海角大神

It鈥檚 a good thing Tom Perez didn鈥檛 come to breakfast the morning after the midterms, as his team had originally proposed. Turns out, the Democratic National Committee chair had slept only an hour and a half election night, he told me when we sat down for a Monitor Breakfast on Nov. 8.聽

Mr. Perez was indeed rested and in high spirits after the Democrats accomplished what they set out to do: recapture control of the House, flip a whole bunch of governorships 鈥� including in beet-red Kansas 鈥� and lose not聽too聽many Senate races.

Perez was also thrilled to report that his party had regained about 350 state legislative seats, key to聽聽and rebuilding the Democratic 鈥渂ench鈥� after losing more than a thousand seats during the Obama years.

But having Perez in for breakfast turned out to be about much more than the midterms. We had all awoken to the tragic news of yet another mass shooting, near Los Angeles, and Perez spoke out on that. He also put on his hat as a former top Justice Department official and raised alarm bells about President Trump鈥檚 controversial new聽.

And he spoke as the son of Dominican immigrants about the importance of the fast-growing Hispanic vote 鈥� and about reaching out with sensitivity, including to those displaced last year by hurricane Maria.

鈥淭he key is showing up in a culturally competent, linguistically appropriate way,鈥� said Perez, who speaks Spanish. 鈥淎nd when we were doing all the Puerto Rican outreach in Florida, the first question you always ask is, 鈥楬ow can I help?鈥� It's not, 鈥楬i, I鈥檓 Tom, we need your vote.鈥� 鈥�

But what I love most about hosting Monitor Breakfasts is getting to know prominent public figures as people. Perez grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and worked as a trash collector to help pay for college (Brown University, Harvard Law).

When Perez goes home at night and turns on his computer, he told us, it defaults to The Buffalo News, so he can keep up with his football team, the Bills. Their motto, he joked, is 鈥渇alse hope is better than no hope at all.鈥� I couldn鈥檛 resist telling him I鈥檓 a New Englander and a Patriots fan 鈥� and, well, I try not to be聽, but sometimes I fail.

鈥淧lease don鈥檛 tell me about that,鈥� he laughed. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e bringing back my nervous tick.鈥�

First in line with a question was Jerry Zremski of The Buffalo News, who brought up the fact that indicted local Republican Rep. Chris Collins had just won reelection. Perez had tried hard to defeat him, bringing in former Vice President Joe Biden to campaign for the Democrat, but to no avail.

The DNC chair expressed confidence that Congressman Collins would not serve out his next term. 鈥淵ou can take that to the bank,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淪ame deal in California,鈥� he added, referring to the GOP鈥檚 other indicted House member who also won reelection, Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego.

贬别谤别鈥檚听聽to Mr. Zremski鈥檚 story: 鈥淏uffalo-born Dem chair Tom Perez: 'The Democratic Party is back.' 鈥�

聽led with Perez鈥檚 assertion that Mr. Trump is 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� beatable in 2020. Other reporters focused on his comments on聽聽and on聽聽of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The C-SPAN video of the Nov. 8 breakfast can be viewed聽.

After we said goodbye, I realized I forgot to tell Perez that my grandmother was from Buffalo. Next time. I must also point out that we have invited Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, and hope to have her in soon.

We鈥檝e also reached out to Sen.-elect Mitt Romney of Utah, Ms. McDaniel鈥檚 uncle.

If McDaniel does join us, she will be the first Monitor Breakfast guest to represent the third generation of her family at our table, following her Uncle Mitt (as governor of Massachusetts) and late grandfather, former Michigan Gov. George Romney. We do love the tradition that our breakfast represents.