Democratic candidates line up to become next DNC chair
Democrats vying to be their party’s next national chair are laying out their visions and touting their track records as they look to rebound from the party’s widespread losses in November.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, state party chairs Ken Martin of Minnesota and Ben Wikler of Wisconsin, New York state Sen. James Skoufis and former Maryland Senate candidate Robert Houton have all announced bids to be the next Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair.
Martin has consolidated support, receiving at least 100 endorsements from the 448 DNC members. He has close to half of the 225 votes needed to win the majority of the vote.
The race is far from over, however, with Wikler also receiving notable endorsements, including from center-left think tank Third Way and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC). It’s also possible the field could expand.
Democrats are set to pick their next DNC chair next year, with current chair Jaime Harrison stepping down. The party announced last month the election would be scheduled for Feb. 1, with four candidate forums to be held next month.
It’s the first time since 2017 that Democrats will see an open race for the DNC chair.
In 2017, Tom Perez, a former Labor secretary in the Obama administration, faced off against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), who then was a House lawmaker.
Perez, backed by the Clinton-Obama establishment, defeated Ellison, backed by progressives, after the second round of votes, winning 235-200.
The circumstances around next year’s race may feel familiar to Democrats because once again, the party is reeling from a defeat to President-elect Trump.
Martin has served as head of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) since 2011 and is a DNC vice chair and the president of the Association of State Democratic Committees. He has already offered a 10-point framework around how he’d lead the party and touted the fact Democrats haven’t lost a statewide race since he took over.
Martin said he views the DNC’s role during a second Trump administration as both resisting “the really extremes and excesses of the Trump administration,” while articulating what the party stands for.
“You have to give people a sense of who you are and who the party is, who we’re fighting for, and why and that means, you know, if we’re focused the whole time on just resisting Trump, we’re not giving people a sense of who we are and why they should support us,” he said.
Wikler has chaired the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since June 2019 and previously worked at MoveOn. He plans to run a “perpetual” campaign at the DNC, modelling his strategy on Wisconsin, where the party has been in campaign mode since he took over in 2019.
“We need a communications and organizing infrastructure that runs year round, not just the final stretch, every four years,” said Wikler. “We need to take fighting at every level of the ballot seriously, because all of them can affect the final outcome and balance of power and the ability of Democrats to deliver for working people.”
Adam Green, the founder of the PCCC, called Wikler a “special, one-of-a-kind leader whom progressive grassroots organizations love and who Obama former campaign officials love. He unites the party, and he does it because he’s effective, not because he’s milquetoast or transactional.”
O’Malley is a former Maryland governor who chaired the Democratic Governors Association. He ran for president in 2016, running well behind Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“At every level of government — city, state, and federal — I’ve proven an ability to turn around organizations by bringing people together, using data to inform decisions and focusing on victory. I’m the only candidate in this race who has led a national party committee,” O’Malley said in a statement to The Hill.
Skoufis, the New York state senator, hails from the Hudson Valley and serves as the chair of the state Senate’s Committee on Investigations and Government Operations. Representing a competitive legislative seat, the New York Democrat notes Trump won his district last month by 12 points.
“People are desperate for a fresh approach to party leadership and party politics,” Skoufis told The Hill. “This all comes back to winning, and I’ve demonstrated in not a blue district or a purplish district, [but] in a bright red district the ability to win every couple of years.”
Houton ran for Senate in Maryland earlier this year and is the founder of Coalition for Families, Teens and Students. In a letter to DNC members, he noted he “consistently demonstrated leadership in fighting for the American people on several core issues of health and safety, including taking on entrenched interests motivated by profit over sound health policy.”
Some of the candidates’ themes have overlapped; all have pushed for winning back working-class voters leaving the party for Trump.
“I think they are aligned on broad goals but differ in how we get there,” said one Democratic strategist.
Laura Matos, a DNC member and partner at MAD Global Strategy Group, said she was encouraged by the sheer number of candidates getting into the race.
“I am eager to see who else throws their hat into the ring,” she said. “Ultimately, we want a leader who will win.”
Ellison, who is backing Martin, said he viewed the DNC chair race as a battle over the direction of the party.
“I view it as the first good or not so good step we can take to protect core democratic values, and I mean small ‘d,’ and to really put working class people, middle class people, in a position where they can aspire to real prosperity, which they will not be able to do under Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” he said.
