The Democratic National Committee (DNC) elected Minnesota party leader Ken Martin as its new chair on Saturday, February 1. Martin’s election is the party’s first real step towards coming back from a disastrous election cycle, and Democrats hope their new leader can right the listing ship before it capsizes completely. Perhaps they shouldn’t hold their breath.
Won’t Get Fooled Again – Or Will They?
In 1971, The Who released a single titled “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” No matter how excited folks get about new leaders following a glorious revolution, the world itself remains little changed – and the people soon find themselves in much the same situation as they had with their old leaders. Some Democrats are excited – they “smile and grin at the change all around” – but will tomorrow’s DNC really look all that different from yesterday’s?
The party didn’t release an official postmortem on the 2016 loss, leaving Hillary Clinton to write her own book. So far, it seems those in charge now – including the new DNC chair – plan to do exactly what she did back then: blame everyone but themselves.
When MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart asked at the committee’s final forum for the chair who “believes that racism and misogyny played a role in Vice President Harris’ defeat,” Ken Martin, who went on to win the election, raised his hand along with all the rest. It was a cringeworthy enough moment that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) reposted the clip on X and replied: “I’m already looking forward to expanding our majority in 2026.”
It’s Trump’s fault, some argue. It’s his supporters’ fault, others contend. Or maybe it’s all those Democrats who voted for Joe Biden but didn’t then vote for Harris because she’s a woman of color. The excuses quickly piled up, but the idea that Harris was simply a bad candidate or that she and Biden had so thoroughly fumbled their first four years that voters would rather jump ship than risk drowning were nowhere to be found among them.
Martin – like so many who could have filled the role – called Trump a traitor. He, like the others, chose to focus on deflection rather than reflection – and some Democrats are wondering if this isn’t just another case of “meet the new boss, the same as the old boss,” as the song says.
A Fighter for the DNC?
In his victory speech Saturday, Martin, who served as vice chair until this weekend and had previously led the association of state Democratic Party chairs, promised to go on the offense. “We’re going to go out there and take this fight to Donald Trump and the Republicans,” he said.
“Minnesota nice has two sides: Minnesota nice is a pleasant, earnest ability to engage with people publicly, and it is also a private ruthlessness and a coldness that only comes when you’ve lived in 10-degree-below weather half your life,” said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Ken will cut you if he has to, but that ruthlessness is what we need to achieve electoral success.” Politico quotes one unnamed Democrat who calls Martin a “knife-fighter.”
The new DNC chair himself took up this mantle, saying, “I’ve always viewed my role as chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road, meaning, I’m going to throw a punch.”
“This is a new DNC,” argued the party’s previous chair, Jaime Harrison, who added, “we’re taking the gloves off.”
Rough Sailing Ahead?
Looking back at the Biden presidency and the election cycle of 2024, one might think the DNC never donned gloves to begin with. The left’s crusade against Donald Trump certainly looked like a bare-knuckle brawl. So then, what’s changed? One thing that certainly hasn’t is the lack of unity. The same party that was split between Biden loyalists and Harris hopefuls after the former president’s embarrassing re-election campaign is now divided over the DNC chair. Some are excited, yes, but others see him as simply another part of the institution. Others still worry he sought the job only for the sake of building up his own name through the position.
And his knife-fighter persona, it seems, cuts both ways. “Yes, he’s a knife-fighter, but the problem is, a lot of people in this room feel like that knife is in their backs,” a DNC member who didn’t support Martin told reporters. “He won the job, but he didn’t necessarily win everyone’s trust.”
Martin took the top spot in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 2011, inheriting a party in shambles … and debt. Over the next decade, he managed to rebuild it, and he did so ruthlessly. “He ran the DFL with an iron fist, was very impressive,” said one Democratic Party strategist. “He’s like Stalin, and I say that as a compliment.” Now Martin has taken over another party with what most would consider crippling debt.
This time, however, he faces a potential money problem moving forward. Martin was the clear choice of the delegates. He beat his nearest competitor, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, by 100 votes. There were plenty of folks in the party, however, who saw Wikler as a real reformer – something they say Martin is not. Among those were many of the wealthier donors.
“The delegates wanted Ken, and that must be completely respected. It wasn’t a close race,” Politico quoted one donor advisor. “However, the donors wanted Ben, and they will make the delegates and the new chair painfully aware of that fact over the course of the next four years.”
“Knife-fighter” Ken Martin so ruthlessly pursued the job of DNC chair that he left many in his party feeling stabbed in the back. He blames racism and misogyny for Harris’ loss in 2024 rather than anything his fellow Democrats may have done wrong, and there’s a good chance he could drive away big-money donors. Martin may hope to save the sinking ship that is the Democratic Party and pilot it to victory in the 2026 midterms or in 2028, but there’s rough sailing ahead.