Latest news with #DemocraticNationalCommittee
Axios
34 minutes ago
- Politics
- Axios
Scoop: DNC touts record fundraising under Ken Martin
The Democratic National Committee is touting a record $40 million raised in the first four months of Ken Martin 's chairmanship — more than any other chair in that time frame. Why it matters: The news comes amid growing infighting and frustration from committee members, and after the New York Times reported the DNC's fundraising from major donors has dangerously dropped off. "Powered by our grassroots community, the DNC has just set a new record for most money raised in the first four months under a new Chair — ever," Martin said in a statement, first provided to Axios. Zoom in: The nearly $40 million raised from February through May surpasses the $37 million raised under Jamie Harrison's leadership in those same months in 2021, according to the DNC. It is also almost twice as much as was raised in the months after the 2016 election, the first time Donald Trump was elected president. Grassroots fundraising has been a big factor, with record grassroots fundraising for February and March. What he's saying: " This is only the start, but it's a record-setting start that allows Democrats to meaningfully invest in every part of the country," Martin said in the statement. "Our grassroots donors are sending a message to Donald Trump and rubber-stamp Republicans who are trying to steal health care from working people in exchange for billionaire tax handouts," he continued. Zoom out: The DNC has struggled to show a united front after former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg stirred up controversy with an effort to back younger primary challengers to Democratic incumbents.
The Hill
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Former Clinton campaign chief on Democrats: ‘We're leaderless, we're messageless, we're agendaless'
Democratic strategist Patti Solis Doyle said that the party lacks a leader, message and agenda when asked about the state of the Democratic Party in an interview that aired on Friday. 'Right now we're leaderless, we're messageless, we're agendaless, we don't have any alternative ideas to the president and the Republicans right now. So, you know, I'm concerned, to say the least,' Solis Doyle, who ran Clinton's 2008 presidential bid, told journalist Mark Halperin on his podcast 'Next Up with Mark Halperin.' 'You know, if your party holds the White House, the leader of the party is president. If your party doesn't hold the White House, the leader of the party is the last, you know, president of that party. So right now for us, that's Joe Biden, but he has completely — you know, he's off the radar completely,' she said, adding that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair 'isn't really the leader of the party.' Solis Doyle also noted that she has 'never been happier not' to be in the middle of politics. 'It sounds really depressing, what's going on at the party,' she said. 'I mean, overall, when you lose, the party that loses gets, as you know, as I know personally, attacked and criticized, and they're the stupidest people that ever walked the planet and 'How could you have missed that?' That's what's happening with the Democrats right now, they're getting attacked from all sides.' Solis Doyle's remarks come as intraparty tensions among Democrats have spilled out into the public in recent weeks. News surfaced Sunday that American Federation of Teachers union President Randi Weingarten and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders would decline to be reappointed as at-large members of the DNC. And last week, former DNC vice chair David Hogg said he would not be running for reelection as vice chair after he faced backlash from Democrats for launching his organization, Leaders We Deserve, that would primary incumbent House Democrats in an effort to bring about generational change within the party, all while he was serving as a vice chair. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday found that 62 percent of Democrats said 'party leaders should be replaced.' Forty-nine percent of Democratic respondents said they were 'unsatisfied with current leadership,' while 41 percent said they disagreed with the sentiment that they were unsatisfied with leadership.
