New York State Sen. James Skoufis Wants To Lead The DNC. His Anonymity Is A Selling Point.

Skoufis, who won big in an area Vice President Kamala Harris lost, calls himself the “outsider candidate” Democrats need in order to rebuild.

Of all of the Democrats who have announced bids to chair the Democratic National Committee, New York state Sen. James Skoufis might be the most unexpected.

Skoufis, 37, is not exactly a household name with a traditional DNC chair’s curriculum vitae. Among announced candidates to lead Democrats’ central governing body, he boasts neither the party management experience of Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, or Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, nor the national profile of Martin O’Malley, who governed Maryland and ran for president before becoming commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

But Skoufis believes that his experience winning a fourth term to a Hudson Valley state Senate seat in a district Donald Trump won handily makes him the best contender to lead Democrats back to power.

“For 12 years, I have lived and breathed going out into communities, into meeting halls, and speaking to media outlets that are, let’s say, less than traditionally friendly to Democrats,” Skoufis told HuffPost, referring to his first state Assembly win in 2012. “That’s the skillset that is most important here as we look to elect a new DNC chair.”

And at a time when many Democrats think it’s time for an extreme makeover, Skoufis is pitching his lack of a national profile or experience not as a liability but as an asset. He spoke to HuffPost by phone on Tuesday from a Holiday Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was camping out to introduce himself to state party chairs and other officers attending the Association of State Democratic Committees’ winter meeting.