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Members of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to make Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin their next party leader.

Martin beat out Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, along with a handful of other candidates, on the first ballot to clinch the title. He received 246.5 votes, more than the 50 percent plus one of the 448 voting members. 

Fellow Minnesota Democrats Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Martin’s family stood behind him as he accepted the position. Members of the Minnesota DNC delegation came up to the podium to cheer and take pictures.

Martin told the DNC that the party needs to “dust ourselves off and get back in this fight” after Democrats “got punched in the mouth in November.”

“A lot of people in this country right now are going to need us to walk and chew gum at the same time, meaning we’re going to have to fight the extremes of Donald Trump, while we make a sharp case to families in both red states and blue states about why they should trust us with their votes,” he said. “The thing is this, when the Trump agenda fails Americans, which it most certainly will and already has, we have to be there with a legitimate alternative to this chaos.”

Martin touted his experience running the Minnesota DFL Party over the last 14 years and said he could scale that model to boost Democrats around the country. He also said that with President Donald Trump back in the White House and Republicans in full control of Congress, Democrats need to actively tell Americans how they can serve them. 

Martin will replace outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison starting this week. He said Democrats need to put the internal election behind them and unify. Martin said he’ll prioritize a review of the 2024 election to better understand where Democrats fell short and how they can do better heading into the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election. 

“What we need to do right now, is really start to get our handle around what happened this last election cycle. We know that we lost ground with Latino voters. We know we lost ground with women and younger voters, and, of course, working class households,” Martin said. “We don’t know the how and why at this moment, and that’s what I need to get my hands around before we can be proscriptive on a plan and a solution.”

He said he would also build out a war room within the party to counter misinformation and disinformation from Republicans.

Martin added he’s ready to lead the party and serve as a foil to President Donald Trump.

“We’re taking the gloves off. I’ve always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road, meaning I'm going to throw a punch,” he said. “So Donald Trump, Republican Party, this is a new DNC. We are not going to sit back and not take you on when you fail the American people.”

Joe Salas, a Democrat from San Bernadino, California, voted for Martin and wore a “Yes we Ken” T-shirt to the meeting Saturday. He said he appreciated how Martin brought diverse communities together.

“I think he’s the man who can with the plan to put the Spam back in and the reason why I use the word ‘Spam’ is because sometimes you got to mix things up. And Ken knows how to beautifully mix things together for a good product that's going to get our working families back and move the Democratic Party forward,” Salas said.

Martin will remain chair of the Minnesota DFL until an election next month.

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Ken Martin of Minnesota is the new chair of the Democratic National Committee. Members of the DNC elected Martin on the first ballot in a vote outside of Washington D.C.

Democrats elect Minnesota‘s Ken Martin as DNC chair on first ballot

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