ICYMI: DNC Chair Ken Martin Joins the Weekly Show With Jon Stewart To Discuss Building up the Democratic Party Arrow

In case you missed it, DNC Chair Ken Martin joined The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart to discuss the DNC's strategy to build the Democratic coalition, meet voters wherever they are, and fight for working people.

As we head into the final stretch of the 2025 election cycle, Chair Martin emphasized how the DNC continues to organize everywhere, so that Democrats up and down the ballot can hold the Trump administration and Republicans accountable.

WATCH

You can find highlights from Chair Martin's conversation with Jon Stewart below:

On the Democratic Party's fight to give everyone a shot at the American dream:

Chair Ken Martin: "No matter where you're from, no matter where you live, no matter who you love, or who you are, you should have an opportunity in this country to get ahead, not just get by. You should have an opportunity to achieve the American dream, to climb the economic ladder, and achieve success for your family. That, at the core of it, is pretty simple. That is who the Democratic Party has been for years, in my opinion."

On Democrats getting back to their working-class roots:

Chair Ken Martin: "I'm the first card-carrying union member to be elected DNC Chair. I come out of the building trades. My mom was 15 years old when she had me. She raised four kids by herself. And I say that to tell you that I am the working class.

"As a union member, I will tell you at the core, we've seen union membership and union households declining, and of course, as a result, we've seen the middle class shrinking and declining. The wealth inequality in this country is greater than it's ever been, and so we have to get back to those roots."

On NYC mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani's win:

Chair Ken Martin: "[Mamdani] didn't just run against the establishment, against his opponents. He gave people a value proposition. He said, 'here's my plan, here's what I would do if I was elected,' right? And it was focused on affordability.

"And the last thing that I think is important is he was ubiquitous. In a sense that he campaigned everywhere, in person throughout New York. You couldn't walk throughout New York without running into his campaign in some way. And that was true in terms of his online presence.

"The point is, is be ubiquitous. Be everywhere. Don't discriminate. Talk to every single voter and give them a sense of what you're standing for, and do it in a way that's real. Just be yourself. Just be honest. Be transparent, be vulnerable. Put yourself out there."

On the importance of organizing everywhere and getting the DNC out of D.C.:

Chair Martin: "Eight months on the job, I've been to 32 states. You know elections aren't won in D.C., they're won in the states, and they're won by connecting with people, and they're won by connecting to exactly what you're talking about - the struggles of everyday life. And I will tell you, as much as you talked about having a very prescriptive policy point, I think that's right. We do have to have a policy agenda, but we also have to zoom out because it's very simple."

On what message unites working-class people across the country:

Chair Martin: "What connects a corn farmer like my father-in-law, right, in southern Minnesota, with an iron ranger up on the iron range?

"What is the thing that connects all of them? Well, it's pretty simple. They are very disparate groups, for sure, but what connects them is economics. Every one of them has a job. Everyone's working their asses off. All three of those groups are falling behind, feeling left behind, forgotten, dispossessed, and they feel like the Democratic Party and the Republican Party could give a shit about their lives.

"When we talk about the working class in this country, which is about 70% of Americans that do not have a college degree, these are Black, brown and white people who are busting their ass, who are working harder than they ever have before, and they feel like no one cares, that they're unseen and they're forgotten, so I say this because that has to be the core message, an economic message that gives them a sense that we're fighting for them and their families."