Days before Republicans take full control of Washington, the Democratic National Committee is mired in intraparty strife. Intra-party struggles are less about how the party was forced out of power and more about donor influence, personality conflicts, and past contempt or jealousy.
The two candidates who have emerged as front-runners for DNC chairman, Ken Martin of Minnesota and Ben Wikler of Wisconsin, are both middle-aged white men from the upper Midwest who support their respective states' political parties. He is the chairman of the Democratic Party, and his politics are firmly within the mainstream of the Democratic Party. .
But as is often the case in internal Democratic disputes, the fault lines in the campaign are built not over ideological differences but over debates about how the party works.
Mr. Martin, 51, is campaigning on a platform of returning power and resources to state parties, but his supporters say Mr. Wikler, 43, is a tool of Washington mega-donors and Democratic Party consultants. It's attacking.
Mr. Wikler's supporters include many Democratic National Committee officials who are upset with Mr. Martin, who created a group of state party chairmen who competed for influence within the national committee. They argue that Wisconsin, which has turned its state party into a fundraising juggernaut, is the more dynamic figure who has succeeded in turning state elections, like the 2023 Supreme Court race, into national causes. are.
At the same time, Democrats not directly involved in the Democratic National Committee campaign said the candidates to replace outgoing chair Jamie Harrison are uninspiring. The only member of the party's leadership to join the race is Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Some Democrats say DNC candidates' claims about relationships with donors and regular promises of additional money to state parties overshadow a broader debate about why Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election. Some people see it as something.
“If Kamala or Biden had called and said, 'Look, we want to rally around X, Y, and Z,' I might have been interested in someone,” D.N.C. Dona Brazil, a veteran lawmaker, says: Appointed interim party chairman. “As old as the Republic itself, we haven't heard anything new about it other than giving more resources to the parties.”
Aides to President Biden and Harris did not say whether they would support the party chairman nominee.
The post of DNC chairman is often said to be one of the worst jobs in American politics, especially when a Democrat is not in control of the White House. Whoever wins the Feb. 1 vote will once again hold peace with Donald J. Trump while maintaining peace among the crowd of interest groups, donors, congressional committees, ambitious governors, and state political parties. He will be responsible for leading a party that is struggling with the reasons for its defeat.
And when the 2028 presidential primaries begin in earnest, the DNC chair will set the rules for the campaign (which states go first, who will qualify for debates, etc.), and will likely decide who the Democrats are. They will try to remain neutral about their selection.
Martin currently has the support of “well over 100” of the DNC's 448 members, according to campaign adviser Justin Buoen. He entered the race in November with support from 83 members. Another candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, has the support of “more than 60” DNC members, said spokesman Chris Taylor. New York State Sen. James Skoufis also said he was the “first choice” among the 23 DNC members.
Wikler's team did not specify the number of whips.
None of the candidates has released a list of their supporters, and if multiple candidates remain in the race, it is unlikely that any of them will be able to win the majority needed to win on the first ballot. Voters readjust their choices.
Four other candidates have also qualified to participate in four party-sanctioned candidate forums scheduled for this month and the Feb. 1 vote. They are Nate Snyder, a former Homeland Security official in the Biden and Obama administrations; Marianne Williamson, perennial presidential candidate. Quintessa Hathaway lost in the 2022 Arkansas state election. Jason Paul, a lawyer from Massachusetts, self-published a book titled “Trench War Politics in the Tinder Era.''
Jeff Weaver, who ran Sanders' presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020 and served as a senior aide in Congressman Dean Phillips' long-running 2024 primary campaign for Biden, said Wickler was argued to allies that it had too strong ties to its major donors.
Weaver specifically singled out billionaire Reid Hoffman, whom Wikler blames for trying to keep Phillips out of last year's Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin. The state Supreme Court later ordered Phillips' name to appear on the primary ballot, but he ended his campaign before Wisconsin voted.
“In my opinion, one of the most important roles of the new DNC chair is to ensure a fair and open process in the 2028 Democratic primary,” Weaver said. “We need to make sure we have people at the DNC who will protect a fair process.”
Mr. Hoffman has donated millions of dollars to the Wisconsin Democratic Party over the years and supports Mr. Wikler, according to a person briefed on the billionaire's consideration.
Wikler's other supporters say he can help bring the party together.
“In my opinion, the best thing about him is that he is a completely honest mediator between the ideological elements within the party,” said Third, a centrist think tank that has supported Mr Wikler.・Way founder Matt Bennett says: I have known Mr. Hoffman for a long time. “That must be the ideology of the DNC chairman: Get to 50 percent plus one, and then when you're in office, obey God.”
Still others look at both Wikler and Martin and think the party leaders underperformed in 2024. Harris lost Wisconsin to Trump, and her party lost control of Congress after one Democrat won the heavily Democratic state of Minnesota. It turned out that the person sent to the state legislature was not a resident of his district.
Although the DNC chair occupies a high-profile position, he answers to a very small number of voters. The DNC members voting for this position are party insiders elected from each state, ex-officio members based on other positions, and rank-and-file members appointed by the national chairman over the years.
There is little benefit to advertising or appearing on cable television. Several DNC members said Mr. Wikler probably swayed more votes than Mr. Wikler because of his appearance last month on a radio show in Fargo, North Dakota, which was hosted by one of North Dakota's DNC members. I pointed out that it was. He did that by appearing on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.
However, some of the candidates' messages are not getting across very well. Mr. Skoufis, a self-confessed bonanza candidate who has attacked the party and its strategy, sent holiday postcards to party members. The front of the card says, “Wishing you lots of cheer this holiday season,” and the back says, “Unless you're a political consultant scamming the Democratic National Committee, there's nothing but coal for them!” It was written.
Some of the people who received the postcards were DNC members who had worked as party members, and they were not amused.
Other attempts by supporters to sway party votes were also thwarted. Some donors who had organized efforts to call DNC members on behalf of Mr. Martin or Mr. Wikler called off the effort for fear it would backfire, according to people briefed on the conversations. He was asked to do so.
“No one in this room is really addressing the issues, which means we need to have a tooth and nail fight about what the future looks like,” said Snyder, one of the leading candidates. spoke. “I've never met anyone who was overly enthusiastic about this process or any particular candidate, Ben or Ken.”
Theodore Shleifer Contributed to the report.
