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Ben Wikler, Faiz Shakir, or Ken Martin for DNC chair! [1]
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Date: 2025-02-01
We need to start winning elections again. We need a DNC revival, and we need a DNC chair who can facilitate revival. First, a little backstory — for the TL;DR version, you can skip straight to “Recommendations start here...”.
After the DNC canceled Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy, the DNC retreated into only waking up once every four years, for presidential elections, and after a nominee was chosen, became an adjunct of the campaign. (For more on this, see former DNC acting chair Donna Brazile’s book “Hacked”.) In 2017, the DNC reversed the “presidency only” focus, in order to assist Doug Jones’s successful Senate race, since the DSCC seemed to be ignoring Jones’s campaign. At that time, the intent was to have a standing campaign – the DNC would be up and running at all times, and would assist state parties and down-ballot campaigns. I received fundraising email from the DNC about their assistance to Doug Jones. They explained that they would be providing funds to the Jones campaign to hire local canvass organizers in minority areas, as the Jones campaign had requested. They said, acknowledging their past foibles, “...and we promise not to waste any money on TV ads”.
One sign of progress on the standing campaign was creation of the DNC Coordinated Campaign, which works with state parties and down-ballot campaigns. Our state party (I’m in Washington state), and local campaigns, have worked with the Coordinated Campaign. The main function has been to fund organizers to assist with setting up canvass events. Early on, there were also large canvass training events, such as when Keith Ellison, along with Coordinated Campaign and Washington State Democrats organizers, came to the University of Washington to do canvass training for several hundred students and PCOs. We gave Ellison a standing ovation...for canvass training.
Since then, occasional assistance with canvass organizing has continued, but there do not seem to be further innovations, and other support, such as training, has not been repeated. Action at the DNC seemed to be coasting, on autopilot, not growing or advancing.
After the 2024 loss, the DNC laid off staff. This was another indication that the former plan for a standing campaign, and continuous operation, was no longer a priority. Information started to come out that the DNC, and the Harris campaign, were being directed by consultants, and that large parts of funds raised for the Harris campaign went to consultants. The advice they gave was to not criticize the Biden administration, to say that the economy was fine, to not acknowledge problems in Gaza. Thus came the focus on appealing to disaffected Republicans, showcasing anti-Trump Republicans, not ever criticizing Israel, disallowing pro-Palestine delegates any speaking slot at the national convention, not saying the words “working class”, not promoting the Democratic party’s former core pro-worker policies, not speaking about key Democratic policies that are very broadly popular. This allowed Republicans to make promises, such as that they would lower prices, that they never intended to keep.
What we need now at the DNC is leadership that will revive, once again, the “Run Everywhere!” plan (or, as our state party puts it, “Every Race in Every Place”). We need to investigate what went wrong, undo changes that furthered the backsliding, but also turn the ship around. We need leadership that understands how to win elections (hint – it’s not just asking for money), and, critically, empathizes with the voting public, rather than telling us folks they are wrong about the cost of living, because, see, there are some new jobs over in another state!
Recommendations start here…
Selection criteria for a DNC chair to get us back to winning elections (this includes a summary of the above backstory):
1) We need to continue the revival that started in 2017, when the DNC began reversing the damage from killing Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy. That stalled. We need to un-stall that revival. We need to Run Everywhere, even in supposed red areas.
2) The DNC is once again controlled by consultants. Some $1B in campaign contributions vanished into a hole. Consultants drove the Harris campaign, and advised to not break with Biden, to showcase never-Trump Republicans, to say the economy was booming. These are the consultants who bring us fundraising only messages with no content. We need these losing consultants out.
3) We need to go back to the party’s roots, as champion of the working class. We need to empathize and show we mean it. We need to talk about progressive policies that are wildly popular and supported by strong majorities, yes, even by Republicans.
4) We need someone with proven ability to run campaigns, and, better, to run an organization that supports and advises our candidates.
With those criteria, there are three candidates who stand out: Ben Wikler, Faiz Shakir, and Ken Martin. Right now, Wikler and Martin appear to be the front-runners. All have extensive campaign / organizing experience. Wikler’s and Martin’s experience applies more to running an organization that assists other campaigns – Shakir’s experience is more within a campaign. Wikler has been the most active in communicating with voters nationally, writing posts on Daily Kos, appearing on podcasts. Martin has the most extensive experience in running an organization that assists other campaigns, and his roadmap for the DNC is the most detailed. Shakir is, by far, the best on how to convey policy, especially toward reclaiming the party’s working class focus. And Shakir has identified issues in the DNC that need to be fixed. (One bit of concern for me is that Martin was unnecessarily negative toward other DNC chair candidates, especially Wikler, during candidate forums – Wikler remained polite in these interactions. We are going to need DNC leadership that can help maintain a collegial and positive atmosphere, even as they work through the dire straits we are in.)
Briefly, Ben Wikler has the edge in communicating with the public, Ken Martin has the most experience and most well-prepared plans, Faiz Shakir is best on policy and restoring our working class roots.
IMO, any of these three would make great DNC chairs.
For DNC vice chair, we have one major option for fixing the DNC. This is Dr. James Zogby. He has been a DNC member for decades, and has identified multiple problems, including possible financial issues, but does not have the access needed to fix them. Dr. Zogby is a leader of the DNC Ethnic Council, co-founder of the Arab American Institute. He was a campaign adviser to Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, Barack Obama, and was appointed by Bernie Sanders to the 2016 DNC platform development. He was on the DNC e-board for 16 years, and chair of the resolutions committee for 11 years. Zogby also has a very clear view of how we lost working class voters, and what we need to do to get back on track. He has spoken not just to policy but also to campaign messaging.
There is another vice chair candidate who definitely needs mention, namely, David Hogg. Hogg is a proven leader -- he is one of the founders of March for Our Lives, and more recently, Leaders We Deserve, which backs young candidates. We definitely need a voice for the next generation, which Hogg could provide.
One thing the DNC could do is try to involve the candidates who don’t win, to draw in their strengths.
The vote for DNC officers is today, Saturday, February 1, but I don’t know what time of day. If I’ve convinced you, and you know who your state’s voting DNC representatives are, call them, early, and urge them to vote for one of these candidates.
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