Teachers union President Randi Weingarten leaves DNC over disagreement with chairman

The American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten resigned from the Democratic National Committee over a disagreement with the party's chairman.

Earlier this year, Weingarten supported Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler for DNC chairman, who was the rival of the new DNC chairman, Ken Martin. Afterward, Martin removed Weingarten from the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which sets the calendar and process for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating process, The New York Times reported. Weingarten had served on the committee since 2009.

In a letter dated June 5, Weingarten wrote to Martin that she would decline his offer to reappoint her to the broader national committee, on which she has served since 2002. She noted that she also served on the Platform Committee and had been a delegate to every Democratic convention since 1992.

“While I am proud to be a Democrat, I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities,” Weingarten wrote.

Martin had pushed back on David Hogg, a DNC vice chairman who said he would be funding primary challengers to incumbent Democrats, which is discouraged within party leadership.

Last week, Hogg said that he would not keep his DNC post after the Democratic Party voted to redo the vice chair election over a technicality.

Weingarten had supported Hogg's efforts, saying it was necessary to “ruffle some feathers.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who endorsed both Martin and Hogg in this year's party elections, said on Friday that he disagreed with the dispute being made public.

“I certainly wished we wouldn’t have dirty laundry in public, but you know the personalities, things happen,” Walz said. “I don’t think Ken’s focus has shifted one bit on this of expanding the party.”