The chairs of all four state parties are endorsing Minnesota’s Ken Martin to lead the Democratic National Committee (DNC), ABC News has learned.
Democratic leaders from New Mexico and southwestern Oklahoma, as well as from the critical and increasingly purple state of Arizona, Texas, endorsed Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, on Thursday morning.
“The American Southwest is one of the fastest growing parts of the country, and every election year it has become a political hotbed. The leaders of these critical states have put their trust in my ability to help our party win again. And I don’t take that lightly. I appreciate their support in running the next DNC. to have and will not let them down,” Martin said in a statement to ABC News.
The leaders all represent states where the national Democratic ticket, led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, has struggled to fully resonate with voters and has at times undercut Democratic House and Senate candidates.
Martin’s track record of winning statewide elections is central to the party’s mission to establish strong electoral majorities in southwestern states where Democrats have struggled, Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano said in a statement to ABC News.
“Ken’s commitment to breaking away from the transactional organizational model and replacing it with one built on year-round, lasting relationships will be especially important to regaining our momentum with the Latinos and young voters we need to win in Arizona and throughout the Southwest,” he said. , citing two demographics that Harris and Democrats have underestimated this year.
In Arizona, Harris lost while Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego narrowly defeated Republican Kari Lake.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Association of Democratic State Committees, speaks about the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the Hilton Chicago, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
By: Ashlee Rezin/AP
Also in New Mexico, Democratic Senate candidate Martin Heinrich beat Harris by 3 points. And while he emerged victorious, so did Trump thereGetting almost 46% of the vote in 2024, compared to just 40% in 2016.
In Texas, Democrats also suffered losses despite gaining more strength in the last election. While Biden lost to Trump by only six points in 2020 and Beto O’Rourke came within striking distance of defeating Ted Cruz in 2018, Harris and Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred failed to narrow that margin. Allred lost to Cruz by 9 points, while Harris suffered a 14-point defeat against presidential candidate Donald Trump and once again underperformed a statewide peer.
“Ken has an undefeated record of winning statewide elections, and that’s the leadership we need to build sustainable majorities in key states like Arizona,” Bejarano continued.
Other Southwest panelists echoed Bejarano, seeing Martin as a reliable coalition builder, a key skill for a party that saw dangerous levels of attrition among key demographic groups that ultimately led to losses, including in seven battleground states. .
“With Donald Trump at the helm of the Republican Party, we need someone who understands that our path to victory lies in every corner of this country, not just in the big cities, but in rural communities, neighborhoods and battlefields everywhere,” Gilberto Hinojosa, Texas. The president of the Democratic Party, he said in a statement.
Hinojosa believes that Martin’s “vision, strategic brilliance and commitment to grassroots organization” make him the best equipped to lead the party at this crossroads, adding that Martin is “the key to leading us to a democratic future we can all believe in.”
Alicia Andrews, head of the Oklahoma Democrats, said Martin “has the vision, experience and dedication to lead our Party to meaningful and lasting change.”
According to Martin’s campaign, he currently has the endorsement of more than 100 DNC members. The names of these people have not yet been released.
The chairs need a simple majority of the DNC, at least 224 votes, to win. The leadership election takes place on February 1 outside Washington, DC
“Ken Martin is the leader the Democratic Party needs to build a stronger and more inclusive future,” Andrews added.
