MONTGOMERY, Ala. — UPDATE 6/18: Democratic National Committee leaders on Saturday agreed to review concerns about how the the Alabama Democratic Party operates, including its decision to eliminate several diversity caucuses.
The DNC’s Executive Committee voted to refer “all pending and future challenges and complaints” about the matter to its Rules and Bylaws Committee, according to a document. The move came a day after members expressed alarm about the state party's actions.
The Democratic National Committee in 2019 directed the Alabama Democratic Party to update its bylaws to include diverse voices in party affairs. That led to creating diversity caucuses for young voters, LGBTQ community members, Hispanics, Native Americans, people with disabilities and other groups.
But at its May meeting, the state party abolished some of those caucuses, with proponents arguing they were unneeded or diluted the power of Black voters who make up the majority of the state's Democratic electorate.
Forty Alabama Democrats filed a complaint concerning the May meeting and bylaws adopted during it, indicating they wanted the DNC to review the issues if they weren't resolved at the state level.
Randy Kelley, chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, has maintained that the new bylaws did not cut representation. He said Friday that state party leaders were prepared to go to hearings and “plead our case” if the national party intervened.
Original reporting continues below:
Members of the Democratic National Committee said Friday that they are concerned about the operations of the Alabama Democratic Party and the elimination of several caucuses intended to ensure a diversity of voices in party affairs.
The comments at a meeting of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules and Bylaws Committee come amid an ongoing feud over state party leadership and the possibility that national officials might again intervene in the state party as they did four years ago.
The Democratic National Committee in 2019 had directed the Alabama Democratic Party to update bylaws to provide representation of more minorities, not just African Americans, in party affairs. That led to the creation of minority caucuses to ensure representation of young voters, LTBTQ community members and others. But the state party in May abolished some of those caucuses with proponents arguing they were unneeded.
“We’re equally alarmed by the bylaws and the operational allegations which seem to prevent the full participation of members, if true,” said Minyon Moore, co-chair of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.
Yvette Lewis, a member of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules and Bylaws Committee who urged the 2019 changes, said she had a “broken heart” over the recent actions in Alabama because it is “as if we did nothing.”
“Diversity and expanding the party works,” Lewis said. She said there is opportunity for Democrats in Alabama after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling requiring the state to draw new congressional districts and create a second district where Black voters comprise a significant portion of the electorate.
“We can break that stronghold in the South. ... There are people down there that so share our values, that so much want to be a part of the Democratic Party. We owe it to them,” Lewis said.
Randy Kelley, the chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, asserted that the new bylaws did not cut representation. He argued youth and LGBTQ voters in the state are proportionately represented.
“No one lost any representation,” Kelley said. “We want to grow the party."
He said if the DNC attempts to intervene in Alabama that they are prepared to go to the hearings and "plead our case."