Meet the Democrats looking to lead the party forward after brutal 2024 losses

Democrats are beginning to regroup after their brutal losses in the 2024 elections, and the first step on their long road forward will be electing new party leadership.

The election for the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee is scheduled for February 1.

A series of contenders have already announced they are running to lead the Democratic party in the new era of Donald Trump.

It comes after Republicans not only won the White House, including the Republican president-elect, winning the popular vote for the first time, but Republicans managed to flip the Senate and gain a slim majority in the House of Representatives in January will have.

Democrats will be on the defensive as they face a Republican Party trifecta with only limited options to stop Republicans from enacting their agenda in the new year.

At the same time, Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country have turned away from the party while Trump made small gains not just in battleground states and red areas, but across the country.

They must also determine their best messaging approach if they have any hope of regaining a majority in Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

Earlier this month, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) voted to recommend the rules that will guide the election process for the next DNC ​​chairman and other officials.

To be elected, the candidate must receive a majority of votes cast by DNC members. If this does not happen on the first ballot, there is a second ballot, and so on, until the person is elected.

Here are the candidates running for the DNC chairmanship in the upcoming leadership elections:

Marianne Williamson

Speaker, author and activist Marianne Williamson announced she is running to lead the Democratic party after lengthy presidential bids in 2020 and 2024.

Williamson argues that politics is not about what people think, but about what they feel and so on it doesn’t matter how many times people are contacted if they don’t feel it.

She believes the party has been operating with an outdated “20th century toolkit” that cannot create the political phenomenon necessary to tackle MAGA.

‘We have to create a solution at the level of the problem. The world’s largest political car mechanic is not the answer, because the problem is that we are on the wrong track. And people can feel it,” she wrote in a post.

She believes she is the person who can lead the party forward because she has been working on personal transformation for over forty years and knows something about “changing people’s hearts and uplifting people’s spirits.”

Williamson has argued that the Democratic party has strayed from its advocacy for working people, and unless they reverse that, they will do no better than they will in 2024.

She was also critical of the Democratic party’s handling of the 2024 elections for not holding a robust primary. She accused the party of “ethical corruption” and argued that it was not carrying out the will of the people by supporting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after dropping out.

Williamson promised that her first step if elected chair of the DNC would be to go on a listening tour.

Martin O’Malley

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley was the first candidate to announce his intention to run for the DNC chairmanship last month.

The former governor has argued that the Democrats’ message must always go back to the “kitchen table” and that the party must “return to our true selves” to win. He also claims that the party is about “hope for tomorrow,” while the Republicans are about fear.

He previously served as governor from 2007 to 2015, mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007 and most recently commissioner of the Social Security Administration under President Biden.

O’Malley, 61, gained national attention when he ran as a third-party candidate against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

The former governor has said the party must learn from candidates who won in states where Harris lost at the top of the ticket.

He has the support of prominent Democrats from his home state of Maryland, including several lawmakers, and indicated he will not run as “peacetime chairman of the DNC.”

Ken Martin

Ken Martin is the current chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, a position he has held since 2011.

He announced his bid for the DNC chairmanship last month with a video in which he introduced himself as someone who was raised as a single mother, got involved in politics in high school and has been in the fray ever since.

Martin, 51, has argued that the party needs a leader “who can connect with working-class voters and restore confidence in the party.”

He praises the turnaround of the Minnesota Democratic party, which was in debt when he became chairman. He also pointed out that Democrats in his state have 22 straight statewide elections.

Martin argued that he is “not a creature of DC” but knows how the DNC works.

He said Democratic party ideas such as raising the minimum wage, paid family leave and abortion protections are popular but need to be reconnected with the party.

Martin has said Democrats have a branding and messaging problem that needs to be solved.

His campaign slogan in the race is ‘Build to win’. Build to expand. Built to last.’

James Skoufis

James Skoufis is the New York State Senator representing a portion of the state about 50 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley.

The little-known 37-year-old state lawmaker launched his bid late last month as an outsider and underdog representing generational change.

He has argued that Democrats need to “show up and compete everywhere,” including in rural red areas, pointing out that he has won three times in Trump country.

Skoufis has also called on his party to recommit to a popular message and move away from ‘hair on fire’ texts and emails.’

He has pushed to shift party funds away from consultants and expensive TV ads and direct resources to national and local parties where people can do the work in communities face-to-face.

Ben Wikler

Ben Wikler is the chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, where he is credited with leading a string of Democrats who won in the state, even as Trump won at the top of the ticket.

The party in his state has been focused all year on efforts to help Democrats across Wisconsin.

Wikler has been chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since 2019.

While he was at the helm, Democrats flipped the state Supreme Court, helped Gov. Tony Evers re-elect, and he believes the state is on track to regain a majority in the state Legislature from Democrats in 2026.

He also previously served as director of the progressive policy advocacy group MoveOn in Washington, DC.

Wikler has argued that of all the swing states that went to Trump in 2024, Wisconsin has the smallest shift toward the Republican president-elect.

He has called on Democrats to wage a “national permanent campaign” and has focused his message on working people.

Wikler launched his DNC chairmanship on Dec. 1, arguing that what Democrats have done in his state can be done nationwide and show people the party is on their side.

His slogan in the DNC chair race is “Unite.” Fight. Win.’