Who is Ken Martin?

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Background

Kenneth Nathan Martin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 17, 1973. Raised as a devoted supporter of Democratic Party values and political figures, he served as an intern for Paul Wellstone‘s successful 1990 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat representing Minnesota. After Wellstone’s term began in January 1991, Martin interned in the new senator’s Washington, D.C. office.

In 1992, Martin enrolled as a student at the University of Kansas (UK). That same year, he organized college campuses across the South on behalf of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.

After graduating from UK in 1996 with a BA degree in political science and history, Martin worked as a field director for the Kansas Democratic Party. In 1998 he returned to Minnesota and became the political and field director for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the national Democratic Party.

In 2000, Martin served as the deputy Minnesota State Director for Al Gore’s presidential campaign. In 2002 he managed Buck Humphrey’s failed campaign for Minnesota secretary of state. And in 2004, he helped manage John Kerry‘s presidential campaign activities in Minnesota.

In 2010 Martin served as the executive director of WIN Minnesota, a pro-Democrat political action fund that helped develop, finance, and direct independent expenditures during that year’s election cycle. Martin’s efforts helped Democrat Mark Dayton get elected as Minnesota’s governor that year. When Martin subsequently ran for chairman of the Minnesota DFL Party in February 2011, he was elected unanimously.

In 2017, Martin was elected president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC), a national organization within the Democratic National Committee (DNC). That victory set him up to become a DNC vice chair.

Supporter of Black Lives Matter & the Myth of Rampant Anti-Black Violence

Shortly after the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd — a longtime black criminal who died following a physical altercation with a white police officer in Minneapolis — Martin issued a statement saying:

“George Floyd should still be alive today. Justice must be done for him, but it does not change that heartbreaking reality. Senseless and vicious killings like these shatter families, destroy trust, and erode the safety and well-being of black Americans everywhere. We must do so much better because this is a matter of life and death for so many across our nation. Black men and women should not have to live in fear of the police officers that are supposed to protect and serve them. They should not have to live in fear that going for a jog could be a death sentence.[1] This violence perpetrated against communities of color has to end.”

Martin was angered when Republican State Representative Matt Grossell asserted in June 2020 that the many Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations protesting George Floyd’s death were founded on an “evil” admixture of “lies and deceit” designed to “divide us as Americans” and “destroy this republic.” Said Martin in response to Grossell’s remarks: “Representative Grossell’s unhinged rant is racist and an embarrassment to Minnesota. I am truly stunned that anyone, let alone a Republican State Representative, would think to describe protesters demanding racial justice and equity as ‘evil.’ These protesters are not trying to hurt our nation, they are simply demanding America live up to the ideals set forward in our Declaration of Independence: that all are equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Also in 2020, Martin backed the political aspirations of John Thompson, a black Democratic candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives. Notably, Martin’s support for Thompson was undiminished after the latter delivered a profanity-laced diatribe at an August 15th Black Lives Matter protest outside the Hugo, Minnesota home of Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll, who had recently described BLM as a “terrorist movement” and characterized the late George Floyd as a “violent criminal.” Among the many remarks that a raging Thompson shouted during the protest were the following:

• “I’m a black man being terrorized by this fuckin’ Klansman [Kroll] right here. We are terrorized by the grand wizard. Y’all got the grand wizard living in your goddamned neighborhood.”
• “Oh, the Klan exists in Hugo, Minnesota, and it’s right here. Don’t run now, don’t run now, racist white people…. Come on over here with your ‘Blue Lives Matter’ sign; blue lives [police officers’ lives] ain’t shit. And if the people of Hugo don’t support black people, fuck Hugo, Minnesota.”
• “I won the primary election and … I am going to the state capital with this same fuckin’ message: that black people are tired of being killed in these fuckin’ streets and y’all defending this shit.”
• “The KKK ain’t never left the state of Minnesota. As a matter of fact, we in Klan land right now…. Fuck your motherfucking peace, white racist motherfuckers.”
• “We coming, we coming for everything that you motherfuckers took from us…. You think we give a fuck about burning Hugo down?… Blue lives don’t mean shit to black people.”
• “I been black all my life. I didn’t come here to be peaceful … Fuck Hugo, Minnesota! Fuck Bob Kroll, and fuck anybody who support his racist ass…. We coming for what’s ours. Y’all owe us.”
• “We tired of telling you that we sick of your white ass treating us [blacks] like shit and acting like we comfortable with it. I’m not comfortable getting my ass kicked by you coward-ass white motherfuckers in uniform.”

Notwithstanding Thompson’s vulgar rhetoric, DFL Party chairman Martin said the following day: “I’m grateful for the work John is doing to combat systemic racism.” Martin lamented only that the belligerent tenor of Thompson’s rhetoric would unfortunately “not help move our state forward in the fight for justice.”

