The votes are in, and we have a winner for the job that only a masochist would want after the Democrats got stomped in the November elections: chair of the Democratic National Committee.
The man who now becomes the captain of the foundering DNC ship is Minnesota state party chair Ken Martin, who won on the first ballot by 246 ayes out of the 428 members who voted.
Martin is not a household name, but he’s well-known in political circles:
Mr. Martin is a party insider who knows his way around the D.N.C.
He has led his state party since 2011 and is a vice chairman of the national party. He also leads the Association of State Democratic Committees, a body that lobbies for state parties within the national committee — and a power center that has irritated other D.N.C. officials, but one that his allies see as a sign of his strengths.
As our Becky Noble wrote, he said at a recent forum, “There are a lot of good billionaires out there that have been with Democrats, who share our values, and we will take their money. But we’re not taking money from those bad billionaires.” Huh?
Democrats just elected a white male as their DNC Chair.
Ken Martin has so much diversity!
He’s who said it’s okay when Dems take money from billionaires because they’re the “good billionaires.” pic.twitter.com/F4UaFxOV2y
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) February 1, 2025
Didn’t we get enough of Dem Minnesota politicians during the fall campaign?
The Democrats just chose Tim Walz’ “close friend,” Ken Martin, to be their new DNC Chair.
The Democrats still have no idea why they lost. 😂 https://t.co/0PueraFYwl pic.twitter.com/dXU2rZed3h
— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) February 1, 2025
In the leadup to the vote, the Democrats appeared not to have learned much from their recent disaster at the ballot box, and instead of focusing on the things people care about, they obsessed over what they think is the real reason they lost—“messaging.” Here’s the problem they haven‘t seemed to have figured out yet: if your message stinks, no amount of massaging it will help.
The vote at the D.N.C.’s winter meeting capped a monthslong race that focused on party mechanics and messaging, rather than on sharp ideological or establishment-versus-activist fights that have characterized other party leadership contests.
A failure to adjust:
Democrats Proclaim the Only ‘Good Billionaires’ Are the Ones Who Agree With and Give Money to Them
DNC Holds a Wild Candidate Forum, and Republicans May Never Lose Another Election
Interestingly, some party heavyweights didn’t endorse Martin and preferred a different candidate:
Notably, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) backed [Ben] Wikler, though their backing was clearly not enough to sway enough members toward endorsing the Wisconsin state party chair [Wikler].
He did get some love from former President Barack Obama, but that doesn’t carry the weight it once did:
Congrats to our new DNC chair, Ken Martin. Ken has done outstanding work in Minnesota, and will bring that same energy and drive to this new role. Together, we need to build a bold, responsive Democratic Party that can tell a compelling story about who we’re fighting for and… https://t.co/0IK7DhBXxc
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 1, 2025
Now we know who’s going to be in charge of turning around the fading prospects of the Democrat Party. To paraphrase an old saying, “It’s a stinky job, but somebody’s got to do it.”
