country, and when matt bevin got elected, he broke it. People saw that. You cannotlieve govern effectively if you have to hate everybody you disagree with. Thats what matt bevins, was. Thats what scott walkers, was. What you saw yesterday was a great candidate, a Great Organization competing everywhere. Eberts not, tony only did better in milwaukee and madison, but across the state. Wast a quarter of the gain in milwaukee and madison. The rest was all across the state. We competed everywhere and when we were competitive everywhere. Same thing in kentucky. It wasnt only louisville and lexington, although we ran up the score there. We did well in areas where bevin had done well four years ago. In coal country, we won a number of counties, competing in rural parts of the state. When you are in every zip code candidate and your message resonates everywhere because he was talking about health care, he was talking about basic pocketbook issues, that is how he succeeded. Another example, and i cannot say enough good things about the great work of the Democratic Legislative Committee , an important player in the ecosystem. At the beginning of this term, i spoke with jessica post, the remarkable leader of the dlc c. We talked about if we could flip roughly 4041 seats in the legislative chambers this cycle, we would flip those chambers. Thats on top of what we flipped in 2018. We were talking about the two chambers in virginia. Mission accomplished last night. In princee night William County. Prince William County embodies the challenges that donald trump and his politics of division are confronting in todays world. It is the quintessential suburb that democrats continue to win across the country, whether it is in virginia or pennsylvania in 2018 or elsewhere. Corey practiced the politics of division. Virginians overwhelmingly rejected the politics of division, and they now have a majority in prince William County. Have as at we Democratic Party. We believe diversity is our greatest strength. Mr. President , when you continually divide america, that is not only unamerican, it is terrible politics. Thats not who we are. The voters of virginia spoke up. A sikh american elected last night in prince William County. Thats what we are all about. We are competing everywhere. When i look at Youth Engagement , Youth Engagement when up Something Like 200 300 percent. Young people are responding. This is the third year in a row donald trump has been president. The common denominator in all of these has been democrats competing, winning, and leading with our values. Again, i am so appreciative of the partnership and the leadership of the dlc c. , we had ay last night new entity in the democratic ecosystem, the Democratic Data Exchange which was created earlier this year. The work done in kentucky last was the first battle test for the Democratic Data Exchange. Partner very important in the evergrowing democratic ecosystem, a partner that can enable everybody running for office to have more information. We were proud to be a partner in kentucky. Roughlyproud to invest 900,000 dollars in the coordinated campaign in addition thehe work we did with voter file partnership. The state party chair is one of the best in the country. You could not find a better beshear, andn andy when you lead with your values, you can win. There is nothing weak about kindness and compassion. Last night, and he said i will truly be looking out for you, as opposed to the president the night before who said you need to vote for matt bevin, otherwise, it embarrasses me. Elections are not about you. They are about the people we are trying to help. Thats why democrats are winning. We are focused on helping people across the country. , but i am sober about the task at hand. We are going to continue to compete early, everywhere, and together with our partners as we are now less than one year from the most important election in my lifetime. Thank you. I am sure we will have more questions. I want to ask you about the 2020 the still huge, diverse, potentially divisive president ial field. On the question of party unity, i know you have a unity pledge, you have also talked about an expanded unity pledge which is not just to have candidates serve as surrogates for the eventual nominee, but to have senior advisors work with the eventual nominee and also share data, which Bernie Sanders did not do in 2016. Tell us where that stands, your efforts to keep the party from flying apart as we get closer to the actual nomination. Mr. Perez our unity is our strength as a party and Donald Trumps nightmare. It helped us win last night and in 2018 and 2017. Every candidate running for president understands this is not about them. This is about democracy at a a criticalt inflection point. Thats why i asked every candidate to not only pledge to support the nominee but to actively campaign for the nominee, to have a surrogate, an ambassador if and when they leave the race. One thing we know is that if there are 20 some odd people running for president , all that one will not make it to the mountaintop, and every one of them has taken that pledge. If they are running as a democrat, they made a clear commitment to us. Absolute confidence that everyone will follow through on that. Primaries that doesnt mean we wont have a tough primary. Thats what primaries are for. Whoever emerges will be battle tested. Have they all signed the document for the expanded pledge, the sharing of data . We havent made them sign a document. They have made a commitment and i am confident we are moving forward together. People understand this is different. Health care is on the ballot. Womens reproductive rights are on the ballot. Immigration is on the ballot. An economy that works for everyone is on the ballot, all of those things are on the ballot. Our democracy as we know it is on the ballot the ballot, and everything will candidate understand this is bigger than them. We have to come together, we will come together, and over the last three years, we have come together in these races, and our unity has enabled us to win names up and down the ballot. Are you worried the democrats will nominate someone who is too leftwing for a gardenvariety of democrats and that unity pledge will not hold . Think the problem is that the Republican Party of lincoln is dead, and the real challenge is right now, the Republican Party is no off the rails to the far right. Virginia yesterday, a big reason we won that race is because there was a special session a few months ago to do with the issue of reducing gun violence in the aftermath of yet another horrific shooting. What happened in that special session . 