Calling for President Trump to Be Impeached & Tried for Treason

In June 2020, Martin accused President Donald Trump of ignoring intelligence which indicated that Russia had secretly paid Taliban terrorists to attack and kill American troops in Afghanistan. Though Martin’s claim was unsubstantiated and could not be verified by the CIA, he nevertheless declared that Trump “should be immediately impeached and then put on trial for treason” — a capital crime — because “his actions [had] led to the deaths of American soldiers,” making him “a traitor to our nation and all those who have served.”

Calling for Trump to Be Impeached & Convicted for “Insurrection”

In a February 12, 2021 op-ed piece published by MinnPost.com, Martin articulated his thoughts about the infamous January 6, 2021 protest in which many hundreds of unarmed pro-Trump demonstrators had entered the U.S. Capitol building to express their belief that President Trump had been fraudulently denied re-election in November 2020. Despite the fact that Trump exhorted the demonstrators to make their voices heard “peacefully and patriotically,” and had previously asked for some 10,000 National Guard troops to be stationed at the Capitol as a means of forestalling any potential excesses by those in attendance, Martin caricatured the president as an insurrectionist intent on overthrowing American democracy. Denouncing “the Jan. 6 storming and sacking of the U.S. Capitol building by an angry mob bent on overturning the results of a free and fair election,” he wrote: “Our democracy survived, but our nation is now keenly aware that survival was not a foregone conclusion and we may not be so lucky next time. We can never allow our democracy to be threatened again. We must hold those responsible for the assault on our Capitol responsible, and that begins by impeaching and convicting former President Donald Trump for instigating that assault. The violent mob that laid siege to the seat of our democracy did so at Trump’s bidding…. We must … impeach and convict Donald Trump, hold him accountable for his betrayal of the American people, and send a clear message that anyone who seeks to use mob violence to overrule the will of the American people will fail.”

Vice Chair of the Harris-Walz Presidential Campaign (2024)

In 2024, Martin, who was still chairman of the DFL Party, served as a vice chair of the Kamala Harris – Tim Walz presidential campaign.

Becoming the DNC Chair

After Harris and Walz lost the presidential election in November 2024, Martin announced his intent to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the governing body that determines the Democratic Party’s platform, facilitates its presidential nomination process, and coordinates party strategy at the state level.

Martin’s candidacy was endorsed by such notables as Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and Rep. James Clyburn.

Martin pledged that if he were to be elected as DNC chair, he would focus on laying out a clear policy agenda for his party, combatting “the really extremes and excesses of the Trump administration,” and convincing the American public that the Democratic Party was the champion of “the working class and the poor.” As he told The New York Times in November 2024:

“One thing that is deeply alarming to me, and you’ve probably seen this research, is that for the first time in modern history, the majority of Americans believe that the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor. And that the Democratic Party represents the interests of the wealthy and the elite. That would suggest we have a huge branding problem, because that is not who our party is. And we’ve got to do a better job of making sure people know that wherever they live, wherever they are from, no matter who they are, we’re fighting for them and we’re their champion in this country.”

Martin further vowed that if he were to become DNC chair, another of his top priorities would be to increase the participation of young people in Democratic Party activities. As he stated on his website, KenForChair.com:

“If elected DNC Chair, I will [use] the appointment power to ensure that the DNC appropriately reflects our Party’s diversity and big tent by significantly increasing youth representation among at-large DNC members, Standing Committees, and the Executive Committee. Further, I will work with State Parties to require youth representation in their rank-and-file membership and Party leadership, ensuring that young voices are heard and valued across all levels of the Party.”

At a January 2025 forum (held in Detroit) for DNC chair candidates, Martin pledged that if he were to win the upcoming election, the party would not accept any donations from ultra- wealthy benefactors who did not embrace core Democratic values and objectives. “There are a lot of good billionaires out there that have been with Democrats, who share our values, and we will take their money,” he said. “But we’re not taking money from those bad billionaires.”

The 2025 election for DNC chairmanship was held on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at the Democratic Party’s winter meeting in National Harbor, Maryland. During one particular forum which was held that weekend, Martin joined all of his fellow candidates in asserting that “racism and misogyny” had played a part in Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump in the recent presidential election. When the ballots for DNC chair were formally tallied, Martin emerged victorious, capturing 246.5 votes out of the 428 which were cast.

Identifying himself a “pro-labor progressive,” the victorious Martin told his fellow Democrats that in his new role as DNC chair, he would strive to frame and define Republicans in a negative light, so as to free up his own party’s political candidates to “take the high road” and avoid becoming embroiled in contentious smear campaigns against their opponents.  “I will throw the punches so they don’t have to,” said Martin, adding that “we will go on the offense against Donald Trump.”

Moreover, Martin pledged to use his newfound political influence to increase the number of at-large DNC seats reserved specifically for transgender people.

During that same election weekend in early February 2025, the Democrats also elected three vice chairs for their party, one of whom was the 24-year-old anti-gun activist David Hogg.