PHILADELPHIA – Controversy plagued the start of the Democratic National Convention Monday amid reports that Democratic Party favored presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over her rival, Bernie Sanders.
The fallout was swift and immense. With the party leadership in a tailspin -- and with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping down as chair -- the question remains: Who will lead the Democratic party next?
According to reports, Russian hackers cracked open Democratic email servers, and found emails showing that the party preferred Clinton over Sanders.
Party leaders have dismissed allegations that the party is biased because of religion. Donna Brazile, currently the vice chair of the party and a commentator on CNN, told the Hispanic Caucus Monday that she is sorry about the alleged favoritism.
“Regardless of how this information got out, there’s no excuse for staffers saying those things even if they thought they could get away with it,” she said from the podium.
Earlier in the day, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party wondered where the party goes from here if the Hispanic vote isn’t developed. He suggested that either of the Castro brothers, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro or his brother, HUD Secretary Julian Castro, could do the job.
“We’re going to win the Hispanic vote by a high percentage,” he said. “The question is, can we grow the Hispanic vote? You have to have more of them going out to vote, and if you have someone like Julian or even Joaquin running our party, they get that. They understand how that works and they know what needs to be done to engage that community, register them and get them to go out and vote.”
The fallout this week ended the party's chairmanship of Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who is stepping down from the leadership position at the conclusion of the DNC this week.
The leaked emails are too much of a burden for her to continue running the party, she said.
Hinojosa said the best thing for the party is to tend to a voter base that will help Democrats be successful everywhere, especially the White House.
“We all know that the key to the growth and the success of the Democratic Party in America today is by growing the Hispanic vote,” he said. “Without a strong Hispanic turnout in all the swing states, we can’t elect a president to the United States that’s a Democrat. Everybody knows that.”