This past weekend the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted in all new officers, including chair and vice chair positions.
“The Democratic Party is the party of working people, and it’s time to roll up our sleeves and outcompete everywhere, in every election, and at every level of government — and this new generation of DNC leadership is hitting the ground running to protect every American from Donald Trump’s agenda,” said Ken Martin, the newly elected DNC Chair.
Martin has served as the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party since 2011. He replaces former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who served from 2021 to this year.
After the crushing loss of former Vice President Kamala Harris to President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, news outlets reported that Harrison did not plan to run for another term as chair. Trump gained larger shares of Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020, when he lost those groups to Biden, according to AP VoteCast. In a parting interview with the Associated Press (AP), Harrison shared his thoughts on recapturing the Black and Latino vote, former President Joe Biden, and what Democrats could’ve done better.
“People think, well, it’s just about turnout in the Black community, right? It’s just about turnout with this group. No, it’s not. It’s more than just turnout. It’s about persuasion. You have to persuade people why you are the best person for them,” said Harrison. “You have to talk to them about the issues that are important to them. You have to show them that you really are fighting for them, and that means having those individual conversations, but having targeted conversations specifically geared towards the people that you’re talking to.”
Harrison said that Democrats were “building a race for Joe Biden” before the inevitable switch happened, and although he did indeed have a “horrible debate performance,” he was prepared to stick by him as a candidate. He rationalized that despite being federally indicted, Republicans didn’t collectively call for Trump to step down, so there was no reason Dems should’ve. “That’s my normal default, is that you stick by your people, right, particularly people who have worked hard on behalf of the party,” said Harrison.
Harrison said Biden poured tons of money into making sure that he and Harris, as well as Democrats in all states, had support and resources. It felt like a betrayal to his “quarterback” when others called for him to drop out of the race, said Harrison.
“From ripping away access to health care, moving to raise the cost of prescription drugs, and destroying good-paying jobs, America’s hardworking families are already feeling the pain of Trump’s agenda — especially in Black communities across the country,” continued Martin. “Democrats won’t let Trump get away with it. No matter what Trump and his billionaire cabinet throw at us, Democrats are not just prepared to fight the battles, but to win the war — never leaving the side of working families.”
There’s a few people of color elected to leadership positions at the DNC like Reyna Walters-Morgan, who is now the vice chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation (CEVP), and Malcolm Kenyatta, who is also in a vice chair role.
Walters-Morgan is an organizer, attorney, and voting rights advocate. After law school, she spent time in private practice and as a senior attorney at the Social Security Administration. Later, she worked as a regional voter protection director in Ohio and managed NC’s nonprofit voter protection efforts. For almost five years, she was the voter protection director at the DNC. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Kenyatta is currently the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color and one of the youngest people elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018. In 2022, he became the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to seek a U.S. Senate seat in American history. In April 2024, he made history again as the first openly LGBTQ+ person ever nominated for statewide office by a major political party in Pennsylvania.