Who Should be the Next DNC Chair?

An Opinion Piece

The DNC will elect its new chair on 1 February 2025 at the Winter Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, along with other leadership positions.

Before we get to the main event, David Hogg is running for Vice Chair. If I had a vote, he’d be my choice for Vice Chair as he is just perfect for the role. Sorry, I digress.

Do we care who is DNC Chair?

YES WE DO. We care a lot.

While a lot of “work” gets done by others, in every large organization, corporation, government, it is the leader who sets the tone. Sets the frame. In the case of the DNC, the chair is charged in the charter, with general responsibility for the affairs of the Democratic Party between National Conventions and particularly coordinating strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well as working to establish a "party brand".

And so the question becomes: who do we want to lead us into battle?

While most of you reading this blog post won’t have a direct vote, you had a chance in the past to vote for some members of the DNC, who will vote directly for the Chair and the other leadership positions. If you’re interested in the positions on the DNC, you can view this information. Of note, the largest bloc are State Committee members (plus the state Chair and Vice-Chair). In many (albeit not all) states, territories, DC and Democrats Abroad, the State Committee members are elected directly by Democratic voters. If you know any of your State Committee members, you can always politick them directly!¹

To run, a Chair candidate needs to secure a minimum of 40 nominating signatures from DNC members, of which there are currently 448. The full process is here.

And the initial candidates are (in alphabetical order)²:

• Minnesota Party Chair and DNC vice chair Ken Martin

• Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley

• New York State Sen. James Skoufis

• Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler

There are a lot of similarities between the candidates. First, they’re all white men. And believe it or not, that’s a rare occurrence for a DNC Chair race. However, all recognize the importance of leveraging diversity. They are all in favor of a 50-state solution, understand we need to make a stronger economic argument, are cognizant of the need to message differently than we have recently, and that we need to reach voters where they are, not just through “standard” outreach methods. The differences relate to how they would implement changes, and their individual styles.

You are likely familiar with O’Malley. Prior to being Governor, he was the Mayor of Baltimore, he was recently Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (he resigned to run for Chair), and he ran, briefly, for president in 2016. At 61, he is both the oldest of the candidates, and the most “mainstream” of all the candidates.

The youngest, at 37, is Skoufis. While he has been elected from his district to a state position, he lacks national experience, and has no experience running a large organization.

I doubt that O’Malley or Skoufis will get very far in the process. Neither has announced any nominating endorsements, although it’s possible (especially for O’Malley) to get the needed 40.

Meanwhile, Wikler and Martin are the ones to watch. Wikler announced earlier that week that he’d cleared the 40 nominating endorsement threshold. Martin has at least 100 nominating endorsements, and he’s been running for a while.

While neither Wikler nor Martin have ever held elected office, both have worked for elected officials and understand how the system works from the inside. In addition, both have been highly successful in their states (Wikler in Wisconsin, and Martin in Minnesota) at getting people elected. While they share similar goals for moving the party forward, and winning elections, they are stylistically very different, and it’s likely the “stylistic” differences that will determine which of the two of them end up winning the DNC Chair position. So you know: Martin is 51, and Wikler is 43.

In my personal assessment³, either would be a good choice.

Wikler’s plans involve leveraging his Wisconsin successes across the country by partnering with each state to develop a plan individualized for their needs, and running year-round campaigns. Wikler is not just a party leader, he was also an activist for MoveOn and other organizations. He also has a background in media (student newspaper and Al Franken’s radio show) and an economics degree from Harvard. More details on his plan here. Or watch his video.

In Minnesota, it’s the “Democratic-Farmer-Labor” (DFL) party, and Martin has headed it since 2011, the longest tenure in the history of the DFL. That’s in addition to being Vice Chair of the DNC since 2017. His record? Since 2011, the DFL has won every statewide race. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Martin lays out his plan here: (Click here if you need to see it bigger.) Or watch his video.

This will be a really interesting race to watch because, in certain ways, it speaks to what’s going on with the wings of the party. While both Martin and Wikler are left-center, neither is far left. Martin’s initial support comes from members of the DNC, and Wikler’s from left-center organizations like MoveOn and Third Way, as well as DNC members.

Neither of the candidates is “establishment” the way O’Malley is. And it really is notable that there are no far-left candidates (so far).

It is unsurprising to me that the candidates are genial, dedicated, and smart. I am also not surprised that they’re white guys. A lot of people fight “the last war”: in this specific instance, there is a question about whether Vice President Harris would have faced less backlash if she were a white guy. I am NOT saying this is a valid criticism, just that scuttlebutt amoungst the party regulars (all of whom spoke off the record) is they want to move a little “back from woke” to revamp the party’s processes, messaging, and the primary calendar⁴. Remember that the “party regulars” tend to be, um, moderate in their outlook⁵.

The Democrats have a YouTube channel. While a lot of it, now, relates to last summer’s convention, I expect that some of the Winter Meeting will live stream there, and I know that the candidate speeches will be available. The real action, however, will occur behind the scenes, in the conversations that the voting members undertake amoungst themselves.

1. If you want to run for State Committe, you can. While that won’t influence this February’s vote, it will give you input down the line. Be aware that normally you need to have “done time” at the local/county level, and it’s an actual campaign where you’ll need signatures on petitions, and then to drum up voters, in those states with elections. Otherwise, you’d need to go to the State Convention and politick there.

2. It’s possible that others will jump into the race, but these are the candidates as of mid-December.

3. While I know a number of voting DNC members, I have not contacted any of them to “poll”, nor have I discussed this election with any of them.

4. In 2024, the primary calendar was changed to make South Carolina first. It wasn’t battle tested this year, as there was no real primary season for the Democratic Party. The order of the calendar will matter in 2028 when it will be a real primary.

5. This is the crux of the “Obama-Clinton” wing of the party and the “Progressive” wing of the party. I have been trying for a month to be able to cogently explain this schism and how we move forward. I have a lot of information, but I’ve been unable, so far, to find a good way forward.