In case you missed it, tensions are rising at the DNC's summer meeting over the party's efforts to override states that choose to use ranked choice voting.
This is the latest debacle in a long list of frustrations over Ken Martin's leadership, including the DNC bucking their established presidential primary calendar, fundraising troubles, and workplace harassment stemming from constant paranoia.
You can read the full story here or see highlights below.
Newsweek
August 14, 2026
Last year Newsweek spoke to an array of politically involved young Democrats about what went wrong with the 2024 election. From Georgia to Ohio, they complained that the Democratic Party was too top-down, too Washington-centric. A dispute over ranked choice voting this week at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) meeting in Austin, Texas, is showing how that rift continues to divide a fractious party.
In May, the DNC’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) advanced a proposed amendment to the 2028 presidential primary rules that would, if a state chooses to use ranked choice voting, effectively ignore any candidates not ranked number one on ballots. On Saturday, that amendment will go before the entire DNC, which will vote whether to formalize the rule, as well as settle on the presidential primary calendar.
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Proponents of the amendment argue that the practice suits a winner-take-all system and does not align with the DNC’s presidential primary rules, which use proportional allocation of delegates to candidates according to their vote share. State party leaders where ranked choice voting is enshrined into law disagree. They also believe the RBC did not adequately allow them to argue otherwise and is thus operating counter to the overall state party-first strategy of DNC Chair Ken Martin.
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The matter of state party autonomy comes at a sensitive time for Democrats. Martin has funneled $1 million each month to the state parties at the expense of the DNC’s balance sheet. Though DNC fundraising has outpaced 2018 levels, it has just $16.3 million in cash on hand and over $18 million of debt, a reality that doesn’t make for favorable headlines when compared to the RNCs $128 million war chest. While state party representatives—who comprise a plurality of DNC members—have stuck by Martin, Washington consultants and liberal media commentators have called for him to step down.
In turn, the RNC has portrayed Martin as an ineffective leader, and though he does not sit on the RBC, Republicans cast the issue as a product of his doing. “For the party that’s hedged its entire midterm strategy on propping up state parties, it’s ironic that Ken Martin and the DNC continue to sabotage states by rigging the presidential primary calendar, stomping on ranked choice voting, and kneecapping candidates who threaten their tight-fisted control,” RNC National Press Secretary Natalie Baldassarre told Newsweek in a statement. “There’s a reason Ken Martin is on the outs, but if he needs some words of encouragement he can look to the RNC where we think he’s doing a fantastic job.”
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After more than an hour of debate and a failed 22-24 motion to postpone, the committee voted 28-14 to advance the amendment. Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, Nevada and Wyoming have used ranked choice voting in the presidential primary since 2020, and Maine started in 2024. Of those states, only Nevada has representation on the 33-person committee, with two members.
Dingman of Maine, Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Lucas Fralick and Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft responded to the amendment in an August 7 letter to DNC members, shared with Newsweek, asking them to vote against the measure: “Our Party thrives when we let states decide and empower each other to be competitive in ways that make sense in our states.”
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