Summary
Ken Martin, chair of Minnesota’s Democratic–Farmer–Labor party, won the race to lead the Democratic National Committee, defeating Wisconsin’s Ben Wikler.
Martin takes over as Democrats grapple with major losses in the 2024 elections and seek to reconnect with working-class voters.
Supporters see his leadership as key to rebuilding the party, while critics worry it signals a continuation of the status quo.
His first major test will be the 2026 midterms as Democrats attempt to reclaim the House and rebuild their electoral strategy.
As no one is talking about who Martin is let’s go over his accomplishments and how he could be positive for the party:
Since he became leader of the state party, 14 years ago, they have not lost a statewide race.
He talks about how they need to appeal to working class voters again.
He frames himself as a pro-labor progressive.
Pelosi and Schumer wanted his opponent.
He said this during his victory speech
He also talks about how we need a country wide approach not specific states. He wants people to be running everywhere.
He’s one of the better candidates that could have won. Not perfect, but definitely better than some of the other candidates.
Important edit: he also talked about how there were “good” billionaires and “bad” billionaires which is bs. But there is a reality that it’s gonna be hard to run a campaign and win without the support of any possible billionaire. I mean, one of the reasons the GOP won this time around was because the billionaires manipulated shit. We should still make it so that billionaires don’t exist because having a system that creates them is insane. But also, it’s hard to win in the current system without them.
Good enough for me
That was my thought as well
His opponent was way better. He wanted to audit all of the DNC’s consultanting contracts, which would have put people who keep getting lucrative contracts to lose elections (like Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and David Plouffe) in the cross hairs. Meanwhile, Martin wants to keep taking money from, “good billionaires,” are condemned pro-Palestinian protesters.
I’m just glad Pelosi and Schumer are pissed. I never expected change from the DNC.
I was also surprised that Pelosi and Schumer wanted Ben Wikler, but I doubt Ken Martin means change. He seems likely to maintain the DNC’s status quo.
True, but there are bad billionaires and worse billionaires. Until we can get rid of billionaires, which is by no means a simple task, I prefer billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Cuban who are at least using a portion of their wealth to do good things.
Is it enough? No. Is it largely performative to launder their reputation? Absolutely. Did they get that money through ethical behavior? Definitely not. But peoples’ lives are materially improved by some of their actions, which is better than you can say for most billionaires.
My thoughts as well. I think it’s kinda like a low road vs high road thing. Taking the high road kneecaps you and keeps you from really being able to fight and challenge the BS. I think refusing to take any money from Billionaires in a world where people like Musk and Murdoch manipulate everything, not taking any Billionaire money will not work. There is no way for small donors to give enough money to outstanding those billionaires or to out manipulate media.
Thanks for this. I’m glad Pelosi and Schumer’s pick lost.
Yes and never, respectively.
Yeah. His wing of the party doesn’t seriously believe that there is such a thing as a bad billionaire.
What’s not BS is that getting rid of all the billionaires is not going to happen anytime soon. So we should focus pressure on the ones interfering in the political process and promoting fascism.