OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Democrats on Saturday elected Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as the national chair, turning to a low-profile Midwestern political operative to coordinate their resistance to Donald Trump’s presidency.
Martin came into the weekend as the favorite among three candidates, and captured a majority vote of 246.5 of the 448 DNC members.
Martin succeeds Jaime Harrison of South Carolina atop the Democratic National Committee. Harrison did not seek another term after the 2024 election when Trump became the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades and made modest gains with core Democratic constituencies — African Americans, Latinos and working-class voters, among them.
“We got punched in the mouth in November,” Martin, 51, said Saturday. “It’s time to get off the mat, dust ourselves off and get back in this fight.”
He is now one of the most important players in the Democratic Party’s comeback attempt as Trump pushes the limits of presidential power.
Born in Minneapolis, Martin graduated from Eden Prairie High School and attended college at the University of Kansas, beginning his political career as an intern for Paul Wellstone's first campaign for US Senate in 1990.
Martin became Minnesota DFL chair in 2011, not long after Democrats lost control of the state Senate for the first time in 40 years. Also lost were the majority in the Minnesota congressional delegation, with Jim Oberstar losing the 8th congressional seat up north after holding the slot since 1975.
The following year, Democrats regained the state Senate and held onto the majority in the state House. That was followed by the reelections of Gov. Mark Dayton and US Senator Al Franken.
The vote played out in suburban Washington as more than 400 DNC members from every state and U.S. territory gathered for the party’s winter meeting.
Martin and the other leading contender, Wisconsin party chair Ben Wikler, promised to refocus the Democratic message on working-class voters, strengthen Democratic infrastructure across the country and improve the party’s anti-Trump rapid response system.
They pledged not to shy away from Democrats’ dedication to diversity and minority groups, a pillar of the modern-day party. Martin is the first white man to lead the DNC since 2011.
Also in the race were Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor and Biden administration official, and Faiz Shakir, who managed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ last presidential campaign.
Candidate Marianne Williamson, an activist and author, surprised DNC members before voting began by endorsing Martin as “our best chance to cut the court with the billionaire funded corruption that will otherwise obstruct and limit our possibilities.”
Most of the candidates acknowledged that the Democratic brand is badly damaged, but few promised fundamental changes. Indeed, nearly three months after the election, there is little agreement on what exactly went wrong.
The election took place less than two weeks after Trump’s inauguration. Democrats are struggling to confront the sheer volume of executive orders, pardons, personnel changes and controversial relationships taking shape in the new administration.
Just 31 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week. Forty-three percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party.
Shakir called for sweeping changes within the party, such as more coordination with labor unions and less focus on minority groups sorted by race and gender. The only Muslim seeking the chairmanship, Shakir was alone during a recent candidate forum in opposing the creation of a Muslim caucus at the DNC.
But his candidacy struggled to gain traction.
Wikler faced questions about his relationship with Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, the billionaire cofounder of LinkedIn. But he cast his fundraising connections as an asset. Indeed, the DNC chair is expected to raise tens of millions of dollars to help Democrats win elections.