Randi Weingarten, left-wing activist and president of the second-largest teachers’ union in the United States, is leaving the Democratic National Committee (DNC), citing disagreements with leadership and dismay at the direction of the committee.
Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and has been an influential member of the DNC for 23 years, wrote a letter to DNC Chair Ken Martin indicating that she is at odds with committee leadership, Politico first reported.
“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,” she wrote in a June 5 letter.
“As always, the AFT will continue to be a leader in electing pro-public education, pro-working family candidates and will be especially engaged in the 2025-26 elections,” she added.
Weingarten recently defended former DNC vice chair David Hogg, who was ousted from the committee last week. The vote in May came as Hogg, a gun control activist and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor, was reported to be planning to spend millions funding primary candidates against “ineffective members of Congress.”
“Randi has gotten applause from the members when she told them, much to her dismay as a proud Dem,” a Weingarten spokesperson told the outlet.
Weingarten ultimately declined the committee’s offer to reappoint her as an at-large member of the DNC. Weingarten sat on the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee since 2009 and had been a delegate to Democratic conventions since 1992.
The DNC did not respond to Politico’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for – News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
