Democrats on Saturday neared the end of a long, competitive battle to choose a new national party chairman who will attempt to turn widespread opposition to President Donald Trump into more election victories. One of the leading candidates, former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, told Democratic National Committee members the party is facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance” after losing about 1,000 elected posts from Capitol Hill to state legislatures during the last decade, in addition to Hillary Clinton’s presidential election loss.

The race for a new Democratic chairman narrowed to two candidates, a former Cabinet member and a liberal Minnesota congressman, both of them promising to rebuild a reeling party and fight Republican President Donald Trump. Tom Perez, labour secretary under former President Barack Obama, told Democratic National Committee members the party is facing a “crisis of confidence” and a “crisis of relevance” after losing about 1,000 elected posts from Capitol Hill to state legislatures during the last decade, in addition to Hillary Clinton’s presidential election loss in November.