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The race for chair of the Democratic National Committee is down to two main candidates: Rep. Keith Ellison and Tom Perez, The Hill reports.

With Democrats preparing to cast ballots this weekend, The Hill identified, which of the several candidates, 240 of the 447 voting members intend to support. Ellison leads with 105 supporters to Perez’s 57, while the other major candidates have less than a dozen supporters each. More than 50 voting members are undecided.

Still, the news outlet predicts the race to clinch the 224-vote threshold for victory will unfold in multiple rounds of voting. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated after each round until one of them wins a majority.

The leading candidates represent two factions of the Democratic Party. Ellison, a Minnesota progressive, has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

In the other corner, the party’s establishment wing backs Perez, the former labor secretary in the Obama administration. Former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder have endorsed Perez.

According to The Hill, a growing number of Democrats believe the conditions are ripe for the voters to back a candidate from the middle.

“What you have are two strong, well-established candidates, each of whom represent factions of the Democratic Party, and in this case they are factions that aren’t at war but don’t see eye to eye. In those cases, you often see candidates who can unite the middle,” Steve McMahon, a democratic strategist, told The Hill.

The news outlet said South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is receiving a lot of buzz as the consensus candidate. He received the endorsement of Howard Dean, a former DNC chairman and presidential candidate.

SOURCE: The Hill

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