The incoming leader of the House Democrats has tapped Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) to lead the party’s campaign arm heading into the 2024 elections, where Democrats are eyeing a return to power after losing their majority in this year’s midterms.
The move by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) puts DelBene — a seasoned former tech executive with deep ties to the deep pockets of Silicon Valley — at the helm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) during a high-stakes presidential cycle.
It also places a second woman in the top tiers of a party that prides itself on its diversity in both the caucus and the leadership — a step some saw as crucial in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision to step out of leadership after this term.
Still, the move came as something of a surprise, as DelBene was not among the pair of lawmakers — Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) — who had sought publicly to lead the DCCC in the 118th Congress.
But the playing field changed dramatically last month, when rank-and-file Democrats voted to shift the top DCCC spot from an elected position, chosen by the full caucus, to an appointed role at the discretion of the Democratic leader.
That adjustment gave Jeffries, who will replace Pelosi at the top of the party next year, new power to choose the campaign chief unilaterally. In picking DelBene, he touted her experience as a “battle-tested” lawmaker with “serious management and operational experience inside and outside government.”
“She is the right leader, with the right experience and the right demeanor to meet this pivotal moment,” Jeffries said in a statement.
DelBene had sought the top DCCC after the 2018 midterms, losing in a three-way election contest that was won by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.).
This year, DelBene joined two other Democrats — Reps. Mark Pocan (Wis.) and Brad Schneider (Ill.) — in leading the charge to change the party’s internal rules so that the head of the campaign arm was appointed, as it had been until 2016. The change was adopted easily last month, fueled by the midterm loss of the current DCCC chairman, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.), whose tight contest had forced the DCCC to use valuable resources defending him.
Jeffries credited DelBene for recognizing that Democrats had a chance this year to pick up a seat in Washington’s Third District, where Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R), a 12-year veteran, had lost her primary race to a conservative firebrand after she’d voted to impeach former President Trump.
DelBene “then went to work and helped elect incoming Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in a rural and exurban district that long eluded the grasp of Democrats,” Jeffries said, hailing her “keen political instincts.”
DelBene, a former Microsoft executive who currently heads the New Democrat Coalition, is no stranger to tough campaigns.
She picked off a Republican incumbent, John Koster, for the right to represent Washington’s First District in the 113th Congress. She has defended that seat as a “frontline” member — the label attached to vulnerable Democrats who tend to be the top targets of the GOP. And more recently she’s served in DCCC leadership roles, in both the 2018 and 2020 cycles.
Not insignificantly, DelBene is also a prolific fundraiser, who hauled in more than $2.5 million this cycle. She’s already vowing to help Democrats return to power two years from now.
“Democrats are dedicated to showing Americans that governance can work, advancing the policies that will make a difference to families, workers and communities, and pushing back against MAGA Republican extremism and chaos,” she said in a statement.
Updated: 2:44 p.m.