Minnesota Democratic leader Ken Martin elected as DNC chair
Minnesota politics is back in the national spotlight this weekend.
State DFL Party Chair Ken Martin is now the chair of the Democratic National Committee, in charge of recruiting and organizing efforts against the Trump administration.
Amid chants of ‘Ken! Ken! Ken!’ — Martin took a defiant tone in his acceptance speech.
“The fight is for our values, the fight is for working people,” he said. “The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.”
Martin, chair of Minnesota’s DFL party since 2011, won 246 out of 428 votes.
“This is the new DNC,” he told reporters. “We’re taking the gloves off.”
“He’s arguing that the Democrat’s message is fine, doesn’t need to change,” explains Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. “They are for the working people, whereas Donald Trump is for the billionaires.”
The announcement came on Saturday following the DNC’s gathering in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of DNC members from every state and U.S. territory were in attendance to elect a successor to Jaime Harrison, who did not seek another term after the 2024 election.
“We could not be more proud,” The Minnesota DFL said in a statement. “Ken will be leaving the DFL with an undefeated statewide victory record, and Minnesota is better for it. Take it from us — there is no one better to rally our party and lead us to victory in the fights ahead.”
But in his pre-vote speech, Martin didn’t mince words about the tough losses for Democrats in the 2024 presidential race and the party’s failure to win either chamber of Congress.
“We got punched in the mouth in November, there’s no two ways about it,” he said. “It’s time to get off the mat, to dust ourselves off and get back in the fight.”
David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University, says Martin has his work cut out for him.
“The Democratic Party, in some ways, is in the worst shape it’s been in probably the last 20 years,” he notes. “The Democrats largely lost the working class — working class defined as those without a college degree and lost those making under $100,000.”
When announcing his candidacy for the position, Martin expressed a desire for Democrats to refocus on winning over working-class voters and reestablish connections across the country.
“So, his challenge now is how do you recapture the working class, how do you recapture those people who are traditionally Democrats but have moved away to the GOP party or become independents?” Schultz says.
Martin told ABC News his first priorities are to set up a rapid response ‘war room’ to message against Trump and define the party’s agenda, reexamine the party’s strategy and review the party’s finances.
“He’s the guy who makes sure that the resources are there, that the parties in the states have resources at their disposal, both in terms of research, but also campaign money to spend on their candidates,” Jacobs explains. “To be the bulwark, to be the force behind the scenes. The candidates are the ones who are going to shape the message. They’re the ones who are going to be taking the fight to the Republicans.”
“Today’s elections mark a new chapter in DNC leadership,” Martin told party members. “Donald Trump and his billionaire allies are put on notice: we will hold them accountable for ripping off working families and we will beat them at the ballot box.”
Martin will continue to hold the position of Minnesota DFL chair until the party elects a new leader, which is scheduled for March 29.
In his new position, he joins other Minnesotans in the national political spotlight: Gov. Tim Walz as a vice-presidential candidate, Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
“Minnesota is probably hitting above its political weight nationally, and it’s striking now that Ken Martin is stepping into that,” Jacobs says. “This is probably a high point for Minnesota politicians, at least in the last half-century.”