As the Democratic Party struggles to define itself in the wake of the 2024 election, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin announced Thursday his “organize everywhere, win anywhere” plan, which includes a $17,500 monthly investment to state parties through December 2028.

“I ran for this job to get the DNC out of [Washington] D.C.,” Martin told reporters on a press call Thursday. “I don't think it benefits Democrats to sit in Washington and gaze at the problem and expect solutions to present themselves. Everyone here just wants to win the argument — I want to win elections. And you win elections in the states.” 

What You Need To Know

  • DNC Chair Ken Martin's “organize everywhere, win anywhere” plan announced Thursday includes a monthly $17,500 investment to state parties through December 2028

  • Republican-led states will receive an additional $5,000 a month to help organizing efforts

  • Last month, Martin told Spectrum News his goal was to get the party out of Washington, D.C., and build an organizing strategy that operated year-round, not just during an election year

Thursday’s announcement echoes comments Martin made to Spectrum News in an interview last month, when he said Democrats needed to do more to organize all year, every year — not just when an election is on the calendar.

“It's a mindset change," he told Spectrum News. "It's really making sure that we're out there throughout all of our 50 states and our seven territories, competing up and down the ballot in every ZIP code across this country. It's critical that we actually win again, and to do that, we have to organize everywhere."

Under the previous DNC commitment, state parties received $12,500. Republican states, Martin said, will receive an additional $5,000 a month to help organizing efforts in states that Democrats have often struggled to find traction in. Martin, who has been on the job for less than three months, said he is concerned about the party’s lack of investment in the South, particularly as the population starts to grow in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Florida. He predicted there will be a shift in congressional power from the North to the South over the next decade or so, “and we can’t be caught flat-footed.”

“Wayne Gretzky once said you have to skate to where the puck will be, not where the puck is, and that's what we're doing here, because investing in red states is critically important, both now but also in the future,” Martin explained.

Martin was joined on the press call announcement by Jane Kleeb, the president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, who said this commitment will help build out party infrastructure in the states, and could be the difference in some of these races.

“State parties are going from 8% of the DNC budget to over 20% of the DNC budget," Kleeb said. "This means that we are not only going to win the presidency in 2028 because we're building out the infrastructure, but that we are going to be able to take back the House in 2026 and win U.S. Senate races in red and purple and blue states. This is how we build out the Democratic Party. This is how we beat back [President Donald] Trump.”

The $17,500 monthly investment by the DNC to state parties does not preclude any further investments by the party for specific races or various elections, Martin promised.