The Hill
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Hogg's political group endorses Mamdani in NYC mayoral race
David Hogg's political group Leaders We Deserve is endorsing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary. 'We are here talking to voters on the third day of early voting,' Mamdani said in a video posted on X after Mamdani and Hogg introduce themselves. 'And we're so excited to let them know that our campaign has just been endorsed by Leaders We Deserve.' 'We're really excited to support the campaign here to help make New York City affordable, help make sure that buses are faster and free at the same time and that no New Yorker has to pay for childcare,' Hogg says in the video. Mamdani is running in a crowded field for New York City mayor, with recent polling showing a tightening race, though former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is shown in surveys still leading the pack. Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander have cross-endorsed each other as a bid to make sure Cuomo doesn't come out ahead in the Tuesday contest. New York City uses ranked choice voting, meaning that voters rank their candidates in order of preference; if no candidate outright receives more than half of the vote, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and any voters who place the eliminated candidate as their first pick then have the second-choice picks distributed. The process plays out until one candidate receives more than half of the vote. The Democratic candidates are each hoping to take on embattled Mayor Eric Adams, an independent, in the general election. Mamdani has previously touted Hogg on social media, sharing a photo of the two of them during his campaign earlier this week. Mamdani's endorsement came on the same day that Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) announced he would be endorsing Cuomo, a noteworthy get as Cuomo courts Black voters in the city. Hogg's endorsement of Mamdani is his first one since he made the decision to forgo running for reelection as a Democratic National Committee vice chair amid controversy over his plans to back primary challengers to incumbents while serving as a DNC officer.
Politico
2 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
‘Weak,' ‘whiny' and ‘invisible': Critics of DNC Chair Ken Martin savage his tenure
Four-and-a-half months after the Democratic National Committee chair pledged to focus on fighting Donald Trump, Ken Martin's short tenure leading the organization has been engulfed by bitter infighting. Even longtime party insiders are getting impatient. Interviews with a dozen DNC members revealed deep frustration with Martin and concern about his ability to unify and lead a party trying to recover from massive electoral losses in 2024. One DNC member — who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly — described him as looking 'weak and whiny,' and another said he has been 'invisible' and his 'early tenure has been disappointing.' 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. Two influential labor union heads quit their posts at the DNC after disagreements over the party's direction. Gun control activist David Hogg was ousted from the DNC's vice chairman position after he pledged to fund primary challenges against 'ineffective' has infuriated some Democrats by purging a number of party officials from a powerful panel that has enormous sway over the presidential nominating contest. And Martincomplained in a private meeting that intraparty warfare had 'destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.' Martin and his supporters argue he's focused on the things that matter and will ultimately win elections. They said he has traveled to dozens of states and boosted funding to state parties at the same time that Democrats have overperformed in special elections this year. They maintain the overwhelming majority of DNC members are solidly behind Martin, and that his detractors are a vocal minority. 'I ran and won the race for DNC chair to get the DNC out of DC — because too many people in DC want to point fingers, and play the blame game,' said Martin in a statement to POLITICO. 'They want to win irrelevant arguments, with no strategy involved, but the one strategic thing that makes us relevant is winning elections. I was elected chair to help our party win again, and we are.' But some Democrats worry the DNC is struggling to hold its own coalition together, let alone expand its appeal. They expressed frustration over the DNC's break-up with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and AFSCME President Lee Saunders — who between them represent millions of members — as the latest sign of a widening gap between party leadership and the labor movement, a once-core part of the Democratic coalition. 