DNC leader faces growing scrutiny amid party turmoil

The Hill

7 days ago

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin is under pressure amid growing turmoil within the party's ranks six months into President Trump's second administration.
The committee has been plagued by party infighting that has spilled out into the open in recent weeks. Last week, two influential union heads — American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders — stepped down from their posts at the committee. Meanwhile, former Vice Chair David Hogg announced he would not run for his post again amid internal disagreements with party leadership.
And on top of the infighting, reports have surfaced the committee is strapped for cash amid frustration among donors.
The developments have painted a picture of weakness, barring Democrats from fully uniting behind Trump. Some critics argue the issues can be traced back to Martin, but others insist it's a reflection of the Democratic ecosystem as a whole.
'Ken Martin is stepping into a really difficult situation right now, and I would say he was elected and they handed him a mop and a bucket,' said Brian Lemek, a Democratic strategist and founder and executive director of Defend the Vote.
Martin assumed his position in the top role at the DNC in February after defeating then-Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler in a competitive chair's race. His election came months after the party's sweeping losses across the board in 2024.
His allies note Martin hit the ground running, unveiling his 50-state strategy in April. Martin pledged the DNC would donate a baseline of $17,500 to state parties and territories, marking a $5,000-per-month increase over the committee's previous contribution.
Martin has also seen a number of special election victories during his tenure, including in Iowa, Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
'The man is everywhere,' said New Jersey-based DNC member Laura Matos, noting Martin's recent trip to the state, which is holding its governor's race in November.
'New Jersey doesn't regularly get the love and the attention for the purposes of the things we have going on here,' she said. 'He kicked off canvasses when he was here.'
Still, recent polling paints a picture of a deeply unsatisfied Democratic base.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found 62 percent of Democrats said 'party leaders should be replaced.' Forty-nine percent of Democratic respondents said they were 'unsatisfied with current leadership,' while 41 percent said they disagreed with the sentiment that they were unsatisfied with leadership.
And most of the coverage surrounding the committee has been dominated by intraparty fighting that has spilled out into the open, something Democratic lawmakers are cognizant of.
In a post on the social platform X following Weingarten's exit earlier this week, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he wants 'to build a party with a big tent and inclusion, not subtraction and pushing people out.'
'[Weingarten] understands the need for trades schools & apprenticeships more than anyone in our party [and Hogg] the need for primary competition and generational change,' Khanna said.
And earlier this month, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said on X he 'would love to see a day go by that the DNC doesn't do something embarrassing and off-message' ahead of the vote to redo Hogg and Pennsylvania state Sen. Malcolm Kenyatta's (D) vice chair elections.
'Everyone should be focused on killing the cuts to healthcare & food assistance & education. And everyone should focus on next November,' Pocan said, adding 'internal bullshit done externally is stupid.'
New York state Sen. James Skoufis (D), who ran against Martin for chair earlier this year and is a member of the committee's People's Cabinet, said Hogg is at 'the nexus' of the intraparty tensions.
'There's a lot of noise being generated by a very small handful of what I'll call backbiters who have some axe to grind,' Skoufis said.
Saunders and Weingarten endorsed Wikler in the party chair's race earlier this year, and both were later removed by Martin from the DNC's influential Rules and Bylaws Committee. Both cited disagreements with Martin in their letters announcing their departures.
Not every member who was removed by Martin from the Rules and Bylaws Committee has taken that approach. Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), who is a DNC member who was removed from the committee by Martin, said he still backs the chair.
Jones argued that the internal tensions spilling out into the open only serve as a distraction for Democrats in their battle to take on Trump and Republicans.
'I think people need to separate their emotion from the work that needs to be done because the infighting that we're seeing, it's taking our focus off of the bigger picture at hand,' Jones told The Hill.
'For us to be in this moment and we're wasting our time talking about power and position when we should be talking about policy and people. That is how we're going to win elections,' he said.
John Verdejo, a North Carolina-based DNC member who supports Martin, said the changes Martin brought with him to the committee are to be expected given the switch-up in leadership.
'I attribute that to real life where there's new management and when new management comes into any work situation, they want to change things up the way they see fit and that's what happened, especially in the case of the two labor presidents,' Verdejo said.
'Our problem is we're so quick, DNC members, or Democrats, really, if we want to complain, instead of complaining to the person aggrieved us, in this case Ken Martin, we're so quick to tweet it out or talk to the press about it instead of talking to the person that aggrieved us,' he continued.
The DNC has also been subject to questions about its finances as it prepares for the midterms next year. The committee entered May with $18 million cash on hand, compared to the Republican National Committee, which started the month with $67.4 million in the bank. Additionally, in the first four months of 2025, only three donors gave $100,000 or more to the committee.
A New York Times report published earlier this week highlighted reported concerns from Democrats about the committee's finances, but others note the smaller dollar donors should not be ignored.
'The DNC historically has too exclusively prioritized larger donors at the expense of smaller donors and that is no longer happening,' Skoufis said.
On Friday, the committee announced it had raised $40 million during Martin's first four months as chair. In May, the DNC said it outpaced grassroots fundraising in May 2023 and 2024 and raised twice as much in grassroots dollars compared to May 2017.
'Powered by our grassroots community, the DNC has just set a new record for most money raised in the first four months under a new Chair — ever,' Martin said in a statement. 'What matters is winning elections, making Democrats competitive everywhere, expanding our tent, and putting our party on the right path.'
Others within the DNC say the lower-than-usual numbers from larger donors are to be expected following 2024.
'Large donors made it clear that they were not going to give to the DNC until we got our act together. I think we knew that going into this,' Jones said, adding he believes donors will come back.
'But they're not going to come back if they still see a disconnect internally,' he said.