Opinion | Even Centrists Agree: Ben Wikler For Dnc Chair

As Democrats organize themselves for the battles to come with Donald Trump and his MAGA forces, one of their first orders of business is to name a new party chair. Several prominent people are seeking the job, with factions lining up behind them.

At Third Way, we represent the center-left of the party. But we agree with former Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Mark Pocan and others on the far left that the person best equipped to lead the Democratic National Committee in this uncertain and high-stakes moment is Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler.

At first blush, this might seem surprising. After all, Wikler made his name in politics as an organizer for MoveOn, a progressive advocacy organization. While we joined with MoveOn to lead the 2024 effort against third-party spoilers, we continue to have real and sometimes stark differences with the left — and especially the far left — on policy choices and political strategy.

So why do we view Wikler as the right leader for right now? Three reasons top our list.

The first is geographic.

The overriding imperative for the next DNC chair is to expand a shrinking national map. In too many states, the party has become incapable of winning presidential and Senate contests. Where Democrats were competitive just a decade or so ago, they now face long or impossible odds. That can change — nothing in politics is permanent — and it must if Democrats are to eventually win back the White House, recapture congressional majorities and deliver in down-ballot races.

Yet over the past three decades, nearly every elected national chair of the DNC has come from a state touching the East Coast. The only exception was Howard Dean, from navy blue Vermont. Perhaps not coincidentally, in 2024 Kamala Harris won just six contests out of the 32 places that don’t touch either coast. One was Vermont; another was Washington, D.C. Democrats know how to win the coasts — their problem is the places in between. Wikler’s roots are in the Midwest, where he built what is widely regarded as a model state party.

In Wisconsin, Wikler proved that he understands how to reach the voters Democrats desperately need back. He knows that throughout states like his, in big cities, suburban and exurban communities, and small rural towns, Democrats cannot be seen as an elitist club for the college educated and well off. Just 36 percent of registered voters have a four-year college degree. As Trump’s 2024 victory made clear, the math doesn’t work if Democrats are ignoring, offending, patronizing or turning off the vast majority of voters.

The second is generational.

Democrats need a new set of leaders. The 43-year-old Wikler led the Wisconsin Democratic Party into the future with a sophisticated use of new and social media, data and analytics, and the other tools of modern campaigning. But he also brought an infectious, youthful enthusiasm to the job that helped create the legions of dedicated volunteers who are the lifeblood of any political party. To contrast most distinctly with a Republican Party led by the oldest person ever elected president, Democrats should pick a future-oriented leader without the baggage or scars of the past decades of political warfare.

The third is ideological.

As the Rev. Jesse Jackson once remarked, the Democratic Party needs “two wings to fly.” And indeed, the modern Democratic Party is a big, tumultuous coalition, in which robust debate is not just tolerated, it’s seen as essential. It’s far different from Trump’s GOP, which brooks no dissent from whatever he proclaims as that day’s MAGA orthodoxy. For Democrats, such intellectual and strategic heterodoxy can be a strength, but it’s often a challenge. While the party chair will not be the final arbiter of policy choices or messaging, that person’s approach to the party’s ideological debate does matter. The chair cannot represent just one wing of the party and must have a commitment to, and track record of, rejecting rigid orthodoxies and all purity tests. That means being both an honest broker and a fearless truth-teller.

Throughout his career, Ben Wikler has held true to his mainstream, Midwestern values while recognizing that the real job is not to shift the Overton Window but to broaden the party’s tent. That is both the political and moral calling of our time for Democrats, because it’s the only path to power, and if you don’t have power, nothing else matters. He took just such a wide and welcoming approach in building the Wisconsin party, listening to the left and the center. He rejected the false choice between turnout and persuasion and sought to appeal not just to the most committed liberals or Democrats, but to the swing voters and moderates who ultimately decide close elections. Wisconsin Democratic candidates of all ideological perspectives knew he had their backs to campaign on what they believed and how they thought they could best connect with voters in their districts.

Third Way and people like Rep. Pocan have differing ideological perspectives, policy priorities and theories about how to fix what went wrong in 2024. But we all believe that Ben Wikler is the right person to unite our coalition, modernize our party and expand the map so that Democrats can win and govern again.