Washington — Opposition Democrats on Saturday chose Tom Perez as their new leader on Saturday, tapping an establishment figure to lead the fight against President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress. Perez, a labour secretary under former president Barack Obama and the party’s first Hispanic-American leader, immediately named the contest’s runner-up, leftist legislator Keith Ellison, as the party’s deputy chairman. "Someday, they’re going to study this era in American history… and ask the question, of all of us, where were you in 2017 when we had the worst president in the history of the USUnited States?" said Perez, 55. "And we will all be able to say, the united Democratic party led the resistance, ensured this president was a one-term president and elected Democrats across this country." Ellison, a 53-year-old African American who is the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, warned that "we don’t have the luxury to walk out of this room divided".

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