Ken Martin, Who Called for Trump To Be Charged With Treason, Elected DNC Chair

Vote followed a Native American land acknowledgment

Ken Martin, who has called for President Donald Trump to be charged with treason, was elected Saturday as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Martin, the head of the Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, received 246.5 votes at the party’s winter meeting, held at National Harbor, Maryland. Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler came in second place with 134.5 votes, and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley tallied 44 votes. Martin will replace outgoing chairman Jaime Harrison, the former Senate candidate in South Carolina who spent $100 million in 2022 on a race he lost to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham by 10 points.

Martin had the endorsements of the influential Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) and Minnesota governor Tim Walz and picked up two more ahead of Saturday’s vote, when candidates Marianne Williamson and Nate Snyder dropped out of the race to back him. Wikler had the backing of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), as well as the party’s largest donors. Billionaires Reid Hoffman and George Soros gave $500,000 to Wikler’s Forward PAC, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Saturday’s vote was preceded by a Native American land acknowledgment and pre-recorded video messages from former president Joe Biden and former vice president Kamala Harris.

Martin and Wikler ran similar campaigns, pledging to invest heavily in the party’s communications efforts, digital advertising, and grassroots initiatives.

Both frontrunners embraced much of the left-wing rhetoric that has been blamed for the party’s disastrous showing in November. At a candidate forum on Thursday, Martin joined all other contenders in claiming that Harris lost the election due in part to “racism and misogyny.” None of the candidates addressed how Harris lost after spending $1.5 billion during her three-month campaign.

Martin and Wikler also pledged to increase the number of at-large DNC seats reserved for transgender people.

Martin inherits a Democratic Party in turmoil after a historic defeat in November. Harris lost the popular vote to Trump, the first Democrat to do so since 2004. Republicans picked up four seats in the Senate and maintained control of the House of Representatives.

Martin faces a tall task. Rank-and-file Democrats have criticized party leaders over what they say is a tepid response to Trump, who has rolled back many of Biden’s executive orders, agency regulations, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Martin, for his part, hasn’t been shy about embracing inflammatory positions towards Trump. In 2020, he called for Trump to be put on trial for treason based on a debunked news report that Trump ignored intelligence briefings that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to attack American troops in Afghanistan.

Treason, defined by the Constitution as providing “aid and comfort” to America’s enemies, carries a sentence ranging from a minimum of five years in prison to the death penalty.