Rep. Keith Ellison said he would support reinstituting a ban on lobbyist donations to the Democratic National Committee in an interview he gave to The Huffington Post.
"I think it's important that people feel that the party is their party," Ellison told Huff Post. "People need to feel like, 'Hey ― you know this Democratic Party? It's my party,' and part of what gives them that sense that it is their party, that they possess it ― that they own it ― is that they pay for it."
Ellison, D-Minn., is vying to become the new chairman of the DNC, replacing Debbie Wasserman Schultz who resigned on Day 1 of the Democratic convention amid a dumpster fire of controversy exposed by WikiLeaks.
It was Wasserman Schultz who quietly lifted the ban put in place by President Obama after winning the 2008 election, according to HuffPo.
Reinstituting the ban would be a bit of a double-edged sword, Ellison said.
"So we're going to be asking Democrats to pony up and help get us the resources we need to run this party," Ellison said. "Running the party does take money."
Donna Brazile has served as interim DNC chair since July.