DNC chair Ken Martin faces criticism over party finances and internal dissent

Solomon argues party’s dependence on big donors and conformity are the deeper problems

Norman Solomon, the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, wrote in The Guardian on August 5 that Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, has become a “convenient scapegoat” for the party’s deeper failures. Solomon argues that while much criticism of Martin is justified — including his fundraising struggles, a bungled autopsy report on the 2024 election, and a reported incident in which he threw a cellphone at a DNC employee’s desk — the party’s broader problems are structural.

Solomon wrote that the DNC is currently $2.2 million in debt, compared with $128 million in cash on hand for the Republican National Committee. He noted that the committee took on approximately $22 million in debts left behind by Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, which spent $1.5 billion during its short run.

In April 2025, the DNC announced it had increased baseline monthly payments to state parties to $17,500, a $5,000-per-month increase over the prior agreement, with an additional $5,000 for Republican-controlled states. Chris Davis, president of the Colorado Young Democrats, told Solomon that such payments needed accountability. “When we’re talking about giving tens of thousands of dollars away on a monthly basis, we need to know that it’s going towards real, grassroots organizing,” Davis said. “Otherwise, the money could be going to consultants, for all we know.”

Martin has touted his success with “grassroots donors,” which he defined in a July 20 essay as those giving under $10,000, and highlighted that the current DNC had secured contributions of $100,000 or more from 67 wealthy donors. Solomon wrote that Martin and other party leaders have lost the confidence of small-dollar donors, who had fueled past campaigns like Bernie Sanders’s presidential runs.

Solomon also wrote that Martin blocked a DNC resolution to halt U.S. arms shipments to Israel that enable deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a move that drew little attention compared with the cellphone-throwing report.

The op-ed describes an internal DNC culture where most of the committee’s 450 members would not publicly challenge the chair, insulating Martin from a direct challenge. It notes that former interim chair Donna Brazile argued in a Washington Post op-ed that Martin should keep his job and that Democrats could win by rallying around “pragmatic policies that most Americans support … rather than extremist socialist policies that most voters oppose.” Solomon countered that progressive primary victories this year offer a path to transform the party from the grassroots up.

The DNC’s full committee is scheduled to meet in Austin next week. Solomon wrote that Martin is positioned to fend off any challenge but that a course correction is unlikely before the November midterm elections.