President Donald Trump successfully snatched the populist brand from Democrats during the 2024 election by campaigning on the economy and fixing the nation’s immigration system. His efforts drew voting blocs once thought to be devoted to Democrats to the side of the GOP, becoming the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years.

FULL LIST OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT

Despite the power brokers in the Democratic Party — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — opposing his DNC leadership bid, Martin has set out to unite the DNC, all while insisting the party isn’t dead.

As Martin tries to win back portions of the Democratic coalition that defected to Trump and the GOP, some lawmakers said the newly elected chairman would have their backing.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the Washington Examiner Martin would be “great” at reeling back working-class voters, citing his past record as Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leader.

“I think he has so much credibility in the work that he’s done in Minnesota,” Balint said. “I like the fire that I saw in the kind of engagement that he had last week. I think he understands that in order for us to be successful, we got to bring working people back into the party. And I’m very excited that he’s at the helm.”

“He’s our leader. He was duly elected, and I expect the party to get behind him,” added Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), who hails from a battleground state with several big-ticket races. “These are challenging times, and he’s got his work cut out for him, and I look forward to working with him.” 

“There is a lot that needs to happen the next two years,” he said.

A Democratic strategist close to the DNC race told the Washington Examiner that Martin’s task of revamping the party brand will not be easy after voters gave control of the White House and Congress to Republicans. 

“Ken Martin’s job now is going to be, how does he engage leadership in Washington and Democratic leaders across the country and put this party in ‘go mode’ quickly,” the strategist said. “And I think that’s going to be an extraordinary challenge. That’s not to say that he can’t do it, but it’s going to be an extraordinary challenge.” 

Other Democratic lawmakers and DNC members are praising Martin but adding that they have clear priorities for the new DNC chairman before the off-year elections in November, the midterm elections next year, and the 2028 presidential election. 

“First is we gotta expand the tent. We gotta reach out to people,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said of his expectations for Martin. “No. 2, we got to get back to the Democratic Party being more populist. The Democratic Party has always cared about [the] middle class. … We got to get back to the messaging of that because I don’t know if the party has changed, but I think the messaging has changed.” 

In his first press gaggle after winning the chairmanship last week, Martin, a longtime party insider, said one of his first priorities would be understanding the failures of the Democratic Party during the 2024 cycle. 

“We’re going to start the postelection review process. Remember, for some of you who’ve been following this race, we don’t call it a postmortem or an autopsy because our party’s not dead. It’s still kicking,” Martin told reporters. 

“The reality is, what we need to do right now is really start to get our handle around what happened this last election cycle,” Martin continued. “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. We don’t know the how and why at this moment, and that’s what I need to get my hands around.”

In the race for the DNC chairmanship, Martin leaned on his record with the DFL, in which he was 25-0 on statewide races in Minnesota. He had argued it made him the best candidate to lead the DNC. 

That message helped him win the race, defeating his closest competitor, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, on Feb. 1 by a nearly 2-1 margin.

Wikler lost despite having the endorsements of the most powerful Democratic heavy hitters: Schumer, Jeffries, and Pelosi.

DNC member Bryan Kennedy, the mayor of Glendale, Wisconsin, and a supporter of Wikler’s campaign, suggested that the congressional leaders likely backed the Wisconsin leader due to his record of flipping red seats blue and being a top fundraiser. 

“They’ve watched him take a very, very red state like Wisconsin and make it solidly purple with a very good shot next year of having Wisconsin have a blue trifecta, which we haven’t had since 2010,” Kennedy said. 

Martin downplayed the lack of support from congressional leadership.

“Look, this is not personal. We’re all on the same team. It’s one team, one fight, right now,” Martin said. “People have their preference on a candidate, right? I have long-standing relationships in the party, and at the end of the day, I’m buoyed by that enthusiastic support.”

After Martin’s win, Jeffries said he’d work with the new chairman “to make sure that we are speaking in one voice, articulating a clear vision for the American people and our commitment to getting things done.” 

Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns, pointed to Martin’s personal relationships with DNC members as a key indicator of how he prevailed over Wikler and his congressional supporters. Martin is a former vice chairman and president of the Association of State Democratic Committees since 2017. 

“Personally, I know this, [Martin] seems to be very invested in the human beings that drive the party,” he continued. “And I’m not talking about the donors or the elected officials, per se. I’m talking about your DNC members. Ken knows everybody, and when you’ve been around as long as someone like Ken, it should be a hat tip to him when folks get behind him the way they did.”

Progressives repeatedly pushed DNC candidates to denounce donations from billionaire supporters in tension with the congressional leaders who touted his fundraising prowess. The coalition is also looking to lean more into the “populist” brand and show what Trump is hiding “behind the curtain” from working-class voters. 

Martin and other DNC leaders will have eyes on them, not just from Democrats but also from Republicans. The GOP has repeatedly pushed a narrative that Democrats are without a leader after then-President Joe Biden was forced to withdraw in 2024 and Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump.

Republicans are already zeroing in on recently elected DNC Vice Chairman David Hogg. Hogg, who entered into the spotlight after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has been mocked by MAGA backers who have been resharing his previous controversial statements, including support for defunding the police.

The March For Our Lives activist-turned-party leader will face the burden of having to attract centrists and independents despite his track record appealing to progressive coalitions in the past.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to see Ken Martin and David Hogg at the helm of the DNC,” Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump campaign adviser and influential voice in the MAGA movement, told the Washington Examiner. “With these two far-left, out-of-touch dorks leading the charge, the Democrats are poised to continue hemorrhaging support across all demographics including young people, women, and minority communities.”

Norman Solomon, a progressive journalist and co-founder of RootsAction, said the DNC would be mistaken to abandon progressive positions.

“Democrats will get behind Ken Martin to the extent that he departs from the DNC status quo and provides effective leadership that energizes the party’s grassroots base instead of billionaire donors,” Solomon said in a statement. “He has the opportunity to reject the path of subservience to corporate power and instead lead the way by advancing the progressive positions supported by strong majorities of voters nationwide.”