Within the yr since President Trump and the GOP’s decisive 2024 victories, Democrats have been grappling with a central query: the way to chart a path out of what many within the get together have described because the political “wilderness.”
A collection of wins in 2025 — from New York Metropolis to California, New Jersey and Virginia — has eased a few of that nervousness. Whereas Democrats’ over-performance in these races got here largely in blue states, get together operatives say the victories have provided wanted momentum and a way of course after final yr’s bruising losses by the hands of Republicans left many Democrats feeling adrift.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS Information, Democratic Nationwide Committee Chairman Ken Martin mentioned he believes the get together’s rebuilding course of stays removed from full, however that it has taken steps to right the course.
“I will not really feel like we’re out of the wilderness till we win in ’28,” Martin mentioned. “Our motto on the DNC is all gasoline, no breaks. We’re not gonna relaxation till November of 2028 and we have loads of work to do between from time to time.”
However Martin mentioned he feels “buoyed” by the off-year wins, together with on the native stage. Democrats received governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia by double-digit margins final month, after dropping floor to Mr. Trump in each states in 2024. And a Democrat misplaced a particular election for a Home seat in center Tennessee final week by 9 factors, properly beneath the GOP’s 21-point edge final yr.
“As we go into 2026, actually, I would not commerce our place with the Republicans in 1,000,000 years,” he mentioned, “as a result of we have wind at our again.”
With the midterm elections lower than a yr away, Martin argued that Mr. Trump’s insurance policies have created political vulnerabilities for Republicans. He pointed to latest polls that present that some teams who shifted towards Mr. Trump final yr, together with younger voters, Latinos and independents, are souring on his financial message.
“His tariffs are wreaking devastation all through this nation,” Martin mentioned. “Individuals’s lives have gotten a lot worse than they had been a yr in the past. He is going into the election with the bottom approval ranking for any president within the historical past of this nation.”
When requested about Democrats’ prospects within the 2026 midterms and if it may very well be a “wave” election yr, as some Democrats have predicted, Martin mentioned the chance exists — however insisted the get together can not simply depend on nationwide headwinds and 2025 good points, which had been received totally on pleasant blue turf.
“May or not it’s a wave election? Certain, however we’re not going to relaxation on that,” he mentioned. “If we do our job and we benefit from the chance, we are going to win once more. I am assured we’ll win once more. I am not complacent.”
Democratic leaders have expressed to CBS Information that they hope the get together’s latest run of victories indicators a broader political opening. However, Martin emphasised, they imagine their path again to nationwide energy would require sustained but easy message self-discipline heading into subsequent yr’s midterms, together with on the problem that has outlined this yr’s cycle: affordability.
Martin cited candidates’ give attention to affordability and kitchen desk points in 2025 as essential to Democratic wins and mentioned that very same focus shall be important for achievement within the midterms and past.
“If all we’re doing is resisting Donald Trump, then the one factor we’re not doing is giving the American individuals a way of what the Democratic Get together stands for, who we’re preventing for and why,” Martin mentioned. “The explanation why these individuals who voted for Donald Trump have now voted for us is as a result of we’re speaking in regards to the points that they are involved about.”
Historical past may very well be on Democrats’ aspect subsequent yr. Midterm elections nearly all the time favor the get together that does not management the White Home, and Democrats hope that Mr. Trump’s approval scores may give them a lift. Republicans management the Home by a razor-thin seven votes, so the decrease chamber may shift to Democratic management if solely a small handful of seats change palms in 2026.
Flipping the Senate, which the GOP controls by a 53-47 margin, may show a more difficult process subsequent yr, with solely a handful of believable alternatives for Democrats to win GOP-held seats.
And there stay disagreements inside the get together over whether or not Democrats are higher off embracing a progressive platform or selecting a extra centrist tack. This yr’s races have not delivered a transparent verdict on that rating. Reasonable candidates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill received the gubernatorial races final month in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, however on the identical night time, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani received the New York Metropolis mayoral race.
