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One of the leading candidates in the race to become the next Democratic National Committee president acknowledged after last month’s election that “they’re kicking us right now.”
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who has led the state Democratic Party chairmen’s association, says his party’s marching order is to “take back the US House, take back the Senate and of course win the presidency on the 28th.”
But Martin, considered a DNC favorite, stressed that just as important is “making sure we’re growing our party and competing in every area of public policy in this nation, from the school boards to the mayors, country councils, town councils and the state legislature.
Democrats suffered major setbacks up and down the ballot 2024 elections when former President Trump took back the White House and the GOP flipped the Senate and kept its fragile majority in the House.
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The executive committee of the Democratic National Committee meets for the first time since the December 13, 2024 presidential election in Washington, DC (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
The aggressive strategy of President-elect Trump The election campaign and up-and-down-the-ballot Republicans’ appearances on podcasts and other non-traditional media are credited, in part, for the gains they made in winning the support of working-class, minority, younger voters and low propensity.
Current DNC Chair Jaime Harrison is not seeking another four-year term to lead the party’s national committee. The next chairman will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the party’s national committee when they gather Feb. 1 at National Harbor in Maryland for the DNC’s winter meeting.
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Another leading candidate is Ben Wikler, who has led the state Democratic Party in the battleground state of Wisconsin since 2019 and, like Martin, is well known to voters.
Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin (left) and Wisconsin Chairman Ben Wikler (right), two leading candidates in the Democratic National Committee’s presidential race, at the DNC executive committee meeting on December 12 of 2024 in Washington, DC (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Also considered competitive is Martin O’Malley, the two-term former Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee who served as Social Security Administration commissioner last year.
Also running are James Skoufis, a New York state senator who launched his long-shot bid last month, and former Department of Homeland Security official Nate Snyder, who announced his run for the seat last week .
Fox News Digital interviewed Martin, Wikler and O’Malley ahead of last week’s meeting of the DNC’s executive committee, which was the first time the panel met since the November election.
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Martin said that if he becomes president, the first thing he would do is “figure out a plan to win. And we have to start writing that plan, making sure we’re looking under the hood. How much money do we have in the party. What are the contracts? And frankly, bringing all our stakeholders together, that’s the most important thing.
“We don’t have much time,” Martin stressed. “There are elections coming up in New Jersey and Virginia in just 10 months, so we have a lot of work to do.”
Martin has repeatedly pledged to “contest every race in every zip code.”
Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin, a leading candidate in the race for Democratic National Committee chairman, at the DNC executive committee meeting on December 12, 2024 in Washington, DC (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
“It’s absolutely realistic,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m not going to take a scarcity mentality when we just spent close to $2 billion on a presidential election … There are enough resources for the DNC to start running races up and down the ballot.”
Although he says he has won pledges of support from nearly half of the voting members he needs to become president, Martin said: “I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m certainly proud of the support I’ve seen so far now. But I have a long way to go.”
But, he added, “I’m clearly ahead now. I like where we are.”
Wikler, in his interview, emphasized that “the goal of the Democratic Party should not be to win 47 seats or 51 seats in the Senate. We should aim higher because we know the values of the Democratic Party around a country that work for people and around freedom and dignity and respect for all. These are deeply shared values throughout the country.
“I think a lot of changes are needed to make us stronger, to get our message out to everyone and get the support of everyone who thinks this country should work for the people who have to work to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.”
Wikler said the party needs to show voters “that we are fighting for them against those who would try to manipulate the economy for those in charge and deliver that message in places where people don’t pay much attention to politics, but they know what they are struggling with in their own lives.
“That means communicating with clear language in a way that shows people we see them. And with our actions that show we’re fighting to keep costs down and make sure workers have a fair chance in this country “, he said. added
Wikler pointed to Democrats’ success in his home state, a crucial battleground state, as a reason he will be competitive in the seat race.
He said the party is “united in its desire to win elections. And in Wisconsin, we have some of the most intense and hard-fought elections. We’ve had to learn to deal with everything that Republican candidates and campaigns throw at us. and I think the energy around it, figuring out how to get stronger and bigger and reach more people in more places, will give me a path to win the DNC chair race and then work to unite party for fight and win up and down the polls.”
O’Malley, who turns 62 next month, is the oldest candidate running for president.
He said he’s running for DNC chair “because I love my country, and the only way to save the Republic is if the Democratic Party prepares for battle as soon as possible.”
“I have had the honor of demonstrating my talents as an operational change leader at all levels of government, including most recently at Social Security for the President,” he said.
Noting his past running the Democratic Governors Association, he noted, “I’m the only candidate who has actually chaired a national committee, the Democratic governors, and I’m the only candidate who has run for office and state elected to office, city. council, mayor, governor And we have to recruit people across the board to get our party back.”
O’Malley said the No. 1 job if elected president “is to come together and understand what we did right and what we did wrong last time. But most importantly, we have to focus on getting more people signed up. As Democrats, we need to get back to the economic message that has always been at the core of this party, from which we have strayed in the eyes of many people in this last election right everywhere, not just in the swing states.”
Asked if he has a chance against Martin and Wikler, who are on the committee and much better known to voting members, O’Malley said: “I think so. I’ve found a lot of people who realize that this is He’s no longer some kind of interim pick for the DNC chair, but he’s a game-changer, and because of that, I’m finding the doors open across the country.”
Skoufis, in an interview last week with Fox News Radio, argued that Democrats need a fresh face and an aggressive outsider to lead the DNC.
He also argued that the party needs to do a better job of reading the room and not just being the anti-Trump party.
