Wisconsin's Wikler Joins Race For Dnc Chair

Ben Wikler, leader of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, announced Sunday that he is running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Speaking on CNN's "Inside Politics" with host Manu Raju, Wikler said, “I'm running for chair of the Democratic National Committee because we need to unite, we need to fight, and we need to win to stop the GOP from ripping this country apart and ripping off working people to enrich mega billionaires."

Other candidates in the DNC race so far include Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland, and Ken Martin, Minnesota's party chair. James Skoufis, a state senator from New York, is also in the mix.

Wikler told Raju he felt confident in his ability to lead national Democrats even though Vice President Kamala Harris lost Wisconsin to Donald Trump last month.

"This is a purple, intense state," he said. "And what it teaches you when you fight in a state like Wisconsin is how to organize everywhere in rural areas, cities, suburbs, small towns, across race, ethnicity, gender, geography, generation, ideology, it teaches you to communicate even to voters who may not be paying attention to what Democrats have to say.

"We know that we lose when voters get their information about Democrats from Republicans. So, we need to level up the intensity, the omnipresence of our fight, and we need to communicate directly to working folks, no matter what they look like or where they live about how we're on their side and the Republicans are trying to rip them off," he told Raju.

Wikler, who has led Wisconsin Democrats since June 2019, also spoke to the New York Times about his qualifications and his vision for the job.

"The Democratic Party now," he said, "is best served by leadership that’s been fighting on the front lines in one of the most contested states in the country and has demonstrated an ability to build an operation that has shattered expectations for what was possible."

The DNC election is slated for Feb. 1. The current chair is South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, who is not running again.