The rollercoaster internal battle among Alabama Democrats and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) reached another milestone on Thursday when a DNC committee voted to recommend stripping Alabama Democratic Party Chair Nancy Worley and Vice-chair Randy Kelley of their credentials.
The committee decision will now go before the full DNC this weekend for a final vote.
The vote in San Francisco, CA, came after a committee hearing in which Worley passionately doubled down on charges recently made against the DNC and those looking to unseat Worley, led by Senator Doug Jones (D-AL).
Per The Montgomery Advertiser, Worley said the Jones-led efforts are simply a reaction to last year’s state party elections not going to his liking.
“The problem is if we had not won that election … there never would have been a challenge,” Worley said. “And so it all had to do with who won and who was mad because we’ve won.”
She also emotionally suggested her opponents were undermining the legacy of civil rights activists in Alabama by looking to take power away from black Americans in the state party.
“You’re going to be burning in hell for taking away people’s voting rights,” Worley declared.
This escalated the sentiment expressed by Alabama Democratic Party Secretary Val Bright last week when she penned an open letter accusing Jones and the DNC of racism.
“Although blacks have been faithful to the Democratic Party and are largely responsible for electing Doug Jones and any white seeking office in this state, once elected on the backs of blacks, the urgency to remove black leadership begins,” Bright wrote.
“In other words, as long as we’re working in the fields all is well, but when we move to positions of authority, a challenge begins,” she added. “From slavery through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement, we are constantly being shown how little respect blacks receive for being hard working and loyal.”
Bright went on to say the electoral challenge to Worley is “a smoke screen to make it appear that Jones and the DNC is not attacking his true target, blacks.”
State Rep. John Rogers (D-Birmingham) on Wednesday told Yellowhammer News he disagrees with Bright’s charges of racism against Jones.
According to Gulf Coast News Today, Jones defended himself to members of the Baldwin County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in recent days.
“I know voices in this state are questioning my commitment to the African American community,” Alabama’s junior senator said. “Because I have had the audacity recently to challenge those who have controlled the Democratic party for a generation and clung to power despite the fact the party has been spiraling towards extinction under their watch … because I believe a viable two-party system is the only way for a state to truly progress and build on the NAACP mission of prosperity for all.”
“If my life’s work … are not enough let me be crystal clear, I am with you. I am there for you. I have never left you and together we will remain vigilant in the mission of the NAACP, our shared mission and we’ll keep on a walking, keep on a talking and we’re not going to let nobody turn us around until the promise of America is made real for all Americans,” Jones added.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
