Democrats urged to cut ties with Randi Weingarten by former Harris aide

The Democratic Party should “break-up” with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten, ex-Kamala Harris campaign aide Ben Austin wrote in an opinion piece on Monday.

“Democratic leaders should thank Weingarten for her service, then lock the door behind her as she makes her way out,” Austin wrote in The Hill. “As a party leader, Weingarten gaslit Democrats into believing that the best response to the Republican free market smorgasbord of school choice with loosely regulated vouchers is to make sure there is no choice of any kind.”

Weingarten announced that she would be leaving the Democratic National Committee due to a disagreement with party leadership in June. 

Austin, the founding director of Education Civil Rights Now and a strong supporter of unions, also called out an affiliate of AFT for wielding “considerable power to bully politicians and defiant parents into fealty during the school closures.” 

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The affiliate, United Teachers Los Angeles, strongly opposed Austin’s community-organized effort to get teachers back in the classroom throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Weingarten’s affiliate initially opposed teaching over zoom. And while United Teachers Los Angeles trapped Los Angeles Unified School District students at home indefinitely, cut off from learning, they rooted their opposition to reopening schools in bizarre racial ideology, not science,” he wrote.

“These Los Angeles Unified School District parents encountered endless Kafkaesque roadblocks erected by Weingarten’s union. And as it happened, I watched a group of smart progressive parents I’d been organizing with transform into Trump voters one-by-one. It was like a real-time focus group of the damage Weingarten and her allies were doing to my party’s credibility,” Austin continued.

Austin said Weingarten’s leadership had been “tragic” for American children. 

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“Democratic leaders should thank Weingarten for her service, then lock the door behind her as she makes her way out,” Austin wrote in The Hill. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz (Reuters)

Austin accused the Democratic Party of “offshoring” education policy to teachers unions.

“Here’s a lesson plan for my party: Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama won because they had the guts to challenge party orthodoxy on behalf of the American people. Democrats like Harris — along with every nominee since Walter Mondale who lost in the general election — ran as avatars of party orthodoxy and offshored education policymaking to Weingarten and the teachers unions,” he wrote.

He said former Vice President Kamala Harris never talked about schools in her campaign speeches and said it was by design.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“Democrats became the party of public education because they had the courage to fight for it. That courage is needed again today — to challenge failed leaders, stand with parents, take back power and fight for democracy,” Austin concluded.

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AFT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.