The Democratic National Committee has descended into chaos.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin is isolated and unraveling as he scrambles to contain his committee’s $2 million debt, two dozen Democrats, including current and former officials, told The New York Times.
The 53-year-old is privately pleading with vendors not to bill the committee until after the midterm elections, according to a Times report published Sunday. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump presides over a super PAC, or political action committee, with $400 million. In March, CNN reported that the Republican National Committee had $109 million on hand—a 7-to-1 cash advantage over the DNC.
Martin, for his part, appears to be taking out his financial woes on his subordinates. Last month, he had a meltdown that culminated in him throwing his phone at a junior aide’s desk, sources told the Times.
Even Martin has joked about his own abysmal performance. He has reportedly quipped that his tenure could end early, despite his term not expiring until 2029.
Martin won a contested leadership election in February 2025 and has faced the Herculean task of revitalizing the Democratic Party after its crushing election defeats in November 2024—something he has conceded is a formidable challenge.
In December, he failed to produce a long-promised autopsy of the party’s 2024 defeat. After mounting pressure from Democrats, Martin published an incomplete, sloppy, and inconclusive draft that drew widespread criticism.
Martin, who also serves as chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, has in turn become increasingly paranoid about leaks within the DNC, sources told the Times.
“It p—es me off when I see leaks out of this building,” Martin said, according to four people who relayed his remarks to the Times. “No more of that s---. No more.”
He then reminded staff that, “My success is your success.”
“So the weaker I am, the weaker all of you are.”
This is not the first controversy to engulf Martin. In June 2025, he accused then-Vice Chair David Hogg of undercutting his leadership and confessed he had considered quitting during a Zoom call with party leaders.
“No one knows who the hell I am, right? I’m trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to to put ourselves in a position to win,” Martin said in the recording, which was obtained by Politico.
“I don’t think you intended this,” Martin told Hogg during the May 15 Zoom meeting, “but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to. So it’s really frustrating.”
Hogg, 26, later stepped down from the committee, citing “fundamental disagreements” over the vice chair’s role.
