The Democratic National Committee is so poor that it might need to take on debt to pay the bills. Borrowing loans has been discussed as the national organization recovers from internal drama with David Hogg, who was unceremoniously booted from the DNC over a supposed violation of diversity bylaws. This spat with Hogg led to embarrassing audio of DNC chair Ken Martin admitting that he might not want to continue serving in his position. The DNC is broke, in shambles, rudderless, and beset by high school drama (via NYT):
Wow.
— Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen Reports (@honestpollster) June 18, 2025
I haven't heard about Democrat fundraising in a while. I wonder how they are doing.
The DNC is in total disarray.
— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) June 18, 2025
Incredible. https://t.co/gABCV5qAfk pic.twitter.com/4G4f5KvBMr
🚨 JUST IN: The Democratic National Committee may now need to borrow money to pay its bills because it's so broke - NYT pic.twitter.com/YTxcHO5Os5
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 18, 2025
Just months into the tenure of a new party leader, Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee’s financial situation has grown so bleak that top officials have discussed whether they might need to borrow money this year to keep paying the bills.
Fund-raising from major donors — some of whom Mr. Martin has still not spoken with — has slowed sharply. At the same time, he has expanded the party’s financial commitments to every state, and even to far-flung territories like Guam.
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.
[…]
Part of the bumpy beginning appears to be fallout from a bare-knuckled fight for the chairmanship. With the spoils going to the winner as usual, Mr. Martin has pushed to install allies in some key posts — and remove supporters of his vanquished rivals.
“Some of the changes will leave people feeling as if they don’t have a seat at the table,” said Donna Brazile, an influential former party chairwoman and a current D.N.C. member, who did not endorse a candidate or vote in the race for chair. “He has his own inner circle. I’m not in it, and I don’t want to be in it.”
It has not been lost on some Democrats that Mr. Martin arrived at the D.N.C. as the consummate insider, a man who had led both the state party in Minnesota and the association of state party chairs. Yet he has struggled to navigate some internal Democratic coalition politics.
[…]
“This is worse than some high school student council drama,” said Representative Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat.
[…]
One challenge for Mr. Martin in wooing big contributors is that during the race for D.N.C. chair, his campaign criticized his chief rival, Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, for his ties to some of the party’s largest donors, such as the billionaires Reid Hoffman and Alex Soros. Shortly after Mr. Martin won, he told The New York Times that the onus would be on donors to mend any fences.
Mr. Soros has not heard from Mr. Martin since then, according to a spokesman for the billionaire. Mr. Martin said he had tried to connect with Mr. Hoffman but had “not had a chance to reach out to Alex yet.”
He added that new initiatives he had begun, including a “war room” to press the party’s message and the state investments, would pay long-term dividends. Another early Martin project is a new streaming show on YouTube, “The Daily Blueprint,” which is filmed in a studio with high-end production.
The show has drawn a minuscule audience so far, with some episodes scoring fewer than 1,000 views.
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My word. I thought the NYT piece would be about how the DNC was veering toward rocky shoals. Not the case—the ship has already run aground. The Democratic Party is adrift, without a leader, an agenda, or a message. The DNC being a total wreck doesn’t help. A demoralized donor base doesn’t help, and having total clowns botch things up with shoddy talking points isn’t helping.
That being said, I hope things continue this way.
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