Ken Martin, the chair of Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer Labor party, was elected the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Martin won a majority vote among DNC members on the first ballot, 246.5 to 134.5 for Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Martin O’Malley received 44 votes, Faiz Shakir received two and Jason Paul received one. DNC members were meeting at National Harbor, MD.
The new DNC chair will succeed Jaime Harrison, who resigned after the party’s crushing loss in the 2024 presidential race.
As the party struggles to find its footing, with a number of rank-and-file Democrats dismayed by the strategy so far in the early weeks of Donald Trump administration, Martin will become one of its most visible figures. Among other things, Martin will be challenged to quickly raise money from donor strongholds, including Hollywood, amid divisions over the solutions needed to restore the party.
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Like other candidates, Martin promised to focus the party on the working class, as Trump and his allies branded Democrats as too consumed with identity politics and beholden to coastal elites. At one candidate forum, Martin said that “I don’t rub elbows with billionaires or Hollywood elites. I rub elbows with working people in union halls, at picket lines, at civil rights marches and at protests.” That swipe didn’t sit well with some industry supporters, who have been avid donors and supporters of party candidates.
Yet the extent of the party’s troubles was reinforced this week by the latest Qunnipiac poll this week showed that just 31% of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of the Democratic party, and 57% have an unfavorable opinion. Republicans have a 43% favorable and 45% unfavorable.
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