President Donald Trump will give a joint address Tuesday night to Congress to highlight his first few weeks in office and look ahead to all he hopes to accomplish during his term. Sen. Elissa Slotkin will give the Democratic rebuttal, as her party considers its own path forward for the next few years. New Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin wants to see the party reconnect with the working class and reach party members in their home states.
Martin said he hopes to see the compassionate side of President Donald Trump during the address to Congress, but that he’s not holding his breath.
“I would expect to see what we've always seen out of him, which is name calling, finger pointing, demonizing people in this country, dividing us instead of appealing to our better angels at a moment when things around the world are so fraught and perilous,” Martin said.
Martin, who was elected last month, said the Democratic party needs to do more to appeal to the working class, something former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, warned about in an op-ed this week.
“I do think we lost ground with working-class voters, for sure,” Martin said. “We've seen that steady decline for many years with working-class voters.”
He cited a poll conducted last spring, which found the majority of Americans now believe the Republican party is the best party for the poor and working class. He said he’s seen members of his own family fall away from the party, concerned about rising prices. "I do think we lost ground with working-class voters, for sure, and we've seen that steady decline for many years with working-class voters. People like my brother, who's a union carpenter, voted Democrat his whole life, and then he voted Trump in [20]16, [20]20 and [20]24. Same with my father-in-law, by the way, who's a beef cattle farmer in southern Minnesota. We're losing ground with working-class households," Martin admitted. “We have to focus on a kitchen table economic agenda, on a working class agenda, again, to help give people a sense that we're fighting for them, that we haven't forgotten about them, that we're not going to leave them behind."
Martin said his party will oppose Trump’s agenda by seeking wins at the local level.
“We are standing up. The democratic attorney generals are leading the way,” Martin said. “It's our governors, of course, and local elected officials who are using the power of their offices to actually create safe spaces for targeted communities.”
With the midterms already in sight, Martin said Democrats can't just campaign in election years, and that the DNC is in the process of building its war room and plotting year round organizing to flip some critical swing seats. Martin said the wind is "at our backs as we head into the midterms," but that he isn't taking for granted that on average the party in the minority is usually able to flip the chamber in a midterm election.
"The best and surest way to for us to slow down Donald Trump and his unimpeded path of power here is to win back the U.S. House, making Leader Jeffries, Speaker Jeffries."
Martin just wrapped up a multi-state tour, and plans to continue to travel to meet with voters around the country. He plans to get the DNC out of the beltway and into communities.
"It's a mindset change — it's really making sure that we're out there throughout all of our 50 states and our seven territories, competing up and down the ballot in every zip code across this country, it's critical that we actually win again, and to do that, we have to organize everywhere," he said.
“The stakes are higher than they've ever been before, and we've got to get out there and take our case directly to the American people,” Martin said.
