--- description: Tom Perez is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Tim Kaine wrote about the Democratic National Committee chair. title: Tom Perez by Tim Kaine: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7b0b419fa6f505b/6988c346656a3f1cdabcf9a6/time-100-2017-tom-perez.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2017 # Tom Perez by Tim Kaine  WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 29: U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez delivers remarks during a public meeting of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission at the United States Treasury on June 29, 2016 in Washington, DC. The agenda focused on financial education and investment advice, as well as the intersection of financial education and legal aid. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 29: U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez delivers remarks during a public meeting of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission at the United States Treasury on June 29, 2016 in Washington, DC. The agenda focused on financial education and investment advice, as well as the intersection of financial education and legal aid. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images)Photograph by Pete Marovich—Getty Images The late actor Will Rogers once said, “I am not a member of any organized political party—I am a Democrat.” That’s why Democratic Party chair Tom Perez has one of the toughest jobs in the country. The child of Dominican immigrants—with a dad who earned U.S. citizenship after enlisting in the Army—Tom absorbed early a family legacy of patriotism, immigrant striving and Catholic social justice. His parents told him, “In order to get to heaven, you have to have letters of reference from poor people.” Prosecutor, civil rights lawyer, local elected official, Secretary of Labor, loving dad and husband, and now chairman of the Democratic National Committee—Tom’s the right person to lead the world’s longest-surviving political party during a stress test of our constitutional democracy. And he’s smart enough to see that the key to victory is the passion of everyday people. He’s one himself. _Kaine, a U.S. Senator from Virginia and former DNC chair, was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/"},"headline":"Tom Perez","datePublished":"2017-04-19T18:09:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:25.319Z","description":"Tom Perez is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Tim Kaine wrote about the Democratic National Committee chair.","url":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7b0b419fa6f505b/6988c346656a3f1cdabcf9a6/time-100-2017-tom-perez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7b0b419fa6f505b/6988c346656a3f1cdabcf9a6/time-100-2017-tom-perez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/","name":"Tom Perez"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736345/tom-perez/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```