The Democratic Party recently split with its long-time lawyer, Marc Elias, due to disagreements in legal strategies and strained personal relationships.
For years, Elias had been a key figure in the party’s election efforts.
Now that he is no longer associated with Biden’s team or the DNC, it raises questions about what this means for the future of Democratic election strategies going into 2024.
Marc Elias is an American attorney best known for representing high profile clients such as Al Franken during his Senate run against Norm Coleman in 2008 and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign during 2016.
In addition to these roles, he also worked closely with Perkins Coie law firm which was heavily aligned with the Democratic Party.
Though Elias had achieved success at first glance, a closer examination reveals some rather concerning actions taken by him throughout his career.
During 2017 it was revealed that he hired Fusion GPS on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee to create what became known as “the Russia Dossier.”
This dossier ultimately resulted in an FBI investigation aimed at overturning Trump’s victory during 2016 and creating conspiracy theories within media outlets.
Additionally, after becoming a witness during Michael Sussmann’s trial, Elias admitted to having discretion when instructing Fusion GPS on their tasks—a claim that led many observers to accuse him of jury nullification due to Trump’s status among beltway elites at that time who were assumed guilty regardless of evidence found against them.
Lastly, leading up to 2020 elections he pushed policies such as universal vote-by-mail as an attempt from Democrats to increase voter turnout while also challenging election results whenever Democrats lost–even going so far as claiming voting machines were responsible for certain defeats despite not providing any proof whatsoever.
This is why he ultimately faced sanctions from Fifth Circuit Court for filing nearly identical motions even though they had already been rejected before hand.
It appears Elias’ departure has created a divide inside Democrat circles going into 2024 which could hinder their ability to effectively challenge Republicans.