Martin was requested about progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s entrance Monday into subsequent yr’s high-stakes Senate race in Texas, and whether or not he’s involved she is likely to be extra viable in a Democratic main than in a normal election.
Crockett has constructed up a nationwide following in recent times, powered by her frequent cable information appearances, viral arguments with Republicans throughout committee hearings and clashes with Mr. Trump. She’s also referred to as a prodigious fundraiser.
Throughout a rally Monday to launch her Senate bid, Crockett forged herself as a fighter who may increase voter turnout, and emphasised that she would not have entered the race if she did not suppose she was the strongest candidate.
Current public polling has proven has proven Crockett and her prime main opponent, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, dropping to all three of the primary Republican contenders in a hypothetical Senate matchup, together with Texas Legal professional Common Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
“Everybody is aware of Crockett shall be soundly defeated,” Paxton mentioned in a press release.
Republican political committees had been additionally fast to pounce with senior Republican officers telling CBS their get together was desperate to face her in a normal election if she had been to win the nomination.
“Jasmine Crockett main her main is the most recent signal that the Democrat Get together is being run by radical leftists,” The Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee’s communications director Joanna Rodriguez mentioned, including that Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, whom they’re backing, is “the one conservative who will hold Texas pink.”
“Crockett is electoral kryptonite and now weak Texas Democrats are caught sharing a ticket along with her,” Reilly Richardson, spokesman for The Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee, Home Republicans’ political arm, additionally instructed CBS Information.
Some nationwide Democrats expressed doubt that she would pull off a main win.
“I do not know if she wins the first,” one prime Democrat strategist, who advises congressional campaigns, instructed CBS Information. “However she may catch hearth … The second [Democrats] are in is for righteous anger, in order that to me is the X issue right here by way of her capacity to faucet into that.”
Martin was agency that it’s as much as Democratic voters to find out the nominee, and that the DNC’s accountability is to respect these outcomes and again the candidate they select.
“I’ve all the time considered our function as to not put our thumb on the size,” he mentioned. “The function of the Democratic Get together is to respect Democratic main voters … the individuals who present up and say, ‘That is who we need to characterize us on the poll within the fall election.'”
Martin mentioned as soon as voters determine on a nominee, the nationwide get together’s accountability is “to battle like hell for whoever that nominee is, together with candidates we would not agree with on a regular basis” — even when primaries get “messy,” he added, which is probably going within the Lone Star electoral matchup.
Republicans are expressing confidence in their very own method. NRCC Spokesperson Mike Marinella argued in a press release that Democrats are “splintered.”
Marinella continued: “their messy primaries are a socialist free-for-all, and voters are always reminded that the Democrat Get together is on the fallacious aspect of each single subject.”
When requested whether or not the DNC can realistically compete with the large $1 billion battle chest Mr. Trump’s political operation, GOP and aligned tremendous PACs have amassed forward of the midterms, Martin pointed to the DNC’s latest monetary technique as proof that the get together just isn’t shying away from the problem.
“I by no means measure our fundraising to the opposite aspect, and that is essential as a result of on the finish of the day, we want the assets to compete,” he mentioned. “We want the assets to make deep investments, … which we’ve this yr. We want the assets to not solely construct the kind of infrastructure across the nation, however to do it in a approach that is sustainable and once more permits us to win. And you recognize, if we weren’t profitable in consequence, I might be involved.”
Martin additionally spoke in regards to the $20 million mortgage the DNC took out earlier this yr, previous to the November elections. He mentioned this mortgage helped the get together win key races and set the get together up properly for fundraising for the upcoming cycles. He mentioned the get together has raised over $95 million this yr.
“I made a giant wager this yr, and that was that we had been going to take out a mortgage so we will make investments closely in these elections a month in the past, and we received massive,” Martin mentioned. “We really feel actually good about the place we’re at, and nothing’s slowed us down within the sense that we won’t do the work that we have to.”
