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Speier Dodges Question on Who Leads the Democratic Party

September 14, 2017

Rep. Jackie Speier (D., Calif.) was not able to name who the leader of the Democratic Party is on MSNBC Wednesday.

"Who's the leader of the Democratic Party right now in this country?" host Craig Melvin asked Speier.

"Well, good question. I think there are a lot of leaders. What we need to kind of determine over the next, I'd say, six to eight months, is who really rises to the top," Speier said.

Speier then clarified that the Democrats do have strong potential candidates.

"But there's a great bench of Democrats who are looking at running for president and we'll see how many of them get traction," she said.

Speier's comments continue a 2017 tradition of Democrats being unable to give names of who leads the their party in the post-Obama era.

In March, MSNBC's Kasie Hunt asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) to name the leader of the Democratic Party and asked whether it was him.

"We have a bunch of leaders. You know, I certainly am the leader of the Senate and I try to help represent the Democratic Party. But we have a lot of very good voices. It's much too premature to handicap 2020," Schumer said.

MSNBC's Katy Tur asked Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in July who he thought the leader of the Democratic Party is, to which he replied there are "many leaders of the Democratic Party."

"Give me a name, governor. Give me a name," Tur interjected, but McAuliffe said he wasn't going to give any names.

Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Terri Sewell (R., Ala.) have deflected multiple attempts to have them name a leader of the Democrats.

More definitive answers to the question still haven't yielded a name.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said that Dems won't have a "true leader" until 2020, and former Democratic leadership challenger Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) said in July, "there's really not any major leader of the Democratic Party."