WASHINGTON — The newly-elected chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Ken Martin said he’ll be a fighter for Democrats, a party that’s lacking power in Washington as Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. 

“I'm going to throw a punch. So, Donald Trump, Republican Party: This is a new DNC,” Martin said after winning the DNC chair election over the weekend. “This is an opportunity, as I've said all along, to reimagine the DNC, to really think about how we organize differently, how we build to both to win and to expand the map, but building long-lasting, durable infrastructure.”


What You Need To Know

  • The Democratic National Committee has a new chairman

  • Minnesota’s party leader Ken Martin beat Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler

  • As Democrats grapple with sweeping losses after the 2024 election, Martin promises to be a leader who organizes the party and fights back against President Donald Trump

  • One expert said the role of the national party chair is administrative, focused on fundraising and strategically supporting candidates

Mordecai Lee, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said Martin will need to be a fundraiser, a technician who can keep the grassroots fed, and a leader who can establish policy coherence for the party.

“There needs to be a strengthened party, and I’m guessing, with a bit more discipline and organization,” Lee said. 

Martin offered little on his plans to confront President Donald Trump besides promising to define him and saying his “war room” will combat misinformation. Martin said the party will also conduct a post-election review to determine why Democrats lost ground with Latino, women, younger and working class voters last November, and then he’ll make bold changes.

“That’s what I need to get my hands around,” Martin said. “Before we can be prescriptive on a plan and a solution, we need to start that post election review process.”

Kyle Kondik, with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said perhaps Martin should reorient Democratic messaging toward economic issues and away from social issues to appeal to a broader group of voters. 

“One of the jokes about Democrats sometimes is that they sound like they’re right out of the faculty lounge,” Kondik said. “I think that’s basically a fair criticism of Democrats, and maybe trying to move away from that a little bit or perceptions of that would be important.”

To support Democrats nationwide, Kondik said Martin will need to raise a lot of money and make strategic decisions on how to spend those dollars.

“It’s not some horrible, deep hole that the party can’t get out of,” Kondik said. “There’s another election coming up next year, and the midterm elections oftentimes break against the White House Party, so I have to see if that continues in 2026.”

Several members ran for chair against Martin, but his stiffest competition was Wisconsin’s party leader, Ben Wikler. While Wikler received the endorsements of top Democrats on Capitol Hill—former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer—voting DNC members didn’t follow their lead. Wikler will continue leading the Wisconsin Democratic Party and said in a statement after losing the election that it’s time to fight for working people and build a permanent campaign that organizes year-round.

“It is a strange dynamic that Wikler had so much elite support, and it didn’t necessarily matter,” Kondik said. “The person who’s a party chair is probably overrated as a political actor. And I think fundamentally, it’s kind of more of an administrative job than a kind of public politicking kind of job.” 

Kondik said there will likely be higher profile voices than Martin who will elevate candidates in future elections.

“The things that really drive American politics, I think, are out of the hands of the RNC chair or the DNC chair,” Kondik said. “You know, what’s President Trump’s approval rating? How are people reacting to him? How good are the candidates the Democrats get in 2026? I guess the DNC chair plays some role in that, in encouraging people to step up and run. Again, you want to have as strong of a national party as you can, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the be-all and end-all of winning.” 

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