The field of contenders trying to steer the Democratic National Committee in the wake of the party’s deeply disappointing results last month’s elections continues to grow.
Three more candidates announced their intention to open wide this weekend DNC chair race which seems to have a frontrunner.
Ben Wikler, who chaired the state Democratic Party in battleground Wisconsin for five years, launched his campaign in a video on Sunday.
“Today, the country we love needs the Democratic Party to be stronger. To unite. To fight. And to win,” Wikler emphasized.
WHO ELSE THINKS TO MAKE A BID TO GOVERN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Chairman Jaime Harrison speaks at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting in Philadelphia on February 4, 2023. (Fox News)
On Sunday, former Maryland Senate candidate Robert Houton announced his bid, saying in a letter to DNC members that he aimed to “lead and grow our Democratic Party to electoral and transformative, historic victories in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2028 to be defended. past.”
A day earlier, New York State Senator James Skoufis announced on social media his long-awaited outsider bid for the DNC chairmanship in the race to succeed Jaime Harrison, who will not seek a second term early next year of four years. the aftermath of major setbacks for Democrats in the 2024 elections.
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“The voters have spoken, and we must listen, not lecture. We have to be strong fighters again,” he said. “I may be an outsider, but I know how to win.”
And Skoufis vowed to “throw away the DNC’s stale, Beltway-centric playbook so we can rebuild, stop ceding ground to Republicans, and start winning again – everywhere.”
The field continues to grow in the race to serve as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who spent the past year as commissioner of the Social Security Administration, and Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, a DNC vice chairman who also directs the Social Security Administration. association of state Democratic Party chairmen, entered the race last week.
“When I took over @MinnesotaDFL we were in debt and disarray. But we brought people together, built a winning coalition and delivered results. I am ready to get to work rebuilding our party,” Martin said on social media. message announcing his run.
In an accompanying video, Martin emphasized, “If you’re looking for a creature from DC, that’s not me. But I do know how the DNC works and how it doesn’t work.”
O’Malley emphasized in launching his bid that “we must connect our party to the most important place in America – the kitchen table of every family’s home. Jobs, opportunities and economic security for all. Getting things done. Heap. A 50-state strategy.
The field of five DNC chairman candidates is expected to grow as Democrats try to bounce back from losing the White House and Senate in World War II. 2024 elections and failing to recapture the House of Representatives.
As Fox News and other news organizations reported last month, Rahm Emanuel, the ambassador to Japan, has quietly reached out to members of the DNC committee as he considers a bid. Emanuel is a former two-term mayor of Chicago who previously served as White House chief of staff in President Obama’s administration and as a member of Congress.
Also eyeing the chairman are Michael Blake, a former member of the New York State Assembly, Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist who describes himself as a “non-college-educated Mexican redneck.”
The next chairman will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the party’s national committee when they gather at National Harbor in Maryland in early February for the DNC’s winter meeting.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (Chairman Ken Martin)
Martin appears to be the early frontrunner. A DNC insider who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely said Martin has received more than 150 messages of support from voting members.
But Wikler, who is also known among DNC members, is also considered a frontrunner. “The DNC insiders/establishment have significant influence over this membership, so the race will be very close,” the party insider argued.
“I’m open to talking to anyone who’s interested in this, to listening to their vision and plan, and to listening to people’s different views on what we should do,” said a voting DNC member who was granted anonymity to to speak more freely.
The member said, “I think the race is wide open.”
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“We need to get back to the 50-state strategy,” the member said. “We certainly need to figure out how to appeal to a broader group of working-class voters, and when I say working-class voters, I don’t just mean white working-class voters, I mean Latino, African-Americans, voters of color. … we have to figure out how to talk to all these people.”
And the member added that to compete with Republicans, the DNC must also “dramatically expand and go not just a mile wide but a mile deep across the various communications platforms.”
