The Democratic National Committee is pledging to give tens of thousands of dollars monthly to every state party across the country, emphasizing red states over blue ones, in an expansive — and expensive — push to make Democrats competitive from Alaska to Florida.
The D.N.C. will spend more than $1 million a month on the 50-state program, which is increasing the organization’s monthly cash donations to state parties in red states by 50 percent and in blue states by 30 percent.
The extra money to red states, the D.N.C. argues, is to build long-term infrastructure in places where it is currently lacking to create possibilities in elections beyond just the upcoming midterms. The monthly price tag: $17,500 to each state party in a blue state, and $22,500 in a red state. (The party has a formula that looks at governor, Senate, House and state legislative seats to determine whether a state is red or blue.)
While the cash infusion will not pay for expensive television ad campaigns or create robust Democratic successes in red states overnight, it will help state parties hire more staff members, open new field offices and invest in data and tech operations, according to the D.N.C.
Democrats have been scrambling to find a footing in the second Trump era, navigating a frustrated base eager for a more pugilistic stance against the administration while leadership looks for opportunities to claw back voters President Trump pried away in 2024. This effort is one of the first major initiatives announced by Ken Martin, the recently elected head of the D.N.C.
“When I ran for D.N.C. chair, I said two things over and over,” Mr. Martin said in a statement. “First, we have to get the D.N.C. out of D.C. and into the states. Second, we have to organize everywhere and compete everywhere if we’re going to win everywhere. This agreement is how we start turning those beliefs into reality.”
For Mr. Martin, sending more money to state parties is also a way to reward the state party chairs who were crucial to his ascent to national party chairman. Mr. Martin had served as the president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, and state leaders had formed the foundation of his political coalition. Jane Kleeb, the current president of that group, joined the announcement on Thursday.
Investing in all 50 states has become part of Democratic lore even as, in recent decades, the overwhelming share of party money has gone to the roughly half-dozen battleground states that determine who wins the White House.
“If we’re going to rebrand the Democratic Party, we have to do it by running competitive races, especially in red states,” said Howard Dean, the former chair of the D.N.C. who began what became known as the party’s 50-state strategy in 2005. He stressed the importance of state parties using these new funds to recruit candidates for state legislatures, city councils and school boards.
But in focusing on red states, Democrats are also tacitly acknowledging that the electoral map nationally has been tilting away from them.
The path to a Senate majority appears dim in 2026 and beyond, with the loss of red-state Democrats like former Senators Joe Manchin and Jon Tester. And after the 2030 census, the Electoral College is expected to drift further from Democrats, with red states such as Florida and Texas poised to gain more House seats at the expense of more Democratic strongholds like California and the Northeast.
Jaime Harrison, the previous D.N.C. chairman, who enacted his own 50-state investments when he ran the party during the Biden presidency, hailed Mr. Martin’s program and predicted it would be especially meaningful because the money was flowing sooner.
“A dollar today is much more impactful than August of the election years,” Mr. Harrison said.
He said the 50 percent increase in funds — under Mr. Harrison the red-state program gave states at most $15,000 a month — would be a “game changer” for smaller states. “That could mean an additional two or three staffers,” he said.
The promise of what amounts to roughly $20 million by the midterms is not without risk for Mr. Martin. His party does not hold the White House, and many Democratic financiers are a combination of depressed and scared after the 2024 election.
“Raising money without the White House is always more of a difficult task,” Mr. Harrison said. “But, nonetheless, this is where the party has to go to be competitive.”
The 50-state strategy has a long lineage in Democratic Party policies.
Its modern form took hold after the 2004 election, when Democrats failed to retake the White House and lost seats in both the House and the Senate. Mr. Dean unveiled his expensive 50-state strategy, calling for new field offices and staffs in all 50 states.
By the end of his first year as chairman, the D.N.C. was paying for 183 staff members in state parties.
In the 2006 midterm elections, Democrats picked up 31 seats, their biggest gain in over 30 years. Mr. Dean claimed credit, pointing to Democratic victories in red states like Arizona, Indiana, Kansas and Texas.
But he was constantly at odds with other party leaders, especially Rahm Emanuel, then a member of Congress and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and James Carville, a well-known Democratic strategist who felt Democrats could have won even more seats in 2006 had the party focused primarily on competitive districts.
Mr. Dean said in an interview that the current D.N.C. would have to do even more than he was able to accomplish to build up a national grass-roots base that is detached from Washington, similar to the disparate yet cohesive Republican base that powered Mr. Trump to two terms.
“You have this bubble in Washington of consultants — and self-serving consultants, I might add — and politicians who think that the House and the Senate is where it’s all at,” Mr. Dean said. “And that completely ignores the strength of creating a strong party. Republicans, I’m chagrined to say, have created a great grass-roots operation.”
He added, “Instead of the brand of the Democratic Party being whatever the Republicans say it is, it has to be the young guy who you coached in football knocking on your door and asking you to vote for them.”
Content Source: www.nytimes.com