Just two years after the original Women’s March drew widespread support and millions of participants nationwide, the 2019 edition has lost all of its major supporters.
The Democratic National Committee is the latest group to remove itself from the organization’s list of sponsors ahead of Saturday’s event.
While DNC officials did not provide an explanation for their decision, the move closely follows a Monday interview on ABC’s The View in which one of the March’s leaders failed to denounce Louis Farrakhan.
Tamika Mallory, co-president of the organization, has come under scrutiny in recent months for purportedly holding anti-Semitic views. Criticism intensified Monday, when Mallory appeared to justify her support for Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who is known for making numerous anti-Semitic remarks, including calling Jews “satanic,” and likening them to termites.
Upon pulling its sponsorship on Tuesday, the DNC released a statement saying, “the DNC stands in solidarity with all those fighting for women’s rights and holding the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers across the country accountable. Women are on the front line of fighting back against this administration and are the core of our Democratic Party.”
The DNC joins a number of other groups that are no longer sponsoring the event, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, EMILY’s List, Human Rights Campaign, NARAL, and the Center for American Progress. According to The Daily Beast, less than half of the close to 550 partners that participated in 2018 have returned this year.