Democratic Party Mulling Ousting DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Before Convention

Democratic Party’s top leaders are mulling dropping DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz before the convention in July.

Schultz has been the subject of increasing criticism by a section of Democratic voters, who believe that she has been unfairly supportive of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and has used her position as the DNC chair to make decisions that have been detrimental to Bernie Sanders’ chances in the race.

Accusations against Debbie Wasserman Schultz range from her setting up debates between Clinton and Sanders on weekends allegedly to keep the Democratic front-runner insulated, blocking Sanders’ campaign from accessing the Democratic Party voter database in December, and in Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver’s words, “throwing shade” at the Vermont senator’s campaign since he announced his candidacy last year.

But the evident frustration against the DNC chairwoman came to a boil when she fed into the fabricated narrative that Sanders’ supporters had been “violent” at the Nevada State Convention, even with video evidence from the convention suggesting otherwise.

As if that was not enough, Schultz went a step further and accused Sanders of “adding fuel to the fire,” an accusation that did not go particularly well with his supporters.

“Unfortunately, the Senator’s response was anything but acceptable. It certainly did not condemn his supporters for acting violently or engaging in intimidation tactics, and instead added more fuel to the fire,” she told CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer, before going on to compare Sanders’ campaign to that of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump’s campaign.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s statement elicited a range of responses from mainstream media organizations, with many pushed to the point of calling for her head, including MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.

“This has been very poorly handled from the start. It has been unfair, and they haven’t taken him seriously, and it starts, quite frankly, with the person that we just heard speaking [Wasserman Schultz]. It just does … She should step down. She should step down,” Brzezinski said.

Calls continue for DNC chief Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to step down: https://t.co/YGRqRm1I8p pic.twitter.com/fzsPtvbXza

— ABC News (@ABC) May 25, 2016

And now, according to the Hill, top Democratic leaders are mulling dropping Debbie Wasserman Schultz before the Democratic convention in an attempt to unite the party. Even pro-Clinton representatives see her as someone who fractures the Democratic Party rather than unite it, and it could lead to her replacement before the convention.

“There have been a lot of meetings over the past 48 hours about what color plate do we deliver Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s head on,” one pro-Clinton lawmaker told the Hill, before adding that it is something that is becoming increasingly likely with time.

“I don’t see how she can continue to the election. How can she open the convention? Sanders supporters would go nuts.”

Another senior Senate Democratic aide confirmed that the DNC was discussing replacing Schultz because of her fractured rapport with Sanders’ supporters.

“There’s a strong sentiment that the current situation is untenable and can only be fixed by her leaving. There’s too much water under the bridge for her to be a neutral arbiter.”

Is replacing Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chair of the DNC worth the headache? https://t.co/4h9Rsn6UpF | Getty pic.twitter.com/IWJ5eYyqzB

— POLITICO (@politico) May 26, 2016

While the news of the Democratic Party finally warming up to the demands of Bernie Sanders’ supporters could go some way in uniting the party, many believe that the decision to oust Debbie Wasserman Schultz, if taken, would only provide a superficial recourse to disgruntled party supporters. As the Observer noted in its report, Schultz would only be “a scapegoat for the Democrats’ poor treatment of Mr. Sanders throughout the campaign—even though she’s certainly not the only leader to obstruct democracy.”

It remains to be seen if and when Schultz is ousted from the party, and what repercussions it would have on the future of the presidential race, but in any case, Bernie Sanders’ supporters would certainly be pleased to see the back of her.

[Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images]