Democrats elect Martin as Party chair

Editor's note: this story has been replaced with an updated file.

A party in need of bold, new leadership looks to have given America the same, old thing ...

Leaders in the Democratic Party on Saturday elected Minnesota’s Ken Martin to be the minority party’s next national chairperson.

Martin, 51, is the leader of the Democratic Party in Minnesota. He had been considered by many to be the frontrunner in the race, but lately Wisconsin’s state party chair, Ben Wikler, had emerged as a threat.

But Martin secured the majority of the votes in the first round of tallying, and said this after his victory:

"We have one team the Democratic Party, and we have one fight. The fight’s not in here, it’s out there.”
“The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.”

He’s not wrong about this, of course, but sadly, I am not the least bit surprised, nor inspired by this selection. It seems to rubber-stamp the wishes of deeply entrenched party insiders, who lately understand how to raise gobs of money, but don’t have a clear understanding of what is front and center on the minds of the American voting public.

On Thursday, I endorsed Wikler for myriad reasons, not the least of which is his stellar track record of success in Wisconsin.

Since taking over leadership in this state in the wake of Democrats’ last big hurrah in the 2018 midterms, when they dramatically flipped the Congress, and had a net gain of seven gubernatorial races, including here in Wisconsin, Wikler’s Democrats have won eight of 11 statewide races.

That’s a damn good batting average in a state that is the most 50-50 battleground in America.

Most important, Democrats under Wikler’s leadership, won a liberal majority in the state Supreme Court, that was responsible for finally securing fair congressional maps to the most Republican gerrymandered state in this country.

Races are hard-fought affairs here, and Wikler has been a major reason for our successes.

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Instead, Dems tapped Martin and as contentious and messy as it was getting to this place, the way ahead will be murkier yet as the party tries to navigate some of the most daunting political headwinds in history.

According to a recent Quinnipiac Poll, an all-time low 31 percent of voters hold a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party. Worse, 43 percent of Americans have an all-time high opinion of the Republican Party.

While I am dubious about polling, and realize they are but a snapshot in time, from my view in this tiny corner of Wisconsin, they do seem to reflect the feelings of many people on the ground here in this battleground state, and the views of more than a few Democratic activists who I have talked to across the nation.

One I heard from after today’s vote simply said this: “The party will lose members.”

Democratic leadership seems to be out of touch, and in need of a bold, new direction as we confront the greatest internal threat to our Democracy since the Civil War.

So now some straight dope:

Democrats, and Independents who vote with the party like myself, need to be honest about what we are up against, but mostly about who we really are as a people, and how we are going about connecting with voters and the issues that concern them across America.
We are failing right now, and unless we can at least admit THAT, we are doomed.

I wish Martin all the success in the world, but feel like today we have taken another step backwards.

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.)