Sunday, May 24, 2026

The local paper, StarTribune, says there is grumbling about Ken Martin as DNC chief.

 Inner party politics are unknown to me as I am not inner party. Ellison and Omar locally ssupport Martin.

This paragraph from the report:

Martin won the DNC chairmanship overwhelmingly on the first ballot, beating Wikler, who had the support of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Martin likes to emphasize that he did not get the backing of the “status quo” billionaires or the establishment, instead touting grassroots support.

Jeffries, Pelosi and Schumer are what is wrong with the Democratic Party. Ossification. In the saddle, shit for healthcare for people, so go figure. And old timers together with the Harris spouses and their backing and elite style fucked it up. Ken is brought in to mop up, he does somewhat, and steps of a few toes. 

Big story. These hunters for his job, this close to the election, are no help in handcuffing Trump.

Let the man do the job. There will be retrospective time between this November and November 2028.

The sharp knives can come out then and Martin can defend as he may. But now? He's who is there, and I remember Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and her "Hillary's turn" crap against Bernie - Martin's several cuts better than that walking disaster. 

As in, who says Ken is unfair? Who are the critics? What's their bitch? The New York Dems and Pelosi are not the best of people, and a conscience is needed rather than serving the wealthy while hoodwinking the people who have faced little choice since Bill Clinton fucked things up via GOP - lite. 

Ihlen Omar in his corner, Kieth Ellison in his corner, that means his corner has class. A future.

I hate the stupid song, "Stronger Together" there being convention cause to think that and the balloon drop were a sign of no real substance, just narcissistic egomania of a spousal pair who have been passed up. 

Good that they have. Move on. Don't undermine Martin until after the election. It will be as it is.

The old guard did not do well with Harris, so cut Martin slack. Being able to lose to Trump is not an endorsement of particularized competence. 

UPDATE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-itNjgCJDxU Not your Nancy Pelosi clone. Nor your Susan Collins clone. Those two, clones of each other? Anyway, Ken Martin is not your DWS clone, and some don't feel comfortable while preferring a DWS clone; a filter from and against the masses.

FURTHER: Reporting about the sniping at Ken Martin is widespread. Who's shooting? Minnesota reporting first:

 https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2026/05/inside-the-furor-plaguing-democratic-national-committee-leader-ken-martin/ -- saying:

Amanda Litman, who leads the Democratic-allied organization Run For Something, said she’s been approached by senior strategists in recent days gauging her interest in replacing Martin. She declined but said many in the party have lost faith in the DNC leader.

“I think it’s a really hard job, and also Ken is not doing it very well,” Litman told The Associated Press. “I honestly think he’s going to have a hard time rebuilding trust.”

So, she wants to take over Martin's job. Who is she? Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/26/run-for-something-co-founder-amanda-litman

That says what she says, but does nothing about who she is. Wikipedia, better on that:

Run for Something (RfS) is a progressive American political organization dedicated to recruiting and supporting young candidates running for down-ballot office. Its mission is to get young progressive candidates from non-traditional backgrounds to run for and win state and local offices, and create a next generation slate of political candidates that will seek higher office in the future.[1]

It was founded on January 20, 2017 — the day of the inauguration of Donald Trump as president — by Amanda Litman, the email director of Hillary Clinton's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, and Ross Morales Rocketto, a veteran of political campaigns.[2][3]

In May 2017, political action organization Onward Together, founded by Clinton, selected Run for Something as one of its three primary partner organizations.[4]

Wiki footnotes 3,4

  • Hillary Clinton [@HillaryClinton] (November 8, 2017). "Congratulations to @RunforSomething founders @amandalitman + @RossMoRock for a huge night! 25 of the local candidates they helped to recruit and run won" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  • Palmer, Anna (May 15, 2017). "Clinton launches new political group: 'Onward Together'". POLITICO.
  • The Clintons were the ones who misdirected - shrot term - the traditional Dems to coopting the Republican agenda - with the Stronger Together song blaring at the convention balloon drop preceding Clinton's losing, much worse than Harris losing, i.e., without excuse.

    Bottom line there, Amanda Litman is nobody's sensible answer of better than Ken Martin.

    Politico -

    Weak,’ ‘whiny’ and ‘invisible’: Critics of DNC Chair Ken Martin savage his tenure

    The new DNC chair has faced messy drama since stepping into the role in February.

