As members of the Democratic National Committee gathered at the end of last week to discuss the 2028 presidential primary calendar, their chair, Ken Martin, had another topic on his mind.
The DNC’s latest fundraising numbers had come out, showing the committee yet again falling far behind its GOP counterpart. After the latest update, the committee had $2 million of debt to the Republican National Committee’s more than $128 million on hand. And the already embattled Martin was mindful that some of those gathered in a conference room at the Salamander Hotel weren’t particularly supportive of his tenure and were increasingly concerned about the state of the committee.
In between discussions about leading the primary calendar with either Nevada or South Carolina, Martin urged DNC members to read and share a Substack article he’d posted defending the committee’s dismal financial situation. He re-emphasized the main points: that it was “simply wrong” to say the DNC was in financial trouble; that the committee was raising an average of $8.6 million per month and spending it on important projects; and that they were building campaign infrastructure, not just tending to a healthy balance sheet.
To the national committee members and party officials I spoke with—including several who were at the Salamander meeting—Martin’s post came off as
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