Latest news with #infighting
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DNC leader faces growing scrutiny amid party turmoil
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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Washington Post
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
There's turmoil at the DNC — which isn't a bad thing
Each day seems to bring a fresh round of reports that the Democratic National Committee is beset by turmoil, confusion and infighting. I'd be more worried about the state of the party if it wasn't. Rebuilding after last year's Democratic shutout, which saw virtually every corner of the country moving toward the right and voters handing all the levers of power in Washington to the Republicans, was never going to be easy or painless.
New York Times
21-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: Inside the D.N.C., Chaos and a Shortage of Cash
'This is worse than some high school student council drama.' Representative MARK POCAN, a Wisconsin Democrat, speaking about infighting at the Democratic National Committee.
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Victoria's Liberals saved John Pesutto from bankruptcy. But can they save themselves from all-out war?
As his party room imploded last year, plagued by infighting and a looming defamation trial, John Pesutto placed a blank sheet of butcher's paper in front of his colleagues. In the dying days of his tenure as opposition leader, Pesutto asked MPs what should have been simple questions to answer: What are our values? What do we stand for? His attempt to unify a deeply divided party failed spectacularly. Almost a year later, there is no consensus answer to those questions. Factional grievances have intensified, with MPs now warning of 'all-out war' and outlining 'completely brutal' schemes to gain control of the party. A bitter rift between Pesutto and fellow Liberal Moira Deeming, who successfully sued him for defamation after he falsely implied she sympathised with neo-Nazis, has left the party room, its organisational wing and dwindling membership divided. Many senior Liberals are despondent. There have been, according to some, more than two years of 'shit fights', 'constant stupidity and self-harm' that have allowed 'an inept Labor government' to evade scrutiny, despite the best efforts of a few opposition MPs. Some hope the party's decision to loan Pesutto $1.5m so he can pay Deeming's legal fees, avoiding bankruptcy, may lead to a truce. But others suggest animosity runs deep and the party will struggle to heal while both remain in the party room. On Thursday night, members of the party's administrative committee handed over their phones to an official before voting in a secret ballot. Pesutto, who had only a matter of days to raise $2.3m, outlined a last-minute loan deal using his superannuation as security, repayable with a commercial interest rate. This was, for some on the committee, the first time they had been briefed on the proposal despite reading about it in the media for several weeks. When Deeming's lawyers filed a bankruptcy notice against Pesutto, the Victorian Liberal party president, Philip Davis, began to canvass the views of his colleagues. Those strongly opposed were kept in the dark until the secret ballot. 'My position is well known,' said one admin member contacted by Davis. 'No, no, no, no, how many times can I say no.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Several members of the committee were furious at the prospect of party money being spent on an internal dispute, rather than on campaigning to beat Labor. The proposal, first reported by Guardian Australia, was pushed by Pesutto's supporters as a way to avoid an expensive byelection in his seat of Hawthorn and to ensure, in their view, that moderate MPs were not pushed out of the party. Even before the meeting was called, Pesutto's supporters put pressure on the party leader, Brad Battin, to endorse the loan and give it momentum. 'We're already in a shit fight, but if Brad doesn't support a loan, it will lead to all-out war,' threatened one Liberal MP who declined to be named so they could speak freely. Another MP said Battin 'should not be the one to stand in the way of a deal that has support' from the party room and a majority of the committee. This did not go down well with some on the committee. 'All this media stuff is emotional blackmail,' said one committee member who declined to be named given the tense nature of discussions. When the deal was ultimately approved, Davis emailed party members to claim it would 'settle the matter once and for all' and allow the party to move on without further distraction. Battin, who endorsed the motion, said it would 'avoid further financial and reputational damage' and also declared the matter resolved, with the party now 'united, disciplined and determined' to focus on the future. Not everyone agrees. Before the meeting, Deeming said she was dismayed a loan deal was even being considered. She said it ran 'against the grain of everything we believe as Liberals' and claimed it would be a 'direct rebuke' of the federal court judgment. 'I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me,' Deeming said in reference to some of her party room colleagues. Pesutto's supporters remain bitter the party only intervened at the final hour after relentless pressure to do, in their view, the right thing. Others won't forget that Deeming's legal team threatened to chase money from Pesutto's supporters should he not be able to pay. Correspondence named former Liberal premiers Jeff Kennett, Denis Napthine and Ted Baillieu, and Victorian MPs David Southwick and Georgie Crozier as people who may be held liable. 'How can those two MPs sit in the party room with someone who was willing to do that and trust her?' said one Liberal source. 'They will always be looking over their shoulder.' Deeming did not respond to that comment, but a source close to her denied any allegation that she was untrustworthy, dishonest or a bully. Her financial backer, the New South Wales property developer Hilton Grugeon, who is owed $2.3m, said he was not bothered by the damage this would have unleashed on the party. 