Race for DNC chair narrows after longshot candidate drops out, endorses Minnesota’s Ken Martin

The field of contenders to become the next Democratic National Committee chair has narrowed after a long-shot candidate dropped out and endorsed Ken Martin, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair.

Martin, a DNC vice chair who has led the association of state Democratic Party chairs, has been considered a frontrunner for the DNC job. 

Martin received a boost after New York state Sen. James Skoufis dropped out of the race and endorsed him, Politico reported Thursday morning.

Skoufis told the outlet in a statement that Martin “will re-center what is most important for our party: expanding the map and rebuilding our once-big Democratic tent by taking power outside of the DC Beltway and kicking the out-of-touch consultant class to the curb.”

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Ken Martin, the chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, speaks at the Minnesota DFL Party election watch party at the InterContinental Hotel in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Nov. 5, 2024. (Christopher Mark Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Democrats suffered major setbacks up and down the ballot in the 2024 elections as former President Trump recaptured the White House and the GOP flipped the Senate and held onto its fragile majority in the House.

Martin told Fox News Digital last month that if he becomes chair, the first thing he would do is “figure out a plan to win.”

Minnesota DFL Party chair Ken Martin, a leading contender in the Democratic National Committee chair race, at the DNC executive committee meeting on Dec. 12, 2024, in Washington D.C.  (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“And we need to start writing that plan, making sure we’re looking underneath the hood,” he said. “How much money do we have at the party? What are the contracts? What contracts do we need to get rid of? And, frankly, bringing all of our stakeholder groups together, that’s the biggest thing.”

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Two other top contenders in the DNC race are Ben Wikler, who has steered the state Democratic Party in battleground Wisconsin since 2019, and Martin O’Malley, the former two-term Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who served as commissioner of the Social Security Administration the past year. 

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Current DNC chair Jaime Harrison is not seeking another four-year term steering the national party committee. The next chair will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the national party committee when they meet Feb. 1 at National Harbor in Maryland for the DNC’s winter meeting.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.