DNC Chair Perez Defends Exclusionary Primary Process

Striking back at criticism the Democratic primary process is biased to the rich and famous, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez defended his debate participation criteria as "the most fair, transparent, inclusive" on DNC history.

"It's always been up to the voters," Perez told ABC News' "This Week." "We set transparent rules, set a fair bar for people, communicated to the candidates, so they know the rules."

After summer debates stretching over two days, just 10 Democratic primary candidates have qualified for the ABC News debate this Thursday, bringing some criticism to the DNC and Perez for limiting the field to those who have megadonors and public popularity with at least 2% of the vote in polls.

"I'm looking forward to working together with ABC," Perez told host George Stephanopoulos. "There were 21 polls that counted. You needed to get 2% in four of them. You had to bat a little under .200 to get into this debate stage. 

"Giving that opportunity is helpful. It will be up to the voters to decide who the candidate is. Our process has been the most fair, transparent, inclusive process in the history of a democratic primary."

Perez added it is time for "candidates have to demonstrate progress" after an two inclusive prior debates.

"As we get to November and December, we'll continue to raise the bar of participation because that's what we've always done. As we get closer and closer, people have to make progress – 2% is a very reasonable bar."

Regardless of the Democratic primary in-fighting, Perez pointing his "family" toward the ultimate foe: President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

"They've become such an extreme party that we have opportunities in the Senate and the House," Perez said. "The reason so many House members on the Republican side are retiring is because they understand that their party has become so extreme. I'm very optimistic about the White House and about the Senate and state houses and expanding Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi's margins in the U.S. House.

"My goal was to make sure every candidate who runs and their followers understand their candidate got a fair shake. So that at the end of the day we're together, united around beating Donald Trump and implementing hour vision of inclusion and opportunity.

"Everyone in the Democratic family is going to come together because we understand it's our democracy as we know it that's on the ballot."

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