The Democratic Party has a new leader. And technically, he is not even a Democrat. The new chair is Ken Martin, the now-former chair of the Minnesota DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party). His party was formed on April 15, 1944, when the Minnesota Democratic Party merged with the Farmer-Labor Party and came up with this really cool name. It was an easy win, with Martin getting 246.5 votes, Wisconsin's Ben Wikler getting 134 votes, and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley getting 44 votes. The results are slightly surprising, since Wikler had many high-profile endorsements, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Govs. Andy Beshear (KY), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Laura Kelly (KS), Tina Kotek (OR), Maura Healy (MA), Janet Mills (ME), and Gretchen Whitmer (MI), and many large and important unions including the AFSCME, AFT, NEA, and SEIU.
It isn't like most Americans are now going to regard Martin as the leader of the Democrats, though, even if formally he is. In fact, he won't even try. He is pretty low-key and as a long-time member of the DNC understands that his job is definitely inside baseball. He has to make sure the machinery runs well and money is raised. Martin hinted at that in his acceptance speech: "The role of the party is not just to go out there and build the infrastructure. It's also to make sure we're defining them and we're out there making sure the American people know what the stakes of not only these coming elections are, but what's happening in this country." He is also going to start a "post-election review" of what went wrong. He said he wouldn't call it a "post-mortem" or "autopsy" because he said the party is not dead.
At least three of the major factors that led to Donald Trump's victory are clear right now:
Nothing can be done now to fix these problems. Nevertheless, Kamala Harris got 6 million fewer votes than Biden in 2020 and Democrats can ask why. They know that many young Black and Latino men voted for Trump. The Party needs to figure out how to get them back. That will likely be a painful process and fracture the Party, especially if the study shows that the voters they lost wanted gas prices to be lower and don't give a hoot about climate change, gay rights, pronoun usage, or even abortion, issues dear to many Democrats.
Almost the first thing on Martin's agenda is thinking about the 2028 presidential primary process. In what order should the primaries go and how will he deal with states that don't like the order? Suppose there are two dozen or more serious candidates (i.e., Democratic senators, representatives, governors, mayors, etc.). Who gets to debate? Then there is fundraising, which is a major part of Martin's job. Should he cozy up to Democratic billionaires? Some Democrats don't like that idea, but others say "money is money." It is not going to be an easy job. Democrats should be thankful somebody wanted it. (V)