Ellison calls on Dems to rally behind Perez

Rep. Keith Ellison called on Democrats to rally behind the party’s newly elected chairman Tom Perez on Saturday after Perez appointed the Minnesota congressman, his top rival for the position, as his deputy.

“I am asking you to give everything you’ve got to support chairman Perez,” Ellison told supporters.

{mosads}After winning the vote, Perez in his first motion as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) asked to suspend the rules and appoint Ellison as deputy chairman.

“I would like to begin by making a motion, it is a motion that I have discussed with a good friend, and his name is Keith Ellison,” Perez said.

Ellison took the podium after Perez announced the motion to congratulate the new chairman.

“We don’t have the luxury to walk out of this room divided,” Ellison said, adding that all Americans “are in need of your help.”

“And if we waste even a moment of going at it over who supported who, we are not going to be standing up for those people,”  he said.