U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel weighs bid for DNC chair: report

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is considering entering the race to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a report said Friday, in the wake of the Democrats’ thumping in the Nov. 5 elections.
Emanuel, a fiery former White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor, is eyeing the post, Axios reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter, as the Democratic Party attempts to pick up the pieces after an election in which Donald Trump was elected president and Republicans won control of the Senate and the House.
Following the Nov. 5 election, current DNC chair Jaime Harrison is not expected to return to the post.
The report comes after David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to then-President Barack Obama, wrote Thursday on his X social media account that the party needs “a strong and strategic” leader.
Those comments echoed earlier remarks by Axlerod on his podcast Tuesday.
“If they said, ‘Well, what should we do? Who should lead the party?’ I would take Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, and I would bring him back from Japan and I would appoint him chairman of the Democratic National Committee,” Axelrod said on the “Hacks on Tap” podcast.
“He would be a presence in the media, fearless about taking on Trump,” he added.
But Emanuel would also bring to the table valuable experience as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where he oversaw the party’s victories in 2006 House elections that gave the party control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
As ambassador to Tokyo, Emanuel has been an outspoken critic of China, slamming Beijing with protocol-busting swipes at its economic and security policies in the region while heaping praise on Japan for its muscular approach to defense.