Tim Walz endorses Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin to become next leader of DNC

Gov. Tim Walz is the latest to throw his support behind Minnesotan Ken Martin to become the next leader of the Democratic National Committee.

Walz on Thursday endorsed Martin for the job. Martin, 51, of Eagan, is the longtime chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

“In Minnesota, Ken has built a national model for how to elect Democrats in a competitive state,” Walz said in a statement provided to the New York Times by Martin’s campaign. “I have seen Ken’s leadership in action, and it’s exactly what we need from our next D.N.C. chair.”

Walz, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 2024 election, is the highest-ranking Democrat to throw his support behind Martin, who is now one of the front-runners to become chair. In recent days, Martin has picked endorsements from Democratic delegations in South Dakota, Missouri, Tennessee, Oregon and Virginia.

Martin will square off against a long field of candidates with Wisconsin’s state Democratic Chairman Ben Wikler likely being his top challenger. The election will take place Feb. 1.

“If elected, you won’t just have a friend of labor leading the party, you will have a union brother sitting in the corner office,” Martin said in a video posted to X.

In a separate posting on X, Martin, who is a self-described pro-labor progressive wrote, “If you want a DNC Chair who will roll up his sleeves to help win elections again, then I’m your guy.”

Martin began his career in the 1990s as an intern for the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone. He has served as leader of the state’s Democrats since 2011, making him the longest-serving chairman in the party’s history and helped grow the DFL into one of the country’s most successful state Democratic parties.

Martin is a graduate of Eden Prairie High School and the University of Kansas.

The DNC’ s current chairman, Jaime Harrison, of South Carolina, is not seeking re-election.