DNC Chair Election Suggests Democrats Have Learned Nothing

A dark money election of party loyalists more consumed with identity politics than interested in why working class voters have drifted away.

Democrats suffered a crushing election defeat up and down the ballot last year, hemorrhaging support from men of all races, the working class, and the youth vote. Over the next 24 hours, the party will move to elect new leadership.

The campaign for Democratic National Committee chair leaves an impression that they have learned absolutely nothing.

The debates over the last few weeks with the leading candidates – Martin O’Malley, Ken Martin, and Ben Wikler – have showcased timid ideas, vague platitudes about organizing, and promises to “fight for transparency” while concealing secret billionaire support.

Wikler, the leading candidate, has refused to disclose donor information. Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, is known for his connections to billionaire Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn. Hoffman was one of the biggest donors to Democratic groups last year. He used his influence to pressure Kamala Harris to jettison populist voices in the Biden administration, such as Lina Khan.

Martin awkwardly stepped into the issue but couldn’t quite land a blow. When asked how the party should treat mega-donors, the Minnesota party chair pledged not to take money from "those bad billionaires.” He quickly added that he would take money from the "good billionaires."

After pressure from O’Malley, who voluntarily disclosed his donors, Wikler said he would disclose, but not until late tonight at the legal deadline. The election for chair takes place Saturday, February 1st – tomorrow morning, beginning at 10:00 AM. In other words, the information will become public to the DNC delegates only hours before they cast their vote.

Why does a candidate for DNC chair need cash to mount a bid? It is a small-time affair. The DNC electorate consists of 448 state party officials, senior lawmakers, former high-ranking politicians, lobbyists, and representatives from allied groups. The American Prospect recently obtained a list of the voting members, which is secret for some reason.

Apparently, like everything else in Washington, D.C., influence is won not through ideas or experience but through flattery and boozy parties. Martin and Wikler have hosted numerous receptions and after-parties held for DNC delegates:

Any cursory look at American politics over the last few years, particularly the last presidential election, shows the fading influence of superficial identity politics. Voters resent efforts to group them into stereotype-laden boxes based on skin color or ethnic background.

Most people share common concerns around neighborhood safety, health care, the economy, and national security – and they detest crude attempts to pander over race.

Yet Democrats have apparently not received the memo. Take the final DNC forum, held last night in Georgetown. There was virtually no substantive discussion of the Harris campaign’s missteps or what Biden should have done differently. There was no real debate about why Democrats have lost touch with rural communities and Americans earning less than $50,000 a year.

Instead, there were endless theatrics about racial representation and a blinkered obsession with identity politics.

“There has never been a Native American in leadership at the DNC,” said Kalyn Free, a DNC member from Oklahoma seeking election as vice chair. “If not now, when?”

Every competing vice chair candidate seemed to counter with an intro that focused on identity. Troy Blackwell, one of the candidates, introduced himself as a "proud Afro-Latino from the South Bronx." Shasti Conrad, another, said she was the "only Asian woman running."

Jeanna Repass, a competing vice chair candidate, would not be outdone. "I'm the first-ever Black woman to be the chair of Kansas,” said Repass. “So I do ask to be addressed by my title."

As for party reforms, Wikler, O’Malley, and Martin supported a variety of new councils and dedicated slots based on identity, including a new “Muslim Council” representative, increasing the number of DNC at-large seats reserved for transgender people, and a pledge to ensure the ethnic diversity of the new trans members.

The only DNC chair candidate to dissent was Faiz Shakir, a former campaign manager to Bernie Sanders, who made a late entry into the race and raised no funds.

"I dislike breaking people down by identity,” said Shakir.

During the event, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart pressed Shakir on how he would deal with racist and sexist voters.

Shakir instead spoke about his plan to transform the DNC into an online mass media engine based on rapid video content of ordinary Americans responding to the Trump administration. Imagine, he said, if every day, the party produced videos speaking to ordinary Walmart and McDonald’s workers about the difficulties they faced as Medicaid recipients. Shakir argued that Democrats must speak to broad economic justice issues if they had any hope of bridging the social divides in this country.

As the DNC prepares to select its next chair, the stark contrast between Shakir's economic populism and the establishment's focus on identity-based councils highlights a fundamental choice facing the Democratic Party. Preoccupation with identity politics over kitchen-table issues suggests that tomorrow's leadership vote may represent a missed opportunity for meaningful reform.

Update: Ken Martin has released his donors. The forum was held in Georgetown, not Maryland. This post has been corrected.