Democrats search for a leader to rebuild as the party figures out what comes next

As Democrats head toward an uncertain future under a second Trump administration, the party’s search for a new leader to help rebuild the party also remains unsettled.

As Democrats head toward an uncertain future under a second Trump administration, the party’s search for a new leader to help rebuild the party also remains unsettled. The process of choosing a new Democratic National Committee chair kicked off Saturday, when eight candidates met virtually in the first party-run forum of the race. With three weeks to go before the February 1 election, no candidate has locked up support from a majority of the 448 party insiders who’ll choose the next party leader. The chair race marks the first major decision Democrats will make after facing disastrous losses in last year’s general election. The contest to lead the party, and the various unofficial forums and small group meetings that preceded Saturday’s event, have become a space for Democrats to hash out what went wrong, how to reach the voters who abandoned the party in November and how the millions of dollars spent in lost swing states might have been better used. Despite early reports that some high-profile names were considering joining the race, the current field of eight candidates – led by Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley – is made up of figures who are not well known nationally. For many DNC members, that’s a bonus. “The vibe I get is that people are super hungry for an operative chair,” said one DNC member who is part of a state delegation. “We want workhorses.”