Debbie Wasserman Schultz was always going to be replaced as chair. But it wasn’t supposed to happen until January. | AP Photo PHILADELPHIA — Democrats are suddenly scrambling to fix the problem they thought they could kick down the road: choosing the next chair of the national party. The Democratic National Committee was always going to be overhauled, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz was always going to be replaced as chair. But it wasn’t supposed to happen until January, and the awkward question of who will serve as the next chief is now one the party can no longer ignore. Story Continued Below While interim chair Donna Brazile, a party stalwart and longtime Hillary Clinton family friend who served as Al Gore’s campaign manager, plans to serve until January , more than a dozen names are already circulating as potential successors. Prior to Wasserman Schultz’s resignation Sunday after five years in the post, in conversations with over 50 party leaders at the state and national levels, much of the speculation focused on former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a proven television surrogate and fundraiser who has worked with pro-Clinton super PAC Correct The Record. Since Sunday, Stephanie Schriock, the president of EMILY’s List, who has close ties to the Clinton campaign and has long been rumored as a potential chair, has also emerged as a leading candidate. Other party leaders have pointed to former Maryland governor and 2016 presidential candidate Martin O’Malley — an outspoken critic of Wasserman Schultz during the primary — as a prospect. He has stepped up his campaign travel for Clinton since she dispatched Bernie Sanders and, as a former leader of the Democratic Governors Association, O’Malley has experience leading a party committee that few other contenders can match. But a President Clinton would have the final say, and people close to Clinton’s political team are skeptical that she would want to empower someone who was so critical of her during the primary, let alone someone who could be interested in running for higher office again. The name of DNC Vice Chair R.T. Rybak, a former Minneapolis mayor, also often surfaces — he was seriously considered for the job following President Barack Obama’s reelection. He is popular among state party leaders, but people close to the committee say he has been less engaged with its day-to-day work in recent months, and he is far closer to Obama than to Clinton. Another vice chair, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley, draws even more frequent mention after he helped Gov. Maggie Hassan and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen survive their reelection bids in the heavily Republican 2014 cycle. With four terms as head of the Association of State Democratic Chairs under his belt, Buckley — a favorite of fellow chairs whose name has popped up repeatedly in recent days — earned plaudits from the Clinton and Sanders camps alike for his work to avert messy state conventions following a chaotic one in Nevada this spring. A wide assortment of other officials from all walks of the party have also been the subject of speculation. Among them: former DNC CEO Minyon Moore, a Clinton confidante who now works inside the campaign; Rep. Steve Israel, a former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head, who’s not seeking reelection; Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings; and HUD Secretary Julián Castro, who said Monday — after being passed over to be Clinton’s running mate — he had no interest in the job. Another name floating around this week is that of South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison, who said in an interview before Wasserman Schultz stepped down that he would consider taking the job if a President Hillary Clinton offered it. “If I were asked, I would really consider it after I get approval from the boss, which is my wife,” Harrison said. But if the identity of the next chair is still murky at best, some criteria for the post have started coming together. For one, the chair needs to be not only a proven fundraiser, but also a party figure acceptable to the restive Sanders wing that contributed to Wasserman Schultz’s ouster following the publication of internal DNC emails suggesting the party had tipped the scales to Clinton in the primary. And, say Democrats who blame the current committee’s failings on Wasserman Schultz’s management — as well as those who fault the White House for not offering enough institutional support — the chair needs to be someone Clinton knows she can work with. “The chairman of the party needs to go hand-in-glove with the White House, and we know that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has not gone hand-in-glove with Obama,” said John Morgan, an Orlando attorney and top Democratic Party donor who repeatedly clashed with Wasserman Schultz in public. “I would describe his relationship with her as ‘grin-and-bear-it.'” Many party leaders have urged people close to Clinton to…
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