Voting Rights in America: Sustaining Democracy in Challenging Times

Join us on April 15 at 1 pm with Tom Perez, former DNC Chair.

RSVP here bit.ly/ly/wdc-april-15

A lifelong public servant, Tom Perez chaired the Democratic National Committee for the past four years, where he led the transformation of the DNC. In a recent New York Times interview, he acknowledged that more remains to be done: for example, he would like to see New Hampshire and Iowa bumped from their first-in-the-nation status in the presidential nominating process to reflect current realities. As President Obama’s Secretary of Labor, he expanded worker opportunities. As Obama’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, he led the Justice Department’s voting rights and police reform work. 

Here in Maryland, Tom served as Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation under Governor Martin O’Malley and was the first Latino elected to the Montgomery County Council. Tom served almost a decade on the Board of Casa de Maryland, including a stint as Board Chair. He is currently considering a run for Governor.

The son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Tom grew up in Buffalo and put himself through college earning tuition money on the back of a garbage truck. Tom earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University, a master's of public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Harvard law degree. He lives in Takoma Park with his wife, Ann Marie Staudenmaier, an attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and their three children.