In the Trenches Without the White House

What Every DNC Chair Faces

If you only read the headlines, you’d think the Democratic Party is falling apart under its new chair. Ken Martin took over as chair of the Democratic National Committee less than five months ago, and he’s already being blamed for internal disputes spilling into public view. But having sat in that chair myself, I know how quickly the spotlight turns into a searchlight. And it often misses the real work.

Ask anyone who’s led the DNC and they’ll tell you the job doesn’t come with a roadmap. The work is all-consuming. The wins are often invisible. The blame is very public. And it’s even harder when you inherit the position after a presidential loss—when the party is searching for identity, accountability, and direction all at once.

Whether it was Howard Dean rebuilding in the shadow of the Bush years, Tom Perez navigating the fallout of 2016, or Terry McAuliffe managing the post-soft money transition, every chair has had to lead during uncertainty. And today, Ken is doing just that.

Let’s be clear: disagreement isn’t a crisis. It’s a constant. And it’s magnified when your party is out of the White House. Without a singular figure at the top, there’s more space for internal tension. Everyone has a theory about the best path forward. Everyone wants to win. And those passions sometimes erupt in very public ways.

But the eruptions don’t define a chair’s legacy. The real story is in what gets built despite the noise. And that happens behind the scenes.

Ron Brown led the DNC through the challenging post-Reagan years without the White House or a unified direction. He faced criticism too, including accusations of favoritism during the 1992 primary. But he stayed focused on rebuilding trust, organizing nationwide, and sharpening the party’s message. That work helped deliver one of the most consequential turnarounds in modern political history: the election of President Bill Clinton and a return to Democratic leadership in the White House after 12 years.

Terry McAuliffe took over in 2001, just after one of the most contentious presidential elections in history. The party was bruised, navigating the new realities of campaign finance reform, and losing ground in the 2002 midterms. McAuliffe responded by modernizing the party’s fundraising and voter data infrastructure. These steps were essential to the Democratic comeback that followed.

When Howard Dean launched the 50-state strategy in the early 2000s, party insiders scoffed. They said he was wasting time and money on states that were unwinnable. But Dean knew the future wasn’t just about the next election. It was about building lasting infrastructure. That strategy helped lay the foundation for major gains in 2006 and Barack Obama’s historic win in 2008.

Most recently, Tom Perez stepped in during one of the most fraught moments in modern memory. The wounds of the 2016 primary were still raw. Trust was frayed. He faced criticism from both state party leaders and grassroots activists. Controversies over data access, decisions around the 2020 Iowa caucus, and broader questions about party strategy dogged him throughout his tenure. And yet under his leadership, Democrats flipped the House in 2018, took back the White House in 2020, and defeated an incumbent viewed as a dangerous threat to democratic norms. That’s not noise. That’s results.

My time serving as chair was an honor. It was also during a Democratic presidency, and I can tell you firsthand: the job is different when your party holds the White House. There are different limitations and freedoms. You may have a megaphone, but you also have less autonomy. Major expenditures, strategic shifts, even key hires often require a signoff from the White House. That comes with real benefits, but it also means you’re not steering the ship alone. We had our successes: the best midterms performance by an incumbent president since the 1930s. And no one is denying our failure to keep the White House. Still, the criticism rolls in—sometimes from those who didn’t support you in the first place, or from folks who take issue when you try to modify their individual “sacred cow.”

The job is not an easy one. It guarantees naysayers. But leadership isn’t about pleasing everyone. It’s about doing what’s right, even when it’s hard.

Ken is doing what every DNC Chair has had to do: organize, adapt, and push forward. Under his leadership, the party has made historic investments in state party infrastructure, launched town halls in red districts across the country, and helped secure key special election victories that pundits never saw coming. That’s the work that matters. And it’s what we’ll need to win back the majority in 2026.

Now the David Hogg controversy did drag on longer than it should have. But I’ve learned that people often rush to judge without knowing the full context—or the pressures at play. And frankly, we don’t have time to dwell on distractions when the stakes are so high.

It’s easy to romanticize past leadership once time has dulled the sharpest edges. But every DNC chair has faced public questioning, second-guessing, and moments where people screamed the sky was falling. And every one of them—including Brown, McAuliffe, Dean, and Perez—left the party stronger than they found it.

This moment is no different.

We must remember: disagreement is not disarray. Tension is not failure. In fact, they’re often a sign of movement, transformation, and people being deeply engaged in the direction of their party. The challenge isn’t avoiding conflict but leading through it.

Our real opponent is not each other. It’s a Republican Party that has abandoned moderation in favor of extremism and continues to undermine the very foundations of our democracy. If we’re serious about protecting the American dream and winning back Congress and the presidency, we can’t waste energy on internal blame games.

We don’t need perfection. We need persistence, unity, and perspective.

Ken Martin has my support—not because he’s above criticism, but because he’s earned trust through action. Just like every DNC chair before him, he deserves the space to lead, to build, and to fight for the future we all believe in.