'I supported [the Liberals] when they were unsupportable,' Grugeon said. 'But I cannot care what happens to a party that wants to look the other way while their leader beats up on a woman who did nothing wrong.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Shortly before lodging defamation proceedings against Pesutto, Deeming outlined a vision of the Liberal party that is antithetical to some of her colleagues. In late May, Deeming told the podcast Club Grubbery praised the rightwing South Australian senator Alex Antic's ability to control his state branch and said 'nobody can get rid of him'. 'We need to take back ownership of the party of the centre right,' Deeming said, before speaking to its rank-and-file. 'This is your party. You own it, it's yours. Do not cede this ground.' 'We've really got to get really mercenary about it,' said Deeming, who raised the prospect of working with Antic and Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to recruit more like-minded members. 'We've got to get completely brutal.' But many moderates, including former federal vice-president Tom Harley, warn any push to become more conservative would make the party electorally irrelevant. Harley is scathing of the party's internal divisions, describing them as being in a state of 'constant stupidity and self-harm'. 'The Liberal party in Victoria is stuck talking to a small section of itself in the corner,' Harley said. 'We must focus on the issues that matter to people, not who goes to which lavatory.' Others, including the federal Liberal MP Jason Wood, believe factionalism is tearing the state party apart, rather than being a disagreement about values. 'Hopefully all this sorts itself and everyone takes a chill pill but, sadly, people are putting their factions first,' Wood said. Many Victorian Liberals deny they have factions equivalent to the rigid blocs that divide power in the Labor party. But they don't dispute that their party is bitterly divided. On Friday morning, Pesutto said he was 'grateful and humbled' by the party's decision to save him from bankruptcy and his colleagues would 'focus all our energy on winning the next state election'. But some didn't get the memo. Within hours of the deal being approved, one unnamed conservative MP told the Herald Sun that Battin's leadership was in question and 'the conservative block will want a 'please explain''. One senior Liberal operative not authorised to speak publicly believes the party's leadership team allowed the saga to remain unresolved for too long. They argue the damage will now be difficult to contain, despite a resolution being reached. 'If there had been good leadership of the party, the John and Moira saga might have been dealt with very differently and much quicker,' the source said. 'But no one stood up. They all thought, 'oh this will be fine, it will be buried'. But it wasn't buried. And that's how we've got to this stage.' On Thursday night, just hours after the loan was secured, some members of Deeming's branch urged each other to draw a line under the scandal and focus attention on Labor. 'Let's move on now,' said one member in a WhatsApp message leaked to Guardian Australia. 'We have got an election to win.' One of Deeming's closest allies, her husband, Andrew, replied saying, 'sadly it's not that easy to just move on'. 'Personally, my kids have nightmares because of this. Moira still gets abusive messages because of this. Politically, the party just reinforced all its negative stereotypes that they are anti-woman, that they are an old boys club,' Andrew Deeming said. 'How can we convince the public that the Liberal party cares about them when the Liberal party has given effective support to an MP who defamed his own colleague?' The text messages show Moira Deeming is bitterly disappointed by the organisational wing's conduct. 'They literally sent a bulk email to brag about earning interest off ruining my life and destroying my family,' she wrote. 'Disgusting.' Deeming confirmed she sent the message and told Guardian Australia it explained her motivation for uploading an image on social media that said: 'They financially profited off her trauma. They told the world they did her a favour. This is what institutional abuse looks like.' 'Clearly, it is undeniable that there are deep wounds,' Deeming said. 'There have been wrongs done. The things I needed were full exoneration and my loan repaid. I now have those two things.' Pesutto may have been saved from bankruptcy, but the Victorian Liberals' internal battles are far from over.
New York Times
11-06-2025
- New York Times
Jury in Weinstein Trial Was Ordered to Cool Down Amid Shouting and Threats
The jurors who decided Harvey Weinstein's fate in his New York retrial were ordered to take a break and 'cool down' earlier on Wednesday, as their discussions seemingly broke down amid shouting and threats. The unusual admonishment came after a private meeting between a juror and the judge overseeing the trial — the third such conversation in a trial marked by jury problems — and led Mr. Weinstein to appeal directly to the judge for a mistrial. The pause came only hours before the verdict on Wednesday, when the jury's foreman asked to speak to the judge, Justice Curtis Farber, and was taken into a backroom where he told the judge and the lawyers his concerns. Nearly 30 minutes later, Justice Farber returned to the bench and said the man had said that he was upset that others were trying to change his mind. At least one juror, the judge said, told the man, 'I will see you outside one day.' The extraordinary exchange led to Mr. Weinstein's directly address the judge, saying the infighting inside the jury of seven women and five men, was resulting in an unfair trial. 'This is not right for me, for me the person on trial here,' he said. 'This is my life on the line and you know what, it's not fair. It's simple. It's not fair.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
