- The Democratic National Committee entered the 2026 midterms with $2 million in debt and mounting scrutiny over its finances, fundraising and internal management.
- Party Chairman Ken Martin is facing growing calls to resign after reports of low staff morale and an alleged outburst toward an aide.
- DNC leaders defend their strategy, saying they intentionally invested in organizing and state parties and raised $117 million from grassroots donors.
Going into the 2026 midterm elections, the Democratic Party is in the red.
The party has $16.3 million in cash on hand, and $18.5 million in debt, leaving them about $2 million in the hole. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has $128.5 million in cash and zero debt.
Morale within DNC’s Washington, D.C., headquarters is low, according to a New York Times exposé published Sunday.
The piece described signs of tension between Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin and staffers, with those tensions now spilling out into the public.
In an interview with the Deseret News shortly after Martin, a Minnesota native, took the helm at the DNC in 2025, he said he planned to invest in both red and blue states, hoping to run the organization with an eye to the future.
Since then, Martin has overseen a fractious party, including an insurgent left flank of democratic socialists, high profile Senate candidate Graham Platner dropping out after facing sexual assault allegations, infighting over the party’s approach to Israel, and a frustrated base that wants the party to do more to push back on Donald Trump and Republicans.
Amid all the fighting, news of the party’s dire financial situation continues to make headlines.
Over the weekend, a trickle of anonymous reports alleged that the DNC had asked vendors not to send bills until after the midterm elections and had put its physical headquarters up for collateral last year in exchange for $15 million in credit to help invest in off-year elections.
The party also faced scrutiny for sending $840,000 in the last year to Democratic organizations in five nonvoting U.S. territories.
“Ken gaslighting us about the DNC’s finances and not being transparent about the financial situation makes us doubt if he can oversee the DNC during the most important primary of our lifetime,” an anonymous DNC member told Notus.
DNC responds to reports on its finances
When asked about the state of the Democratic Party’s finances, DNC spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg referred the Deseret News to a Substack post Martin wrote last Monday.
In the 2025-2026 election cycle, the Democratic Party is faring better than the last midterm elections when a Republican was in the White House, Martin said. So far, the party has raised about $117 million from grassroots donors, which is $16 million more than what they brought in during the 2017-2018 cycle.
“We made a conscious decision to invest money in the work required to win in 2025, 2026 and beyond,” Martin wrote. “We are converting the cash we raise into electoral assets: more people, earlier organizing, better technology, and stronger state parties.”
A DNC spokesperson also addressed the party putting its headquarters up for collateral.
“The loan documents were publicly released in November, and the DNC’s building was also used as collateral in our prior lines of credit in 2019, 2018, 2014 and many other years,” the spokesperson said.
Federal Election Commission filings match the DNC’s statement.
How unusual is it for parties to be in debt?
With about five months of the year left, the DNC is underwater by about $2 million. They have about $16.3 million cash on hand and owe about $18.5 million.
The last time the Democratic Party ended the year net negative was in 2012. After bringing in about $290 million during former President Barack Obama’s second presidential election cycle, the party ended the year about $21.5 million in the hole.
Likewise, the Republican National Committee ended 2010 in the hole. It took the party two years to overcome more than $23 million of debt they accrued during the 2010 elections.
When either party ends the year with debt, they’re allowed to carry it over and pay it down over time.
Through the years, the RNC and the DNC have flip flopped between being the better fundraiser. In early 2026, the RNC reported having about seven times more cash on hand than the DNC.
The amount of money parties brings in varies drastically depending on the politics of the year. During the 2024 presidential election cycle, the DNC brought in an astronomical amount of money — $683.6 million. Other years, like between 2013-2014, the DNC only brought in about $163 million.
Republicans see similar swings. During the 2020 presidential election, the RNC raised $890.5 million; between 2013-2014, the party only brought in about $195 million.
The DNC is tight for cash, but Democratic candidates out-raise Republicans
In key midterm races across the country, Democratic candidates are significantly out-fundraising Republicans.
For example, James Talarico, running for Texas’ open Senate seat, has raised $72 million so far. About half of that money (51%) came from small individual contributions, 48% came from large individual contributions and 1% came from PAC contributions. His opponent, Ken Paxton, has so far raised less than 10% of the amount Talarico has brought in ($3.9 million).
FEC filings show the DNC’s contributions to Talarico’s campaign at $0.
In Georgia, Ohio, Alaska, North Carolina, Maine, New Hampshire and Michigan — all battleground states — Democratic candidates have brought in significantly more in donations.
For these races, FEC filings show the DNC has made small-dollar donations to Georgia’s Jon Ossoff, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Maine’s Platner, New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas and others.
Democrats on Martin: ‘Get rid of the guy’
Martin’s term as DNC chairman is expected to last until early 2029, but several fellow Democrats are asking him to resign.
Michael Tomasky, the editor of The New Republic, wrote on Monday, “Fire Martin and hire (Ben) Wikler.”
Wikler was the runner-up against Martin last February. Wikler brought in 134.5 votes out of 428, while Martin brought in 246.5.
Criticizing Martin for fighting more with his staff than with Republicans, Tomasky wrote, “I have to assume Democratic insiders are texting one another about how to get rid of the guy. They sure should be.”
David Hogg, who was ousted as a co-chair last spring, added in an X post on Monday that Martin should either resign or be removed.
“We shouldn’t have someone leading the DNC who can’t raise money. Let alone someone who throws stuff at staff and can’t raise money,” Hogg wrote.
On Sunday, Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., responded to Notus’ report that the DNC had put its physical headquarters up for collateral.
“Ken Martin must resign,” he wrote.
“As Democrats, we have become too captured by failing strategies. We must fail forward, and pivot. The urgency of this moment will not reward — and our children will not forgive — torpidity.”
DNC Executive Director Roger Lau came to Martin’s defense over the bill-deferral discussion. He described the decision as “nothing more than standard negotiations with vendors over contracts and payment processes.”
A year and a half of leaks
Martin’s year-and-a-half tenure as party chair has been plagued by anonymous leaks.
Last May, someone within the DNC leaked a Zoom call recording with top Democratic officers, in which Martin told then-DNC co-chair David Hogg, “You essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.”
At the time, Martin was just a little over four months into his tenure at the DNC. The Zoom call came after the then-25-year-old Hogg announced a $20 million plan to primary older Democratic incumbents running for reelection.
“The other night I said to myself for the first time, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore,” Martin said in the May 15, 2025, recording.
Then, after the DNC released a 192-page autopsy report analyzing why Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election, leakers came out of the woodwork to expose the internal drama that led to the report’s delayed release.
For The New York Times’ piece published Sunday, more than two dozen people spoke anonymously about what they’d seen and heard.
Martin has repeatedly asked DNC members to stop leaking information to the press.
During a staff meeting in May, Martin said, “It pisses me off when I see leaks out of this building,” adding, “No more.”
Later in the meeting, he said, “My success is your success. ... So the weaker I am, the weaker all of you are.”