Perez, Thomas E. (Thomas Edward), 1961-

<p>Thomas Edward Perez was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1961, to parents who were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. He graduated from Brown University in 1983 and then received a law degree and a master's in public policy from Harvard University in 1987. Perez worked his way through college and graduate school before embarking on a career in public service.</p>

<p>He began working for the U.S. Department of Justice in 1989 as a federal prosecutor and a civil rights lawyer. From 1995 to 1998, Perez served as special counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy. He then headed up the civil rights division at the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2002, he won a seat on the city council in Montgomery, Maryland, and served until 2006 when he was appointed secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.</p>

<p>In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Perez to serve as assistant Attorney General of Civil Rights in the Department of Justice. In that position, Perez fought against voter identification laws and worked to enforce laws that protected against discrimination. He also gained a reputation as a supporter of organized labor and immigrant rights. When he was nominated as secretary of the Department of Labor in 2013, many Republicans expressed concern about his appointment. Although President Obama nominated him in March 2013, Perez's confirmation did not take place until July 2013.</p>

<p>Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who has been the Chair of the Democratic National Committee since February 2017. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights (2009–2013) and United States Secretary of Labor (2013–2017).</p>

<p>Born in Buffalo, New York, Perez is a graduate of Brown University, Harvard Law School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He clerked for Judge Zita Weinshienk in Colorado prior to serving as a federal civil rights prosecutor for the Department of Justice. He next worked for Senator Ted Kennedy and then served as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services in the final years of the Clinton administration.</p>

<p>Perez was then elected to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council in 2002, serving as the council's president from 2005, until the end of his tenure in 2006. He attempted to run for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of Maryland, but was disqualified for not having sufficient time as a member of the Maryland state bar. Perez was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to serve as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in January 2007, until his October 2009 confirmation by the United States Senate as Assistant Attorney General. In 2013, Perez was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the United States Secretary of Labor, replacing outgoing Secretary Hilda Solis.</p>

<p>After the 2016 elections, Perez announced his candidacy for Chair of the Democratic National Committee in the 2017 party election. After a tight race against Keith Ellison, Perez was elected Chairman on the second ballot and immediately appointed Ellison as deputy chair.</p>

<p>Thomas Edward Perez was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, to parents Grace (née Altagracia Brache Bernard) and Dr. Rafael Antonio de Jesús Pérez Lara, who were both first-generation Dominican immigrants.</p>

<p>His father, who earned U.S. citizenship after enlisting in the U.S. Army after World War II, worked as a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia, before moving to Buffalo, where he worked as a physician at a Veterans Affairs hospital.</p>

<p>His mother, Grace, came to the United States in 1930 after her father, Rafael Brache, was appointed as the Dominican Republic's Ambassador to the United States. Brache was initially an ally of Rafael Trujillo, but after a falling out, he was declared an enemy of the state, forcing him and his family to remain in the United States.</p>

<p>Perez is the youngest of five brothers and sisters, all of whom but Perez followed their father in becoming physicians. His father died of a heart attack when Perez was 12 years old. Perez graduated from Canisius High School, an all boys Jesuit school in Buffalo, in 1979.</p>

<p>Perez received his Bachelor of Arts in international relations and political science from Brown University in 1983. He joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity there. He covered the cost of attending Brown with scholarships and Pell Grants and by working as a trash collector and in a warehouse. He worked in Brown's dining hall and for the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights.</p>

<p>In 1987, Perez received a Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.</p>