Democratic National Committee members have privately discussed trying to push Ken Martin out of the chairmanship, according to a report citing The Bulwark, which said at least three anonymous DNC insiders confirmed that frustration with Martin's leadership has grown sharply in recent months.
The complaints center on what critics describe as Martin's failure to help the party recover from the 2024 election, persistent fundraising shortfalls, and what one insider called an inability to manage a budget. The effort stalled, however, after disgruntled members could not find an alternative candidate willing to take the job.
That detail alone tells you something about the state of the Democratic National Committee right now. The chair is under fire from within, the party's finances lag far behind the Republican National Committee, and nobody else wants the gig.
The RNC holds a roughly seven-to-one money advantage over the DNC, a gap that has become a central grievance among Martin's critics. Martin took out a $15 million loan last October to fund party operations in the Virginia and New Jersey elections. Insiders now say he may need to take a similar loan this summer, or lay off staff.
One anonymous source inside the committee did not mince words about Martin's stewardship of party funds.
"The biggest strike against him is that he seems to be utterly incapable of managing a budget. To put the DNC in such a bad financial situation going into what is... likely to be the most wild [presidential] primary we've had in a while, it reeks of irresponsibility and immaturity."
That same source added: "It just feels like we're being gaslit at this point."
The Republican fundraising advantage heading into the midterms makes the DNC's financial picture even more uncomfortable for Democrats who already feel the party apparatus is failing them.
Martin appeared on Pod Save America in recent weeks and attempted to defend himself against two main charges: that he reneged on a promise to release an after-action report examining the party's 2024 losses, and that the DNC has struggled to raise money and balance its books.
Democratic strategist Jesse Lehrich told The Bulwark that the interview did not help Martin's cause.
"I think that would be a very hard job, no matter who has it. But [Martin] seems to be uniquely ill-suited for it."
Lehrich added: "The Pod Save interview was mind-blowing to me."
The concerns had become so pronounced in recent weeks that some DNC members privately discussed trying to force Martin out, The Bulwark reported. Some members also entertained resolutions that would compel him to balance the DNC budget, a move that would function as a vote of no confidence even if it stopped short of formal removal.
Not everyone inside the party wants Martin gone. Michael Kapp, a California-based DNC member, defended the chair's record and pushed back on what he characterized as Washington insiders detached from grassroots organizing.
"[Martin] has been shifting the party away from a consultant-centered model and toward one that is more centered on state parties and organizers, and that was always going to create friction."
Kapp also took aim at Martin's most vocal critics.
"The loudest people in D.C., including the Pod Save America folks, are often the furthest away from the doors that are being knocked. What I'm hearing from state parties, organizers, and activists on the ground is overwhelmingly positive."
He cited a specific metric: "Since [Martin's] become DNC chair, we won 30 out of 30 State House legislative flips. The strategy is working."
That claim may carry weight in isolation. But state legislative flips do not pay off a $15 million loan, close a seven-to-one cash gap with the RNC, or answer the question of why the party still has not produced the after-action report it promised its own members after a bruising presidential loss.
The push against Martin fits a broader pattern of internal Democratic conflict that has played out across multiple fronts in recent months. The DNC is not just fighting Republicans. It is fighting itself.
Consider the parallel drama involving DNC Vice Chair David Hogg. Martin himself proposed a rule requiring all DNC officials to remain neutral in Democratic primaries, a move aimed squarely at Hogg after the young activist pledged $20 million through his group Leaders We Deserve to support primary challengers against incumbent Democrats in safe blue districts. As the Washington Free Beacon reported, Martin told Hogg bluntly: "You have to make a decision."
Martin added: "As I've said to [Hogg], if you want to challenge incumbents, you're more than free to do that, but just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be neutral arbiters."
The standoff escalated further. Newsmax reported that DNC members are now scheduled to vote from June 9 to June 11 on whether to redo the February vice chair election entirely, after a subcommittee recommended invalidating the original vote, saying it gave an unfair advantage to Hogg and fellow candidate Malcolm Kenyatta. Hogg himself protested: "It sends a horrible message to the public about our inability to run elections."
That line is almost too perfect. The party that insists it is the guardian of democratic norms cannot run its own internal elections without a do-over.
The factional battles extend well beyond the DNC's organizational chart. Progressive insurgents backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have scored wins in special elections, while establishment Democrats try to hold the line against primary challenges from their own left flank.
The most revealing detail in the Martin saga is what did not happen. DNC members discussed forcing him out, then stopped because they could not find anyone willing to replace him. That is not a sign of a healthy institution. It is the organizational equivalent of a condemned building with no buyer.
Martin's critics say he failed to deliver a promised after-action report on the 2024 election. They say his budget management has been reckless. They say the party's fundraising cannot keep pace with the RNC. And yet the best they can muster is a resolution that might force him to balance the books, not an actual leadership challenge.
Meanwhile, the chair is simultaneously trying to discipline his own vice chair, the committee is preparing to invalidate its own election, and the party faces a presidential primary season with a depleted war chest and no clear financial plan beyond borrowing more money.
The intra-party tensions have spilled into public view in other ways, too. Democratic senators have openly attacked fellow Democrats over strategic disagreements, adding to the sense that the party's various factions cannot agree on leadership, messaging, or basic priorities.
Several open questions remain. No one has publicly identified a formal mechanism to remove Martin, and no challenger has stepped forward. The exact scope of the DNC's financial shortfall, beyond the seven-to-one fundraising gap and the $15 million loan, remains unclear. Whether Martin will take out another loan this summer, as insiders predict, or instead cut staff, could define the party's readiness heading into the next election cycle.
The DNC's June vote on the Hogg vice chair election will also test whether the committee can manage even its own procedural disputes without deepening the sense of dysfunction.
Democrats spent years lecturing the country about institutional integrity and the importance of competent governance. Their own national committee now offers a case study in neither.
