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Nevada Dem staff mocked for quitting as Bernie Sanders-backed candidates win all seats: 'No time for dinosaurs'

A coalition of progressive candidates backed by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America took over the leadership of the Nevada Democratic Party, sweeping all five party leadership positions in a contested election

Alana Mounce, the executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party, quit the party following Judith Whitmer getting elected to become chair. But she was not alone. Every other employee and all the consultants quit as well. This included the party operations director, communications director, research director, and finance director.

On March 6, a coalition of progressive candidates backed by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America took over the leadership of the Nevada Democratic Party, sweeping all five party leadership positions in a contested election. Whitmer’s opponents claimed that she was planning to fire them all anyway, but she has denied this. “I’ve been putting in the work,” Whitmer told The Intercept. “What they just didn’t expect is that we got better and better at organizing and out-organizing them at every turn.”

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The mass exodus did not come as a shock to Whitmer. “We weren’t really surprised, in that we were prepared for it,” she said. “But what hit us by surprise and was sort of shocking is that for a slate that claimed that they were all about unity, and kept this false narrative of division going on throughout the entire campaign -- in fact, they kept intensifying that -- that’s what was surprising about it, was the willingness to just walk away, instead of working with us.”

She added, “For a slate that claimed that they were all about unity … that’s what was surprising about it, was the willingness to just walk away, instead of working with us.” The report also claimed that the incumbents, preparing for the loss, had moved $450,000 out of the party’s coffers and into the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s account. The DSCC will put the money toward the reelection bid of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a first-term Democrat.

What was happening behind the scenes?

As per the report, when Bernie Sanders organized support for his 2016 presidential primary run, organizations like DSA increased in size and strength. After the Sanders campaign ended, the organizers behind it used their momentum to continue activating progressive pockets in the state with a focus on local office. Progressives led by the Left Caucus won a majority on the state Democratic board in 2020. 

“This was certainly kind of immediately made possible by the caucus outcome,” Keenan Korth, a member of the state party’s central committee who is supporting Whitmer, said. “But it really started before then, in that the caucus results were in and of themselves the result of a sustained organizing effort, and the slow accumulation of organizing infrastructure here post-2016, in large part through the campaign in 2018 for Amy Vilela,” who ran for Congress in Nevada in 2018 and later became Sanders’s Nevada campaign co-chair.

As per the report, Whitmer faced pressure to drop out of the race. A letter circulated accusing Whitmer of blocking the creation of diversity caucuses. Despite the pushback, Whitmer ultimately won the election. Jacob Allen won first vice-chair, Dr. Zaffar Iqbal was re-elected second vice chair, Ahmad Adé won secretary, and Howard Beckerman won treasurer.

Whitmer’s predecessor, former Clark County Democratic Chair Donna West, said Whitmer did not try to bridge gaps within the party. She “does not listen to others’ opinions and really takes those on board… I found that working with her could be really difficult, that she doesn’t really collaborate well, and doesn’t work to build consensus.” West reportedly resigned last summer.

A former Nevada Democratic Party staffer speaking under the condition of anonymity said that they quit out of a belief that Whitmer hadn’t built relationships across the party as Clark County chair and was at times unfairly critical of the state Democratic Party. “I knew I couldn’t work with her and watch her destroy the years of hard work so many operatives put into making our state party the best state party in the country.”

Sanders congratulated Whitmer, saying: “She knows that we must invest in year-round grassroots organizing focused on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice. If we build a political movement that speaks to working people, we will continue to build on our political success in Nevada.”

On social media, there was palpable excitement about this victory. Along with criticism for the Nevada Democratic Party members who quit. One Twitter user mocked the members who quit, saying, “Did the Nevada Democratic party have a widdle tantrum about moving forward with the times? How very sad. No time for dinosaurs. The GOP deep down in their black hearts knows this. So should you.”