The DNC chair Ken Martin insists Democrats can hold two high-stakes governor’s races this year while spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts and defending key court seats, even as Republican critics call the party mismanaged and out of touch. The coming votes in New Jersey and Virginia are being treated as a referendum on recent Democratic strategy, spending, and messaging, with fallout also tied to Pennsylvania’s supreme court retention contests. Both sides are wagering that turnout and narrative control will decide the outcome, and controversies in Virginia have given Republicans fresh ammunition. The exchanges between party leaders and critics underline how nationalized these state races have become.
Martin was blunt about his expectations. “I do expect that we’ll win those elections in New Jersey and Virginia,” he said. “We feel pretty bullish about our chances.”
Democrats are framing the contests as a comeback bid after major losses at the presidential and congressional levels. The party has funneled unprecedented sums into swing states this season, arguing that every local and statewide race matters for momentum going into the next midterms.
“I’ve always taken the position that every election matters, whether it’s an on year off year, whether it’s a local election, a federal election, every inch of ground that we gain here adds up,” Martin emphasized. He also pointed to recent results to argue Democrats have been outperforming expectations, noting that “there’s been 45 elections on the ballot. Democrats have overperformed in all of them to the tune of about 16 percentage points on average.” Still, he insisted “we’re not taking anything for granted.”
New Jersey looks like the narrowest path for Democrats to prove their argument, with a race that is tighter than many expected. Martin acknowledged the uphill fight, saying “history is not on our side in the sense that we’ve never elected, at least in 50 years, a Democrat to a third term in the governorship” there, while praising his nominee as someone “running a really strong campaign on a message that’s resonating with New Jerseyans.”
Virginia’s contest has been complicated by an unrelated controversy that Republicans have used to question Democratic judgment. The furor centers on text messages from a Democratic attorney general nominee that drew national attention and forced apologies. “Let me be very clear, I immediately condemned those vile and indefensible comments and text messages that he made and called on him to apologize,” Martin said, adding that the candidate did apologize.
When pressed about whether he should have urged the candidate to step aside, Martin deferred: “That’s not up to me to decide. That’s up to Virginians to decide whether or not his comments were disqualifying, and they’ll make their decision in a few days.” Republicans have made the argument that such controversies matter at the ballot box and will sway undecided voters.
Pennsylvania’s retention elections for state supreme court seats have also drawn national attention and cash, with Martin warning about wealthy donors trying to influence judicial outcomes. “The reality is, is for us, this is a critical election for the National Democratic Party, because if they win here, if these billionaire donors are able to win these three Supreme Court races, they will certainly take this on the road and try to do this everywhere else in the country,” Martin warned, framing the issue as a defense of democratic norms.
The Republican response zeroes in on party stewardship and bank accounts, arguing the DNC has misallocated resources while failing to deliver wins. “Ken Martin has turned the DNC into a debt-ridden circus run by radicals — and we sincerely hope he keeps up the great work, RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels argued in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Regardless of what happens next Tuesday, it won’t be because of anything Ken Martin did. The DNC is broke, desperate, and wasting its last dollars trying to save face in blue states, and even then, Democrats are struggling to hold on.”
That line of attack is meant to turn the narrative away from policy and toward competence and stewardship, suggesting voters should consider not just promises but execution. Republicans are betting that zeroing in on management failures and hot-button controversies will sharpen turnout in their favor and make the races a referendum on Democratic leadership.
As Election Day nears, both parties are intensifying ground operations and messaging in New Jersey, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, treating these contests as signals for what’s to come. Voters will decide whether the DNC’s bet on heavy spending and national coordination pays off, or whether Republican critiques about mismanagement and questionable judgments resonate more strongly at the ballot box.
