December 02, 2016 02:00 PM UTC

DNC Chair Candidates Converge On Denver

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• by: Colorado Pols

FRIDAY UPDATE: News breaking from today’s Democratic chair forum via Peter Marcus:

BREAKING: Howard Dean says that while he will not run for #DNCChair, he will assist. Down to three candidates. #copolitics

— Peter Marcus (@MediaMarcus) December 2, 2016

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Washington Post via the Denver Post, big Democratic names are arriving in Denver for a forum tomorrow featuring candidates to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee:

The “Future of the Party Forum” comes as the race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee has emerged as a proxy battle for the direction of the party with President-elect Donald Trump preparing to enter the White House and Republicans retaining control of both chambers of Congress.

The hopefuls planning to participate Friday include Ray Buckley, the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party; Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont; Keith Ellison, a Minnesota congressman; and Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

Several others are also eyeing the race, including Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who earlier this week laid out her vision of where the DNC should head in a Medium post. The proposals from Hogue, who has yet to declare her candidacy, include re-examining the electoral college, in which Trump prevailed despite losing the popular vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont are by most accounts the two top names in the race to be the next DNC chair. Ellison has attracted a bevy of endorsements from leading Democrats like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, while Gov. Dean’s last tenure as DNC chair is fondly remembered by Democrats due to the success of his so-called “50 State Strategy”–a strategy that coincided with Barack Obama’s victory and the last Democratic majority in Congress.

We’ve been insulated from the worst in Colorado, but since Dean’s chairmanship ended, Democrats have lost power at every level of government, from the U.S. Senate to state houses around the country–and now the White House. The bitter presidential primary battle this year between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, which ended the rule of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a hail of acrimony, has left deep divisions that the next chair will have to bridge.

We doubt tomorrow’s forum will see much press coverage, but it could tell us a lot about the Democratic Party’s future.