90 minutes into it, republicans gaveled it down. 90 of the American People believe we ought to do something to reduce gun violence, and we can do so consistently with the Second Amendment. When you look at roe v. Wade, two thirds, 70 of the American People believe that roe v. Wade should be the law of the land and the republicans are trying to overturn it. Violence reduction, people with preexisting conditions, people think you have to have your coverage, and it is the republicans that are trying to take away coverage. I think the extreme party in america right now is the Republican Party, and that is why we have been winning elections, because independent and moderate voters and lincoln republicans have been voting for democrats. What happened in 2018. You saw suburban women across this country, you saw young people voting in abundance. We saw it again last night in virginia and elsewhere, and so i am very confident that whoever wins our nomination, their values are going to command the respect and support of the majority of the American People. One more from me, where you stand on the issue of a corporatefunded super pac helping the democrats retake the presidency . That is going to be up to candidates, you know . For the dnc . Money you are way behind the republicans in money. The Third Quarter of this year, to be clear, if you look at what the democratic the rnc and the Trump Campaign manager, it was 311 million dollars. The democratic ecosystem, especially in the small dollar space, is raising record numbers of money, record amounts of money. Had more new donors in 2019 than they did in 2017 and 2018 combined. Their biggest single hour of fundraising in the Third Quarter of this year was the second hour of our september debate. That tells me that people are excited by our candidates, they their smartphone , and they are investing in candidates. Donald trump you know, they raised more money than the dnc last year, more money than the dnc in 2006. We won at scale last year. They are morally bankrupt and that is the problem. They have to spend a lot of money on their Legal Defense fund, their legal bills are mounting. We have to raise enough money to out, to builde out the infrastructure of success, and that is what we are doing. Are you ok with the corporate funded super pac helping the dnc . A we do not have corporatefunded super pac helping the dnc, and we have been very clear that we do not take money from organizations that are inconsistent with our values. Clear ruleen a very of engagement for us at the dnc, and that will continue to be. And you are ok with biden backing down on his rejection it will be up to the each individual candidate, and the voters will accept that. Each candidate have to run a campaign they believe that is best for them. Paul from the Washington Examiner . The president backed away from his promises after recent shootings. Nationally it was not big but in your races, it was a big thing, especially in virginia around the nra. How do you see this issue playing out in 2020 and would it be safe to say that the nra is surrounded by proguncontrol counties and legislators . Reducing gunof violence is an issue of national importance. This president has broken his promises repeatedly to the American People. He said of the day after a shooting yeah, weve got to do something about background checks, and the following day he meets with the nra. Voters in virginia spoke and communicated very clearly about this. Of nra members believe that we can have common sense Gun Violence Reduction measures and Second Amendment freedoms. Is going to bes a really important issue of the American People. I applaud the young people not simply from parkland, but across the country. The mothers of the movement. We need to stop going to and we need to stop kowtowing to the nra. People have spoken. This is an example of so many issues where this president makes promises and breaks promises. He said, i am not going to mess with your health care, now he wants to do away with coverage for preexisting condition. Be aid there will never plant closure to workers in ohio, michigan, wisconsin and are now ina, and we a manufacturing recession, the worst for the Auto Industry is the great recession. Barack obama save the Auto Industry and the president continues to break his promise. Him to keep his promise . I think the answer is a resounding no. Good morning, jonathan. Big municipal victories last night. A year ago last month, the democrats came and ran at the congressional races, but you lost legislative seats in new jersey this year. What in 2020 is your concern that you cannot keep your gains . You undoubtedly know, we won a lot of very critical races in new jersey. Did we win 100 of the ones out there, no, but did we win a majority . Absolutely. Bill murphy is one of the most effective governors in the country and fighting for issues that new jersey voters care about, making sure that the new jersey economy works for everyone, making sure if you work a fulltime job, you can feed your family. I think new jersey is going to oftinue to be a great model how we succeed as democrats. They have built a remarkably effective, every zip code organization, and that is what enables them to win. Issues,n on these local but when you look at the aggregate data in new jersey, we did pretty darn well. You won five seats in trump districts in 2020. Oni am actually focused taking the remaining house seats in new jersey. I know if bill murphy were here, he would say, i want all the house seats. The remarkable candidates, whether it is andy kim or mikey others, one of the big lessons i learned from this cycle is8, and 2019 that candidate quality matters. Feel candidates like matt bevin. Known you had your hands full, but i wonder how you feel about the u. K. General election, where you have a very left candidates, and whether you think there might be Lessons Learned for the Democratic Party, if you two had a leftwing candidate. I wonder what your opinion is on Jeremy Corbyn as well. The will let the voters in u. K. s beat to what is going to happen there. Ive am not going to do a donald thumbdid and put my on the scale of the election. They have been in a quicksand of deadlock since brexit past, and Boris Johnson it knowledge that a lot of his promises about brexit were not accurate. That is the challenge they confront. I am very confident about our candidates here because again, i tonk it is really important analyze what the American People are concerned about. They want a leader that is going to look out for them. What the tax bill that the republicans passed and the ukraine scandal have in common is they illustrate what this president of the north star is. The tax bill was all about helping himself and people like himself. Ukraine is all about himself. In northstar is what he sees the mirror every single morning, and the American People want a leader who is going to wake up every day looking out for them how am i going to keep my health care or get a better job . The Financial Times had a poll a few days ago that said, t