Since losing control of the White House, the Senate and the House, Democrats are looking for new leadership to tackle the nation’s problems with the additional challenge of confronting four more years of a Trump presidency.
Though multiple candidates have already announced themselves as throwing their hats into the ring, one is already emerging as a frontrunner: Ken Martin.
Martin, head of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and a vice chair of the national party, has said he has locked down nearly half of the needed endorsements to win the contest, according to Politico.
So far, with the exception of Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor and current Social Security administrator, other big names have not entered the contest to challenge Martin, though there is still plenty of time.
The Democratic National Committee will choose its successor in February, current chair Jaime Harrison informed members last week. Taking place shortly after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, it will be an election that will speak volumes about how the party wants to present itself during the next four years.
Martin and his allies have sold him as a neutral leader and a safe pair of hands who would seek to avoid further divisive arguments within a party which has been playing the blame game since November 5.
“The key for a successful party chair is to get all of those various ideological wings of your party to work together,” Martin said previously. “For me, it doesn’t really matter where I stand on any of that, because my job is to make sure that we are winning elections.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who unsuccessfully ran for DNC chair in 2017, said he would be endorsing Martin and that “he knows that his role is essentially a process role.” “He’s trying to get people to vote, to run. He’s not trying to say, ‘Here’s what you need to stand for,’” Ellison said.
Even Martin’s potential competitors have acknowledged his success, with former New York Assembly member Michael Blake, saying that describing him as the frontrunner so far was “fair.”
However, other, bigger-name potential candidates have also been touted, including Rahm Emanuel or Sherrod Brown – though neither have officially entered the race as of yet.
William Owen, a DNC member from Tennessee, told Politico that Martin is not his first choice and that he would prefer Brown, the senator from Ohio, if he can be convinced to run. But, he added, Martin has “credibility with all factions of the party” and “is someone everyone could get behind.”
Martin currently has 100 backers out of a total 448 DNC members, according to a list provided by his campaign to Politico.
Other candidates include former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who announced a bid shortly before Martin did, and New York state Senator James Skoufis.
On Sunday, Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, announced he too had joined the race to lead the national party. “In Wisconsin, we’ve built a permanent campaign,” Wikler said in his candidacy announcement.
“We organize and communicate year-round in every corner of the state — rural, suburban, urban, red, blue and purple areas alike.”
The final election for a candidate will be held on February 1 during the Democratic party’s winter meeting in National Harbor, Maryland – days after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
