GLENDALE – The newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee stopped in Wisconsin on Saturday, knocking on doors in support of local candidates and urging residents to remember that down-ballot races are just as important as national ones.
Ken Martin appeared at a door-knocking event in Glendale, first addressing a group of local Democrats before heading out to knock doors in the neighborhood in support of state Superintendent Jill Underly.
Martin served as the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party before being elected to lead the Democratic National Committee in January, taking first over Wisconsin’s Ben Wikler. In a speech following his election, he urged the party to avoid infighting and focus on strengthening the party.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin makes remarks to volunteers at a canvassing event on Saturday February 22, 2025 in Glendale, Wis.
The Minnesotan will now lead a party searching for stability after its election losses in November. Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate and failed to regain a majority in the House. The party is also navigating Trump’s second term, in which he has aggressively moved to assert his agenda.
Here’s what Martin had to say.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be important nationwide
Though the race for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is technically nonpartisan, Martin made clear the importance of the race for Democrats, promoting liberal-backed Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in her campaign against Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, a Republican attorney general during Gov. Scott Walker’s administration.
The winner will determine whether liberals or conservatives will hold a 4-3 majority on the Wisconsin high court, and both parties in Wisconsin are pushing hard for their candidate.
More: Just how partisan are the candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court? Here are the details.
Martin contended that far-right groups and billionaires like Elon Musk — whose political groups have already donated $2.5 million to Schimel — are trying to buy the government.
“I think what we’re trying to send a message is that billionaires in this country, unelected billionaires and corrupt billionaires, should not be engaging in politics this way,” he said.
Crawford has also attracted big-name donations, including $1 million from Hungarian-American investor George Soros channeled through the state Democratic Party.
The race has national significance for the party, Martin said.
“Losing these races would take us steps backwards,” he said. “We don’t want to go back. We want to continue to move forward. We want to continue to build this state the way it should be.”
Martin said aside from giving money to the state party, the national party is helping in other ways to support Democratic candidates.
“I’m here. We’re sending volunteers. We’re doing our part to raise the awareness of this campaign nationally,” he said. “And to make sure that people throughout the nation are plugging into the work that’s on the ground here.”
Local elections a ‘test’ for new Democratic party
Martin said that elections in Wisconsin for state superintendent and for the state Supreme Court are going to be the first test of the DNC under his leadership, and there is going to be a focus on state and local elections in the coming years.
He said “indifference” to races like local school boards has allowed radical groups to organize and take control.
“Our indifference to school board races around the country has meant that we see the Moms for Liberty and these far right conservative groups who have taken over at every level, because one thing they have understood is that we are playing catch up on this,” he said. “If you’re going to build power around your agenda, you have to do it at every single level, in every single public policy arena. We can no longer ignore these offices.”
Wisconsin will be a focus for the national party
This was Martin’s first official trip to Wisconsin in his new capacity, he said Saturday, but voters can expect him to keep making trips to the Badger State.
“Wisconsin is critical,” he said. “You’ve seen how tight the margins are, right? It’s a state that we absolutely have to win.”
He said the national party will continue to give resources to Wisconsin, and he hopes to see Wikler remain the chair of the state party. Martin said Wikler’s decision to run for national chair had nothing to do with his job here in Wisconsin, which he’s excelled at for years.
“I support him in his work with the Wisconsin Democratic Party,” he said.
Democrats ‘lost ground’ with important demographics in 2024
When asked why Democrats lost the presidential election in 2024, Martin said he hasn’t had a chance to conduct a full review, but said it was obvious the party lost ground with thousands of voters who voted for someone other than Kamala Harris, or didn’t vote at all.
“There isn’t one demographic group that’s part of our coalition that we didn’t lose ground with,” he said. “We have to figure out the how and who. It’s going to take us a bit of time.”
More: Trump gained ground in battle for Wisconsin college voters, even flipping one UW campus ward
Martin is also looking at how U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin held onto her seat and outperformed Harris. He said Trump’s win was narrow, a “red trickle instead of a red wave.” Wisconsin was the closest presidential contest in 2024, with Trump carrying the state by less than 1%, after Biden and Trump won the state by similar margins in 2020 and 2016.
“Tammy Baldwin, she’s an institution. She’s well known here. And she’s well-liked,” he said. “And that’s what helped her in a tough election year be able to win. And what also helped was the infrastructure Chairman Wikler (built).”
More: Gilbert: A conversation with pollster Charles Franklin about the 2024 election in Wisconsin
Underly casts DPI race as protecting public schools
Underly also addressed supporters in Glendale, pledging to improve schools if she’s reelected this spring.
She also took aim at her opponent, Brittany Kinser, who she said has never held a Wisconsin teaching license, but instead has only lobbied for voucher schools. Public schools would be at risk if Kinser won the election, she said.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, left, and State Superintendent Jill Underly make remarks to volunteers at a canvassing event on Saturday February 22, 2025 in Glendale, Wis.
“She’s worked to drain funds from our public schools, and she’s even advocated to remove teacher licensing requirements, as again, she herself has never had a Wisconsin teaching license, so her agenda is to put public schools on a dangerous race to the bottom,” she said.
She highlighted a new literacy law was passed during her tenure.
More: Assembly lawmakers vote to reverse state report card changes
Kinser campaigns as a moderate and a backer of school choice programs, including the private school voucher program that provides public money for qualified children to attend private schools. Kinser, who has held a fundraising advantage in the race, also has criticized Underly for changes she instituted into how academic achievement is measured in Wisconsin.
Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on X @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New DNC chair Ken Martin makes first visit to battleground Wisconsin
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