Entire staff of the Nevada Democratic party quits after Socialists win every seat during the state party's elections

The entire staff of the Democratic Party of Nevada quit last week after Socialists won every leadership position, sweeping a contested election.

The executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party, Alana Mounce, sent an email on March 6 to Judith Whitmer, who won the spot as the party’s chair on Saturday, notifying Whitmer that she and other staff members were resigning.

The party’s staff members who turned in their resignations included the executive director, operations director, research director, communications director, and finance director, The Intercept reported.

Whitmer ran as opposition to the party’s 'Progressive Unity Slate,' and pulled ahead with the backing of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who have made impressive ground in the state of Nevada after Bernie Sanders’ presidential run back in 2016 and credited the Democratic Socialists sweep of the party’s elections to out-organizing their opponents

According to The Intercept, the progressive wing of the Nevada Democratic Party was a tightly run operation guided by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who backed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Presidential election.

There has been longstanding tension in the state’s Democratic party between the Progressive Unity Slate, backed by Reid, and the NV Dems Progressive Slate, backed by the DSA.

According to The Intercept, the DSA exploded in 2016 after the Sanders campaign focused on organizing tens of thousands of young Latino voters in the state of Nevada, with the goal of activating people whom the party hadn’t bothered with before.

DSA of Nevada didn’t let up their campaigning efforts and by the time 2020 rolled around, Sanders won a commanding victory in the Nevada caucuses paving the way for a landslide sweep within the state party.

"We weren’t really surprised, in that we were prepared for it,” Whitmer told the Intercept. “But what hit us by surprise and was sort of shocking is that for a slate that claimed that they were all about unity, and kept this false narrative of division going on throughout the entire campaign — in fact they kept intensifying that — that’s what was surprising about it, was the willingness to just walk away, instead of working with us."

A former party staffer who wished to remain anonymous told The Intercept that Whitmer would reverse progress seen in the party.

"I knew I couldn’t work with her and watch her destroy the years of hard work so many operatives put into making our state party the best state party in the country," the staffer said.

Whitmer faced pressure to drop out of the race, and allies of Reid were working their connections to try to keep the party structure intact but Whitmer kept the faith and believed that with the help DSA’s organizational efforts she would pull ahead, and she did.