Democrats Elect Longtime Party Insider Ken Martin to Lead Against Trump As New DNC Chair

(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Democratic party officials elected Minnesota state party chair Ken Martin as the next leader of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Saturday.

Martin secured the chairmanship of the DNC after winning 246 votes out of the 428 members present. He secured his large victory on the first ballot of voting beating Wisconsin state party chair Ben Wikler and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D).

Throughout the race of the chairmanship, longtime political operative Martin was considered one of the frontrunners and received support from prominent Democrats including Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC).

“Let me just start out by saying we have one team,” Martin told Democrats after winning the race. “One team. The Democratic Party.”

However, Martin’s opponent did receive significant support from top Democratic lawmakers. Wikler was backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Martin’s election will shift the spotlight of Democratic leadership towards him as former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have taken a step back following Trump’s inauguration.

“As I said from the beginning, I’m not running against them any more than they were running against us,” Martin said as he praised his other Democratic opponents.

“It is my guarantee to each of you that we’re going to take the great ideas from all the candidates in this race, we’re going to bring them into this great party, we’re going to unify this party together and we’re all going to roll up our sleeves together to build this party,” he added.