CNN
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As Democrats head toward an uncertain future under a second Trump administration, the party search for a new leader to help rebuild the party also remains uncertain.
The process of choosing a new Democratic National Committee chairman began Saturday, when eight candidates met virtually at the party’s first forum of the race. Three weeks before the February 1 elections, no candidate has obtained the support of the majority of the 448 party members who will choose the next party leader.
The presidential race marks the first major decision Democrats will make after suffering disastrous defeats in last year’s general election. The race for party leadership, as well as the various unofficial forums and breakout meetings that preceded Saturday’s event, became a space for Democrats to figure out what went wrong, how to reach voters who abandoned the party in November and how the millions of dollars spent in lost swing states could have been put to better use.
Despite early reports that some high-profile names were considering joining the race, the current field of eight candidates — led by Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party , Ben Wikler, and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. – is made up of personalities little known at the national level.
For many members of the DNC, that’s a bonus.
“The impression I have is that people are very hungry for a functioning president,” said a DNC member who is part of a state delegation. “We want beasts of burden.”
The DNC is made up of a mix of state party leaders and committee members, members of allied Democratic groups, labor leaders and at-large members appointed by the current president. The largest bloc is state party leaders, who have made investment in their state a key issue.
Consolidating support from state party chairs and vice chairs, who represent about 114 DNC members and have influence over their state delegations, could prove key to winning a race where no candidate has secured a majority support.
The DNC will host three additional forums: one in Detroit on Jan. 16 focused on the Midwest; one virtually on January 23 focused on the West; and a final in-person event in Washington, DC, on January 30, focused on the East.
Saturday’s forum focused on Southern issues.
Christale Spain, chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, which is still deciding who she will support in the Feb. 1 election, said she wants to know candidates’ plans to fund a “Southern strategy.”
“We simply cannot give ground because it is difficult,” Spain said before the forum. “We can win in the South, but it will just take a long-term investment.”
During the debate, the candidates discussed their plans to invest in Southern states through recruiting, messaging and more funding for state parties.
“When I say we need to focus on a 10-year strategy that rejects political divestment from the South, that’s not a platitude, it’s essential to our mission,” Martin said.
Many in the DNC hope that now is the time to shake up not only how funds are distributed, but also how the party operates as a whole. The last time Democrats were able to elect a DNC chair – in 2017, after Donald Trump won the White House for the first time. — the party instituted major reforms to address the concerns of progressives who supported independent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
This time around, candidates are rushing to deliver messages to working-class voters, hold consultants accountable and invest in state parties, frustrated by the disparity between the amount of money spent in Battleground states and what could have been spent to make their elections more competitive.
It is difficult to say how much support a candidate has. The DNC does not publicly release its membership lists, and no campaign has released a full list of its supporters.
According to the major candidates’ campaigns, Martin has “well over 100” backers; O’Malley is “60+ and counting”; New York State Sen. James Skoufis has 23 backers; and Wikler refused to publish figures.
Besides Martin, Wikler, O’Malley and Skoufis, four other candidates gathered enough signatures to appear at Saturday’s forum: former congressional candidate Quintessa Hathaway; lawyer and political strategist Jason Paul; Nate Snyder, former head of the US Department of Homeland Security; and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
Martin — who has served as state party chairman since 2011 and now chairs the Association of State Democratic Committees — has the deepest ties to state party leaders. In interviews, presidents who supported him said he had been a constant presence over the years, providing information, helping with fundraising and traveling with them throughout their states.
Earlier this month, Martin campaigned in northern Virginia on behalf of candidates running in special elections for an open seat in the House of Representatives and Senate. Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Virginia Democratic Party, said she also visited Virginia in the fall to campaign for congressional candidates and in 2021, when Democrats lost the governorship.
“One of the things I like about Ken is he shows up and is willing to work hard,” Swecker said.
Russ Carnahan, a former U.S. representative who now leads the Missouri Democratic Party, said Martin was instrumental in rebuilding the party when Carnahan took office in 2023. As the race unfolded, Carnahan suggested his state’s delegation vote as a bloc.
“About three minutes into the meeting, everyone was saying, ‘Well, it’s a no-brainer: Ken,'” he said. “We know what he’s done in his own state, we know what he’s done nationally and we know what he’s done in a very substantial way to help us in Missouri.”
A spokesperson for Wikler highlighted his work with his colleagues. In 2021, the Wisconsin Democratic Party donated $300,000 to the Florida Democratic Party to help pay for staff health insurance. Wikler also advised entrepreneur and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman to send funds to state parties in Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio, according to the spokesperson .
Martin allies have portrayed Wikler as too closely tied to donors at a time when Democrats are questioning the party’s ties to the consulting class. But the Wisconsin Democrat’s supporters note that whoever leads the party must be able to raise money — an area in which Wikler has excelled. In 2024, his state party has raised nearly $62 million, more than any other state party committee.
Lavora Barnes, the outgoing chairwoman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said she supported Wikler because of the work he did to build the Wisconsin state party.
“It’s been helpful to have Ben to call to exchange ideas, to share thoughts, to commiserate with from time to time – and Ben has done the same with me,” she said. declared. “We were really able to help each other through difficult times during these campaigns. »
As the race enters its final weeks, Barnes argued that DNC members are still weighing their options.
“I think everyone watching this should consider that this is an open race, that there are still votes to be had and that Ben is going to do everything he can to get every single one of those votes ” she said.
No candidate has claimed as many private endorsements or published as many public endorsements as Martin – including the support of eight state delegations and the party chairs of seven additional states. But other campaigns say Minnesotans also failed to secure enough votes to lock the office and expect no candidate to win a majority of votes in the first round of voting.
“No one has been able to make it out in the last two months,” Skoufis said.
Others pointed to the news that the Association of State Democratic Committees, the group chaired by Martin and which represents the DNC’s largest voting bloc, decided this week not to support a candidate.
Those who believe the race is still fluid also pointed to this week’s news that ASDC, the group of which Wikler is a member, has decided not to support. While Martin’s supporters said state party leaders felt picking and choosing would not be conducive to party unity, supporters of other campaigns said it was a sign there was votes to be won in the ranks of the ASDC.
“That means they’re still open and they’re still looking,” former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, an O’Malley supporter who can’t vote in the DNC election, told CNN. “I think there’s clearly an opportunity for someone to make their point.”
Another DNC member, who said he was considering Martin and Wikler while “keeping an open mind” about O’Malley, said his colleagues were “disappointed” in the field.
“I think a lot of people who keep their powder dry are still waiting to see if someone else will step in,” they said. “If there’s someone else with any stature who is compelling or inspiring, it shouldn’t be that hard for them to run for office.”
This story has been updated with new reports.