Democrats have hit ‘rock bottom,’ party leader says; here’s his unorthodox rebound plan

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin isn’t pulling any punches.

“There’s no doubt that … we have work to do,” Martin acknowledged in an extended, sit-down interview this week with Fox News Digital.

But the DNC chair sees President Donald Trump’s signature domestic achievement so far in his second term as ammunition that will help the Democrats rebound.

The party is trying to escape the political wilderness after last year’s elections, when Democrats lost control of the White House and the Senate and fell short in their bid to win back the House majority.

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Republicans made gains with voters who make up key parts of the Democratic Party’s base.

Martin noted that the party has continued to “lose ground with many parts of our coalition.”

But he sees a silver lining.

“When you hit rock bottom, there’s only one direction to go, and that’s up, and that’s what we’re doing,” Martin noted.

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The party’s base is increasingly angry — and energized — to push back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial second-term agenda. And its anger is directed not just at the GOP but the Democratic Party lawmakers and officials who many feel haven’t been aggressive enough in combating the president.

And that’s reflected in polls. Favorable ratings for the Democratic Party have plunged to all-time lows in a slew of national surveys. And the Republican National Committee (RNC) has the upper hand over the DNC in fundraising.

“We do have a brand problem,” Martin noted.

Martin pointed to surveys that indicated a “majority of Americans believe that the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor, and the Democratic Party is the party of the wealthy and the elites. And sure enough, the only two groups that we over performed within the last election cycle were college-educated voters and wealthy households.”

“That’s a damning indictment on our party brand, and we do have a brand challenge there,” Martin said.

Martin said “people have bought into this idea that Donald Trump and the Republicans best represent their interests for the future.”

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But he argued that “Trump and the Republicans have done nothing to actually deliver on the promises that they made. They said on day one they were going to bring down costs for people. Costs on all goods are increasing.”

As he looks ahead to next year’s midterm elections, when the Democrats will try to win back majorities in the House and Senate, Martin is targeting the Republicans’ so-called “big, beautiful bill.”

“We welcome the debate because this is the debate that’s going to actually help us, as a Democratic Party, build our coalition again and win elections,” the DNC chair insisted.

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Martin’s rival, RNC Chair Michael Whatley, told Fox News last week that the sweeping GOP-crafted domestic policy bill that narrowly passed the House and Senate in near-party-line votes and that President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, will be a “cornerstone” of the party’s messaging going forward.

That’s just fine with Martin.

“If this is the ground they want to die on, the hill they want to die, we’ll make sure they die on it,” Martin said of Republicans.

The Republican package is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. 

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It includes extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts, which were about to expire later this year, and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. 

“This is going to help every family in every community all across the country,” Whatley predicted in his Fox News Digital interview.

But Martin disagreed, saying “there is nothing in this bill that’s going to help hard-working Americans. Let’s be very clear, this is a giveaway to the richest people in our country.”

The measure also provides billions for border security and codifies the president’s controversial immigration crackdown.

The massive tax cuts and spending package is also projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to increase the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade, but many Republicans dispute the projection.

And the new law also restructures Medicaid, the nearly 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans. The CBO this week estimated that 10 million people could lose their health insurance over the next decade.

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The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s tax cuts. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage.

“The fact is that we’re going to be moving illegal aliens off of Medicaid. We’re going to be strengthening the program,” Whatlley said. “Those are things that absolutely need to happen.”

But Democrats, for months, have repeatedly blasted Republicans over the social safety net changes. And they spotlighted a number of national polls last month and this month, including one this week from Fox News, that indicate the bill’s popularity is in negative territory.

“American people are hurting right now, and there’s no doubt that this is an issue that allows the Democrats right now to actually rebuild our coalition, to actually bring people back in, many who left our party over the years, who felt like we weren’t fighting for them and actually lifting up working people,” Martin said.

And the DNC chair argued that “Donald Trump has betrayed them. I don’t call this the big, beautiful bill. What I call it is a big, ugly betrayal, because that’s exactly what it is. It’s a betrayal to the hardworking Americans who expected more from this president.”

Martin said shining a spotlight on the GOP’s domestic package is “central to this conversation” as Democrats try to rebound. 

“It allows us, right now, to get many of those people, again, working-class people, back into the conversation with the Democratic Party,” he said.

And Martin, who served as chair of the Minnesota Democrats before taking over at the DNC, said the party has “always been the party for working class and poor individuals in this country and people who want to enter the middle class. Now we have an opportunity to prove it.”