'The DNC is weaker than I have ever seen it. … They have shown zero ability to chart a post-24 vision for Democrats,' said a Democratic strategist with close ties to labor unions, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly. The longtime leaders of the teachers and state and local employee unions couldn't 'in good faith continue to rubber-stamp what was going on with the DNC,' the strategist said. Both Weingarten and Saunders expressed concern about Democrats not enlarging their tent in their respective letter and statement about their departures. Weingarten told POLITICO, 'I have said my piece. I want the Democratic Party to work for working families. That's what FDR did, that's what Joe Biden did, and that's what we should expect from the party.' Some Democratic lawmakers have gone public with their complaints that the DNC's infighting has distracted from the party's larger goals. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) grumbled on the social media platform X that he would 'love to have a day go by' without the DNC doing 'something embarrassing & off message.' Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on X he wanted 'a party with a big tent and inclusion, not subtraction and pushing people out.' Other Democrats cited what they described as Martin's ham-handed approach to the DNC's influential rules and bylaws committee, which is charged with setting the 2028 presidential primary calendar. Martin purged members of the panel, including Weingarten and Saunders, who had supported Martin's top opponent in the February election for DNC chair. Of the 15 Democrats he took off the panel, 13 of them hadn't voted for Martin, according to an internal record obtained by POLITICO. Martin only reappointed four individuals for the panel who didn't back him in the chair election, according to the documents. Martin's supporters said he deserves to install his own team — as other chairs traditionally have done. And they argued he has actually diluted his own power to give the rest of the party a say by opening up some coveted committee slots to election by DNC members. He has also pledged that 15 at-large DNC positions will be elected by DNC caucuses and councils. Martin's allies said his changes have empowered state and local leaders — and, at times, taken clout away from more Washington-oriented Democrats who are now upset over their loss of power. Pointing to Democrats' overperformance in special elections this year, they said his strategy is showing returns. 'Many people get comfortable with the status quo,' said James Skoufis, a member of the 'People's Cabinet' at the DNC. 'I would argue that the status quo is far riskier than transforming the DNC and, in the process, perhaps ruffling the feathers of some individuals who prefer the status quo.' Jaime Harrison, a former DNC chair, said that the internal strife that Martin is encountering is similar to what past leaders of the party experienced following their elections. 'My perspective is some of this is the normal thing that happens,' he said. 'You have a contentious DNC race and sometimes feelings get a little raw. But then people really start to focus on what's at hand.' Still, Harrison acknowledged, the fissures have at times overshadowed Martin's efforts. 'He's just putting in the work, and the sad part is that most people don't know because we've been focused lately on Democratic primaries and stuff that in the grand scheme of things doesn't really matter,' he said. At the top of the list of recent party obsessions: Hogg and his vow to fund primary challenges to sitting Democrats. Martin's allies said Hogg, not the DNC chairman, is to blame for distracting the party. But even some of Martin's supporters have second-guessed his role in the drama, saying he should have forced Hogg out earlier, pointing to the fact that the young activist fundraised off of his fight with party leadership with digital ads that included the tagline, 'The old guard is pissed at me. Fight back,' according to screenshots shared with POLITICO. Other members, meanwhile, felt Martin should have kept Hogg in the fold, arguing it was a 'missed opportunity' for the party 'to capitalize on an asset that could've been so helpful for the party,' a third DNC member said, citing Hogg's enormous social media megaphone:'Does anyone else at the DNC have a million followers on X?' the person added. By his own admission, Martin, a little-known figure nationally who previously served as chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, has struggled to become more widely recognized. In the audio of the DNC meeting obtained by POLITICO, Martin said, 'No one knows who the hell I am, right? I'm trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to to put ourselves in a position to win.' Some Democrats said that Martin was in his early days as chair and deserves the benefit of the doubt. 'Mr. Martin is just starting out,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who added the two have a relationship. 'You give people a bit more time before you start making evaluations.' But other Democratic lawmakers have yet to sit down with him. 'To tell you the truth, I don't know him. I haven't met him yet,' Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said when asked how Martin has done in his first months as chair. 'I am sure he's doing everything he can, but we can all improve our communication of what is going on with this regime.'