    Rahm Emanuel, former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, said the committee is floundering. “We’re in the most serious existential crisis with Donald Trump both at home and abroad — and with the biggest political opportunity in a decade,” Emanuel said.

    “And the DNC has spent six months on a firing squad in the circle, and can’t even fire a shot out. And Trump’s world is a target-rich environment.”

    Many DNC members and outside Democrats, including Martin’s supporters, said they wished the party would just move on from recent internal turmoil and focus instead on mounting an effective fight against Trump.

    Rahm is nobody's answer to anything. In the Daly Chicago seat these days, seemingly, bad news. There is Bulwark

    But much of the criticism is about things that are directly under Martin’s purview. Since 2025, the DNC has spent more money than it has raised and has more debt than cash on hand. The RNC has a roughly seven-to-one money advantage over the DNC, and last October, Martin took out a $15 million loan ahead of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Multiple people familiar with the DNC’s money issues said that the situation is so dire that Martin will likely be forced to make another tough call this summer: take out another loan or lay off staff. During his Pod Save interview, Martin repeatedly characterized the claim that the DNC is contemplating layoffs as “garbage.”

    “The biggest strike against him is that he seems to be utterly incapable of managing a budget. To put the DNC in such a bad financial situation going into what is . . . likely be the most wild [presidential] primary we’ve had in a while—it reeks of irresponsibility and immaturity,” said a DNC member who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.

    “It just feels like we’re being gaslit at this point.”

    The agita over the state of the DNC is not merely another round of Beltway bickering. It’s one of the more consequential storylines in Democratic politics these days. There is a deep concern among party officials that Martin is driving the committee into irrelevance, potentially harming Democratic chances in the midterms, and inviting uncomfortable questions about whether the 178-year-old committee should even exist anymore.

    “The DNC should not be a useless or irrelevant institution,” said Democratic strategist Ross Morales Rocketto. “It’s currently irrelevant because of the leadership.”

    So, it is about money. The consultants are not being fed as usual. Christesakes, Harris went through a billion dollars and lost. That's a message too.

    AP:

    Martin, a little-known Minnesota operative before emerging last year as the head of the national party’s formal political machine, has already faced criticism for dismal fundraising and inability to inspire confidence among his party’s unruly membership.

    However, there was no sign that a serious alternative was emerging. The Associated Press contacted a half dozen Democratic presidential prospects to gauge their support for Martin and all of them declined to weigh in.

    The intraparty feud represented an extraordinary distraction for a Democratic Party showing signs of momentum in its fight to break President Donald Trump’s grip on power in Washington. Democrats hope to regain majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the November midterms, and Republicans could be vulnerable because of Trump’s low approval ratings, dissatisfaction over the war in Iran and lingering economic frustration.

    Martin’s allies across the country lashed out at Democrats who were fueling the election-year drama, dismissing them as unhappy consultants and supporters of Martin’s previous rivals for DNC leadership.

    Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna RePass described calls for the first-term chair to step down as “ridiculous and dangerous.”

    “It is dangerous for Democrats to be playing politics with our leadership when these elections are five and a half months away,” she said. “The American people are counting on us.”

    Janet Kleeb of Nebraska, who leads her state party and the DNC’s association of state committees, said the fighting “is nuts.”

    “I haven’t had a single chair come to me saying I think Ken needs to resign,” she said. “Ken was elected by the DNC members to do a four-year term, and he has not violated any of our rules or bylaws where there would be a two-thirds vote, right? Because that’s what it would take to remove the chair.”

    Kleeb added, “These reports are such distraction.”

    If there is a thread, it is the greedy consultant class wanting money that isn't there, and bitch, bitch, bitch.

    They had a ton of anti-Trump money for Harris, and blew it all on a loss. Now they complain. And Martin did not want to release the report on how badly they underperformed.  Covering the mess, as "Let's avoid distractions, and they pushed him." Real smart. Smart people. Know how to lose folks.

    Enough. This is no defense of Martin. If his fundraising lags, it is a problem. But not THE problem.

    That THE problem thing, is try not losing this time, which Martin is set to do, despite crap being thrown at him by his lessers. The beltway consultant class are leeches. Hands off, this late, please.