Democrats elect Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as their national chair

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Democrats on Saturday elected Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as the national chair, turning to a low-profile Midwestern political operative to coordinate their resistance to Donald Trump’s presidency.

Martin succeeds Jaime Harrison of South Carolina atop the Democratic National Committee. Harrison did not seek another term after the 2024 election when Trump became the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades and made modest gains with core Democratic constituencies — African Americans, Latinos and working-class voters, among them.

Martin offered a warning to Trump and his Republican allies after the vote was announced: “We're coming. This is a new Democratic Party. We're taking the gloves off.”

Martin now becomes one of the most important players in the Democratic Party’s comeback attempt as Trump pushes the limits of presidential power. While Martin promised bold changes, he said he could not discuss specific actions until the party conducted a postelection review to determine what went wrong in November.

It is unclear how long the process might take. Martin said it would be completed “as quickly as possible” and then released publicly.

The party leadership election played out in suburban Washington as more than 400 DNC members from every state and U.S. territory assembled at the DNC's winter meeting.

Martin's ascendance comes less than two weeks after Trump's inauguration and as Democrats struggle to confront the sheer volume of executive orders, pardons, personnel changes and controversial relationships taking shape in the new administration. At the same time, public perception of the Democratic Party has hit rock bottom.

Just 31% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week. Forty-three percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party.

Martin, 51, easily defeated Wisconsin party chair Ben Wikler, who had earned the backing of leading Democratic donors and leaders in Congress, including the top Democrats in the House and Senate.

Ultimately, Martin's relationships with DNC members helped him overcome Wikler's higher-profile alliances. Martin is one of the longest serving state party chairs, having led the Minnesota Democratic-Labor-Farmer Party since 2011.

While the Democrats inside the cavernous hotel ballroom cheered Martin's election, not every one was convinced that he alone can lead the party's resurgence.

Jeanna Repass, the Kansas Democratic chair who was running for DNC vice chair, described Martin as “a workhorse” instead of “a champion."

“Your workhorse pulls the plow, and you need that. But we don’t have that voice, that champion, to get out in front of us,” Repass said. "Donald Trump, for all of his faults, is able to get up there and lie with impunity and do it convincingly, and I don’t hear or see that voice in our party.”

Martin on Saturday promised to refocus the Democratic message on working-class voters, strengthen Democratic infrastructure across the country and improve the party’s anti-Trump rapid response system. He has pledged not to shy away from Democrats’ dedication to diversity and minority groups, a pillar of the modern-day party.

Still, Martin became the first white man to lead the DNC since 2011.

Also in the race were Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor and Biden administration official, and Faiz Shakir, who managed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ last presidential campaign.

Candidate Marianne Williamson, an activist and author, surprised DNC members before voting began by endorsing Martin as “our best chance to cut the cord with the billionaire funded corruption that will otherwise obstruct and limit our possibilities.”

Fundraising was one of the few issues that differentiated the front-runners.

Some candidates criticized Wikler for relying on billionaires to fund his campaign. George Soros and Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn cofounder, each gave Wikler $250,000, according to federal filings.

Martin received a donation from a billionaire as well — Vance Opperman, a Minnesota-based businessman, donated $100,000. Martin has defended the party's need accept money from wealthy donors to keep up with Republicans. He has said he would not take contributions from people who do not share his values.

The Democrats’ connection to such wealthy contributors could undermine one of the party’s central arguments against Trump, who has tapped more than a dozen billionaires for prominent roles in his nascent administration, none more prominent than Elon Musk.

Some of Martin's competitors were more willing to make sweeping changes.

Shakir called for a reliance on small-dollar donors, much more coordination with labor unions and less focus on minority groups sorted by race and gender. The only Muslim seeking the chairmanship, Shakir was alone during a recent candidate forum in opposing the creation of a Muslim caucus at the DNC.

Shakir earned just two votes, however. Martin got 246, Wikler 134 and O'Malley 44.

Some Democratic leaders remain concerned about the direction of their party.

“As positive as I am and as hopeful as I am, I’m watching this in real time, thinking to myself, ‘We’re in real trouble because I don’t see a desire to change,’” Repass said.