The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
These are the Democrats who've been arrested, detained or charged under Trump
A handful of Democrats have either been arrested, detained or charged under the Trump administration due to the White House's crackdown on illegal immigration. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin has condemned their treatment, arguing lawmakers are being assaulted without reason. 'Elected officials are being arrested for doing their jobs,' Martin wrote in a Wednesday statement on X. 'Once again, the Trump administration is silencing people who disagree with them in broad daylight.' Here are Democrats who have been recently apprehended by law enforcement: Several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents handcuffed New York City Comptroller Brad Lander (D), a candidate for mayor, on Wednesday outside an immigration court for impeding law enforcement officers. Lander was escorting a defendant at immigration court while urging ICE agents to present a judicial warrant issued for the individual's arrest. 'I'm not obstructing. I'm standing here in this hallway asking for a judicial warrant,' Lander said while being handcuffed, as recorded in a video posted on X by his wife. 'You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,' Lander told them. He was swiftly rushed on to the elevator with law enforcement. but New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said at a follow-up news conference he was later released and that all charges were dropped. However, Democrats rushed to condemn consecutive arrests of their party members in recent months. 'The aggressive targeting of Democratic elected officials by the Trump administration will invariably result in law-abiding public servants being marked for death by violent extremists. The Trump administration and their squad of masked agents must change course before it is too late,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote in a statement on X. 'This is America. The request for a judicial warrant and observance of law enforcement activity are not crimes. There is zero basis for a federal investigation and any such plans should be dropped forthwith,' he added. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was forcibly removed from a June 12 press conference by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He attended the presser with federal escorts and attempted to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question. 'I'm Sen. Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,' Padilla said before being swarmed by agents and forced outside the room. Trump administration officials allege that he lunged at Noem and, despite verbally identifying himself as a lawmaker, agents were unaware of his official capacity without the presence of a physical pin typically worn by members of Congress. 'Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers' repeated commands. @SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately. Secretary Noem met with Senator Padilla after and held a 15 minute meeting,' DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social platform X. Padilla later spoke out about the incident, declaring it as a threat to constitutional rights and the rule of law. 'I will say this: If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they're doing to farmworkers to cooks to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country,' he said. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) was federally charged for allegedly interfering with ICE agents during a visit to the Delaney Hall detention center for congressional oversight. McIver was conducting oversight at the facility alongside Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), who all say McIver didn't obstruct or impede law enforcement operations amid immigration protests outside the building. Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced on June 10 a three-count grand jury indictment of McIver over the incident. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) filed a House resolution to expel the lawmaker. 'The facts of this case will prove I was simply doing my job and will expose these proceedings for what they are: a brazen attempt at political intimidation. This indictment is no more justified than the original charges, and is an effort by Trump's administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare me out of doing the work I was elected to do,' McIver said in a statement on the matter. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was indicted by a federal grand jury in early May for 'knowingly' concealing a migrant. Authorities allege that Dugan directed the migrant and his counsel to leave the courtroom through a 'non-public' jury door to avoid immigration authorities after telling ICE U.S. they needed a warrant to search the premises. 'As she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court,' Craig Mastantuono, the attorney representing the judge, said in a previous statement to NBC News. Following her April arrest, Dugan was temporarily suspended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which said 'it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.' Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was briefly arrested following his visit to the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey. Habba originally threatened to press charges but withdrew the statement after further review of the incident. 'I was cuffed, fingerprinted, took pictures of, twice — once there and once in court — for a class C misdemeanor, which you send summons to people for. You don't lock them up and take their fingerprints,' Baraka told MSNBC. 'They said the charges are too minor to have a preliminary hearing,' he added. 'So if it's too minor to have a preliminary hearing, why are you fingerprinting me and taking pictures of me and interrogating me in a room? And why are you doing it twice?' Baraka has filed a lawsuit against Habba in her personal capacity regarding his treatment, false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation in addition to accusing the interim U.S. Attorney of acting as a 'political operative, outside of any function intimately related to the judicial process.' Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge of Newark, is also named in the suit. Rep. Jerry Nadler's (D-N.Y.) staffer was briefly detained in May after DHS agents entered the congressman's Manhattan office searching for 'protesters.' One agent accused Nadler aides of 'harboring rioters.' 'They barged in. And in barging in one of the offices, a very big, heavyset fellow pushed my aide — a very petite young woman — and they then said that she pushed back and they shackled her and took her downstairs,' Nadler told CNN. 'And she was obviously traumatized,' he added. Her detainment was again condemned by Jeffries, who said the effort was a part of a larger objective being enforced by the Trump administration. 'The administration is clearly trying to intimidate Democrats, in the same way that they're trying to intimidate the country,' Jeffries said Sunday in an interview with CNN. 'This whole 'shock and awe' strategy — this, 'flood the zone with outrageous behavior' that they've tried to unleash on the American people during the first few months of the Trump administration — is all designed to create the appearance of inevitability.'
