CNN
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As the Democratic Party faces an uncertain future under a second Trump administration, the search for new leadership to help rebuild the party remains uncertain.
The process to choose a new Democratic National Committee chairman began Saturday, with eight candidates meeting virtually in the first party management forum of the campaign. There are three weeks left until the February 1 election, but no candidate has secured the support of a majority of the 448 party insiders who will choose the next party leader.
The election for chairman will be the first major decision made by the Democratic Party, which suffered a crushing defeat in last year’s general election. The leadership race and the various informal forums and small group meetings that preceded Saturday’s event focused on what went wrong for Democrats, how they will appeal to voters who left the party in November, and the millions of voters who left the party in November. It became a place to discuss how to appeal to supporters. The dollars spent on lost swing states could have been better spent.
Despite early reports that some prominent figures were considering joining the race, including Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, and former Maryland There are currently eight candidates, led by Governor Martin O’Malley. – It is made up of people who are not well known nationally.
For many DNC members, that’s a bonus.
“There’s a feeling that people really want surgical chairs,” said one DNC member who is part of the state’s delegation. “We want key people.”
The DNC is comprised of state party leaders and committee officials, members of Democratic Alliance groups, labor union leaders, and rank-and-file members appointed by the current chair. The largest bloc is made up of state party leaders who have made investment in the state a key issue.
Consolidating support from the state party chair and vice chair, who make up the approximately 114 members of the DNC and have influence over state delegations, is crucial in a race where no candidate has a majority of support. It could be the key to victory.
The DNC plans to hold three more forums. One is a forum in Detroit on January 16th that focuses on the Midwest. One effectively focused on the West on January 23rd. A final in-person event focused on the East will be held in Washington, DC, on January 30th.
Saturday’s forum focused on southern issues.
South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Cristale Spain said she has not yet decided who she will support in the Feb. 1 election, but would like to know what candidates plan to fund the “Southern Strategy.”
“We cannot make concessions just because it is difficult,” Spain said ahead of the forum. “We can win in the South, but it requires long-term investment.”
During the debate, candidates discussed plans to invest in Southern states through increased recruiting, messaging and funding for state parties.
“To say we have to focus on a 10-year strategy of denying political investment in the South is not trite, it’s mission-critical,” Martin said.
Many DNC members hope now is the time to shake up not just the way funds are distributed, but the broader way the party is run. The last time Democrats were able to elect a DNC chair was in 2017, after Donald Trump won the White House for the first time, raising concerns among progressives who supported independent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid. To address this, the party introduced major reforms.
Now, candidates are sending a message to working-class voters, holding consultants accountable and addressing the disparity between money spent in battleground states and money that could have been spent to make their campaigns more competitive. They are being forced to invest in disaffected state parties.
It’s hard to say which candidates have how much support. The DNC has not released a list of members, and neither side has released a complete list of supporters.
Martin has “well over 100” supporters, according to the leading candidate’s campaign. O’Malley is “over 60” and counting. New York State Sen. James Skoufis has 23 endorsements. And Wikler declined to release numbers.
In addition to Martin, Wikler, O’Malley and Skoufis, four other candidates have gathered enough signatures to appear at Saturday’s forum. Jason Paul, lawyer and political strategist; Nate Snyder, former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official. and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
Martin, who has served as state party chairman since 2011 and currently chairs the State Democratic Committee Association, has the closest ties to state party leadership. Chairmen who supported him said in interviews that he has been a constant presence over the years, providing insight, helping with fundraising and traveling with them through their states.
Earlier this month, Martin campaigned in Northern Virginia on behalf of candidates running in special elections for open seats in the state House and Senate. Susan Swecker, head of the Virginia Democratic Party, said she traveled to Virginia in the fall to campaign for congressional candidates and also in 2021, when Democrats lost the gubernatorial race.
“One of the things I like about Ken is that he shows up and is ready to get the tough job done,” Swecker said.
Russ Carnahan, a former U.S. congressman who currently leads the Missouri Democratic Party, said Martin was instrumental in rebuilding the party when Carnahan took over in 2023. As the campaign unfolded, Mr. Carnahan suggested that the state’s delegation vote as a bloc.
“About three minutes into the meeting, everyone was like, ‘Well, this makes sense, Ken,'” he said. “We know what he’s done in his state, we know what he’s done nationally, and we know what he’s done very substantively to help us in Missouri. Masu.”
A spokesperson for Mr. Wikler pointed to his work with colleagues. In 2021, the Wisconsin Democratic Party donated $300,000 to the Florida Democratic Party to help pay for employee health insurance. Wikler also advised entrepreneur and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman to send money to political parties in Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio, a spokesperson said.
At a time when Democrats have questioned the party’s relationship with its consultant class, Mr. Martin’s allies have criticized Mr. Wikler for being too tied to donors. But supporters of the Wisconsin Democratic Party point out that whoever leads the party must be able to raise money, something Wikler says is an area of expertise. In 2024, his state party raised about $62 million, more than any other state party committee.
Outgoing Michigan Democratic Party Chairman LaVora Burns said she supports Wikler because of his work building the state party in Wisconsin.
“It’s been really helpful for me to call Ben and bounce ideas around, share thoughts and sometimes commiserate, and Ben has done the same for me,” she said. spoke. “We were really able to help each other through some difficult moments during these campaigns.”
As the race heads into its final week, Burns insisted DNC members are still weighing their options.
“Everyone watching this takes into consideration that this is an open race, there are still votes to be won, and Ben is going to do everything in his power to get every single one of those votes.” I think we should,” she said.
No candidate has claimed as much private support or declared as much public support as Martin, including support from eight state delegations and seven more state party chairs. But other camps say Minnesota also failed to secure enough votes to close election offices and say they don’t expect any candidate to win a majority of votes in the first round. There is.
“For the past two months, not a single person has been able to carry this disease with them,” Skoufis said.
Some pointed to news this week that the Martin Chair group, the Association of State Democratic Committees, which represents the DNC’s largest voting bloc, decided not to endorse the candidate.
Those who say the race is still in flux also point to this week’s news that the ASDC, of which Wikler is a member, has decided not to endorse. Martin’s supporters said state party leaders felt the choice was not conducive to party unity, but supporters in other camps said it was a vote-winner within the ASDC. He said it was a sign.
“That means it’s still open and we’re still looking,” former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, an O’Malley supporter who cannot vote in the Democratic National Committee race, told CNN. “I think there’s clearly a chance for someone to make their case.”
Another DNC committee member said that while he was “open-minded” about O’Malley, he was considering Martin and Wikler, and said his colleagues were “overwhelmed” by the field.
“I think a lot of people who are keeping the powder dry are still waiting to see if someone jumps in,” they said. “If there are other people in positions of power who can persuade or inspire others, it shouldn’t be that difficult for them to vote.”
This story has been updated with new reporting.
