This week I had the chance to sit down with DNC Chair Ken Martin. Our conversation was raw and real about the pressures of leadership, the mistakes we’ve made as a party, and the work ahead if we’re going to build durable Democratic power.
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Chair Martin didn’t sugarcoat the toll that comes with being a party leader:
“Being a political party chair at any level, whether you’re national chair, state party chair, county chair, is the political equivalency of being a fire hydrant, right? You get pissed on by everyone. You get none of the credit when you win. You get all the blame when you lose… But they do it anyways because they love this party. They care deeply about this party, they understand what’s at stake, they understand the assignment and how important it is for us to step into these leadership roles and to fight for what we believe in.”
He spoke powerfully about how the obsession in Washington with only seven battleground states has cost us at every other level of government:
“We can no longer be a party that’s focused on seven battleground states and a few targeted congressional seats at the expense of everything else. Our own indifference to school boards, as an example, has resulted in the conservative far right taking over some of the biggest school districts in this country where they’re banning books, they’re whitewashing history, they’re attacking our kids.”
And he was blunt about the danger of showing up only at election time:
“We cannot wait until three months before an election to start having conversations with voters. It’s just one transaction after another, and we’re not building trust and relationships with voters anymore. The infrastructure we’re talking about is really basic… year-round organizing, making sure that we are contesting races up and down the ballot, focused on building power at the grassroots level and doing it in a way that’s sustainable and durable.”
Chair Martin reminded us that leadership isn’t about chasing shiny objects, it’s about getting back to the basics of building trust and power.
If we’re going to wake the sleeping giant, it won’t happen in a TV studio or a last-minute ad buy. It will happen in living rooms, school gyms, and community halls, where Democrats are present all year, every year. That’s how we win, and that’s how we keep faith with the people we serve.
— Jaime
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