New York state Sen. James Skoufis is dropping out of the Democratic National Committee chair’s race — and has endorsed Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin.
In a statement shared first with POLITICO, Skoufis, a longshot contender who pitched himself as a party outsider, said Martin “will re-center what is most important for our party: expanding the map and rebuilding our once-big Democratic tent by taking power outside of the DC Beltway and kicking the out-of-touch consultant class to the curb.”
Skoufis, who won a state Senate district that Donald Trump held by double-digits in 2024, regularly accused the Washington, D.C., consultant class during his DNC candidacy of leading the party astray — a line that his opponents echoed in the first candidate forum on Saturday. Though Skoufis appeared to have minimal support for his own campaign, his endorsement was the latest in a string of them for Martin, a leading contender who has rolled out support from more than 50 state party chairs and vice chairs.
Skoufis’ exit comes as Faiz Shakir, who led Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, entered the race on Wednesday — shaking up a contest that’s largely focused on party mechanics over ideology. Shakir, a longtime progressive strategist, vented his disappointment over a “lack of vision and conviction for what to do to restore a deeply damaged Democratic brand” in a letter to DNC members, prompting him to get into the race.
But Martin and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, who are widely seen by party insiders as the favorites, have rolled up significant blocs of support among the 448 DNC members, who will vote on Feb. 1. Those candidates and others, including former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, will appear for their second DNC-sanctioned forum in Michigan on Thursday. But Shakir did not qualify for it.
In his own statement accepting the endorsement, Martin praised Skoufis as “an effective, fresh messenger who has built the diverse coalitions needed to help Democrats win in deep red districts. He is an invaluable asset to today’s Democratic Party,” adding he’s “thankful for his endorsement and honored to have him as an advocate for my campaign.”
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