The Democratic National Committee (DNC) continues to face mounting challenges under newly elected chair Ken Martin, according to a bombshell report from The New York Times.
The report describes the DNC’s financial outlook as increasingly “bleak,” with top officials now weighing the option of borrowing funds to cover this year’s expenses. The crisis has been worsened by a noticeable drop in contributions from major donors, many of whom have not yet had direct engagement with Martin since he assumed leadership.
“Fellow Democrats are grumbling that Mr. Martin, who quietly accepted a raise after taking the post, has been badly distracted by internal battles. So far, they say, he has been unable to help unite his party against Republicans, who control the federal government,” The Times reported.
Martin recently emerged from a drawn-out dispute with gun control activist David Hogg, a conflict that has largely shaped the early months of his tenure as DNC chair. Hogg, 25, was elected in February as one of the party’s two vice chairs and quickly vowed to use party resources to support primary challenges against Democratic lawmakers he viewed as insufficiently left-wing.
Hogg was eventually removed from his position under internal procedural rules, but not before Martin acknowledged he had considered resigning amid the turmoil. In a leaked Zoom call with party officials, Martin accused Hogg of undermining his leadership and admitted he had contemplated stepping down if the internal strife persisted.
“No one knows who the hell I am, right? I’m trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to to put ourselves in a position to win,” Martin said in the recording, which was obtained by Politico.
“I don’t think you intended this,” Martin told Hogg on the May 15 Zoom meeting, “but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to. So it’s really frustrating.”
Hogg’s ouster has not resolved the DNC’s deeper issues, as the organization faced a wave of high-profile defections earlier this week. Several prominent labor leaders—representing a combined 3.2 million workers—resigned from the DNC, citing concerns over Martin’s leadership.
Rufus Gifford, former finance chairman for Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign and a key figure among top Democratic donors, warned that the party was sending the “wrong message” at a moment when Democrats are urgently seeking “fight and leadership.”
“What they are seeing is headline after headline of incompetence and infighting, and I think that is a real problem not just for the D.N.C. but for the larger Democratic brand,” he said. “We need to come together and focus on the issues at hand. That’s got to happen now. And I mean today. And if that can’t happen, we need to shift course.”
