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Ken Martin (Mn.DFL)
NEW YORK (AP) โ The Democratic National Committee will elect a new chair on Saturday as the party seeks new leadership to guide Democrats through Donald Trumpโs second presidency.
Eight candidates have lined up to replace outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison. The contest will be decided at the DNCโs winter meeting in suburban Washington.
This is not a flashy election, although big questions loom about money, strategy and diversity.
The leading candidates, Minnesotaโs Ken Martin and Wisconsinโs Ben Wikler, are low-profile state party chairs with few obvious differences in how they would lead. Neither candidate is promising radical change. And those who are, including former Bernie Sanders campaign chief Faiz Shakir and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, are considered long shots at best.
The debate has largely focused on the nuts and bolts of political campaigns: messaging, media strategy, fundraising and on-the-ground organizing. On those issues, the candidates largely agree that changes are needed to improve the partyโs brand โ especially among working-class voters.
The election is expected to take place Saturday afternoon. It will be livestreamed by the DNC on its YouTube page.
Hereโs what weโre watching leading up to the election:
Who are the candidates?
Many DNC members believe this to be a two-man race.
Martin, 51, and Wikler, 43, are the overwhelming favorites. Both are generally well regarded among the DNCโs 448 voting members, who are largely state officials themselves.
Also in the race: Williamson, the activist and author; former Maryland governor and Biden administration official Martin OโMalley; and Shakir, who managed Sandersโ last presidential campaign.
Absent a well-known elected official or inspirational leader, there is a sense that the membership prefers someone from the operative class whoโs dedicated to the unglamorous work of building state party infrastructure on the ground. Martin is promising to be โthe organizer in chiefโ if elected. And Wikler is calling for a proactive political strategy for all 50 states.
As one DNC insider put it, the partyโs leadership wants a nerd.
Why does the race matter?
The Democratic Party is in crisis. With Trump pushing the limits of presidential power in Washington, Democrats have no obvious leader, no clear strategy to stop the Republican presidentโs agenda and no plan to address the challenges that plagued them last fall.
The next DNC chair will be the de facto face of the party in the media. Behind the scenes, he or she will shape the partyโs message, political strategy and state-based infrastructure and decide how to spend tens of millions of dollars in political donations.
Itโs not an easy job. Democratic leaders have yet to agree on what went wrong in the last election, when the party lost the popular vote for the first time in 20 years and saw significant defections among young people, African Americans, Latinos and working-class whites.
For now, the leading candidates are promising to embrace a new media strategy to reach broader audiences. They also want to double down on party organizing, echoing former Chair Howard Deanโs โ50-state strategy.โ Thatโs despite Democratsโ overwhelming advantages in money and staffing last election, which did little to stop Trumpโs victory.
One more task on the next chairโs plate: organizing the partyโs next presidential primary process. Private discussions are already underway about the 2028 contest, which promises a crowded field of top-tier presidential prospects.
Fundraising is one of the key disputes in the race
Wikler has the backing of billionaire donor Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, among several governors and members of Congress.
But Democrats in Washington are actively attacking Trumpโs cozy relationship with billionaires and tech titans in his new administration. And some of Wiklerโs opponents are suggesting, albeit gently, that his relationship with Democratic billionaires could complicate the partyโs anti-Trump message, which has focused on the presidentโs alliances with the ultra-wealthy to, as the party alleges, โscrew over America.โ
Still, fundraising is a huge part of the chairโs job. And Wiklerโs team welcomes scrutiny of his fundraising record.
Specifically, Wiklerโs team says the Wisconsin state party raised $183 million since he became party chairman in 2019, which is more than twice as much as Minnesotaโs state party raised under Martinโs leadership over the same period.
Is diversity still a priority?
The DNC has been led by a person of color or a woman since 2011, a reflection of the partyโs commitment to the diverse groups that make up the backbone of the Democratic coalition.
Thatโs likely going to change.
If Wikler or Martin wins, as is expected, the DNC will be led by a white man for the first time since Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine left the position in the middle of President Barack Obamaโs first term.
Some members suggest thatโs itโs simply a coincidence. But there is also a quiet recognition that working-class white men โ many of them union members โ have been leaving the Democratic Party in droves in favor of Trumpโs GOP. Itโs worth noting that Black and Latino men shifted rightward last fall as well.
Itโs unclear whether Wikler or Martin will change the partyโs focus on people of color and LGBTQ+ issues, especially transgender rights, which Republicans campaigned on heavily in the last election to paint Democrats as out of touch with working-class values.
Neither is calling for policy shifts. But they both support a Democratic message thatโs much more focused on the working class and economic populism.
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