♪ >> democracy is always an unfinished creation. >> democracy is worth dying for. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we're here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> great responsibilities befall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we still at our core a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. ♪ >> candidates running to be the next chair of the democratic national committee met to discuss the d.n.c. strategy during the 2024 election and certain changes needed for future success. this is 90 minutes.

>> hello, everyone. i thank everyone for your participation. hearing from our candidates is a critical part of our democratic process and i've been motivateed by their visions and dreams for our party. over the next hour and a half, our candidates for chair will share their own stories and ideas. the next chair will pave the path forward and set the tone the next four years. they'll have the opportunity to issue opening and closing statements and answer the questions that our moderators have thoughtfully prepared. folks, it's been my honor, a honor of a lifetime, actually, to serve you all as chair of this great party. and as i pass the torch to my successor, i'm confident in the foundation that we have laid here together. my advice about this job is not just about doing interviews and

going on tv but it lays the foundation of the democratic party, the oldest party on this planet. the d.n.c. is not all powerful, it's just one component of a much larger democratic party. and the next chair must understand their role and build upon the progress and foundation that's been laid over the years, while continuing to bring us all together. now i'm excited to begin this next chapter of our party and hear from these amazing candidates as they consider our future and the important role we will play holding donald trump and republicans accountable but protecting our democracy and freedoms. i would like to pass it along to our moderator, the great reporter, greg bloomstein from the atlanta constitution. thanks for doing this and the ball is in your court. greg: thanks chairman harrison. hello and welcome to the southern regional d.n.c. officer forum. i'm the senior political reporter for the atlanta constitution in georgia and the

moderator for today's events. this is the first of four forums in the run-up to the d.n.c.'s winter meeting from january 30 to february 1 when the officers will be elected by a majority vote of the d.n.c.'s 448 committee members. before we begin, let me go over some of the basics and give you the ground rules. in order to participate in today's forums, candidates must have submitted 40 verified d.n.c. signatures by january 4 and eight candidates have met that threshold and you're about to meet them. it will take place over 90 minutes without breaks and starting with 30 second opening and closing remarks. we determined the order of random drawings just now and will have closing statements in reverse order. as moderator, i've been given exclusive control over the discussions and neither the d.n.c. or anyone previewed these questions and i have submitted all questions by the deadline. i'm mixing some of my questions

with questions i received from d.n.c. members across the south. candidates might not receive the same questions but will be afforded roughly the same amount of speaking time. candidates won't be afforded time to respond to other candidates unless i ask them to do so and i may have follow-up questions and if i do i will provide time. candidates will have two minutes to respond to each of the questions and cross talk is not permitted and once a candidate's time is elapsed, i'll inform the candidate and don't make me use the mute button. you must be seated with the cameras on and are not permitted to use earpieces or cell phones or messaging services or other electronic applications or devices during the forum or to have other individuals present on screen with them. ok. that's enough from me. let's begin with 30-second opening statements from each candidate starting with james. go for it. james: thank you, greg. hello, fellow democrats. i started this race many of you

never heard of. it's clear our campaign has struck a nerve. like many of you, i'm sick and tired of losing elections we should be dominating, much like i do cycle after cycle in my deep red trump district. for those who call the shots, i think it's time for someone to give somebody else a chance and kick the consultant to the curb and build our tent. greg: dr. contessa. contessa: thank you for all those that are present. based on the 2024 general election, americans were disfavorrable to the democratic presidency as well as our policies. the republicans have ceased power and it's time to shift the conversation and put the opposition on offense. let us tell the truth.

94% of african-american women and 80% of african-american men voted for the vice president. 47% of hispanics voted for 45%. greg: your time is up. jason paul. jason: i'm jason paul, the how candidate. here's how, we empower the 20 million committed democrats by making it easier, more fun, and less daunting to participate. we stop the damn lying texts to donors and build a subscription model so when you give what you can every month, we stop asking and provide desired services in your community so democrats aren't just tv ads. it all starts with 10,000 local organizers with one per county. more on my plans at allfordnc.com. thank you. greg: marion williamson. marion: i worked up close and personal. i'm sorry, am i muted?

greg: you're good. marion: i worked close and personal with those whose lives were in trouble and sick and lacked health care and were not offered economic and educational opportunities. if i'm elected, those days will be over and we'll reclaim the moral vision at the core of traditional democratic ideals but use the powers of government to help people improve their lives. that will be our passion and inspiration and they will show passion voting for us on election day. greg: ken martin? ken: thank so you much. i may be a minnesotan but have spent time crisscrossing the south canvassing, fundraising and door knocking in virginia. that's one reason i've earned the endorsement of democratic leaders from states across the region including alabama, arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, north carolina, texas, virginia and west virginia. i believe the path to endureing democratic success in this country runs directly through the american south which is why

my 10-year vision looks at political infrastructure. we need a southern plan at the d.n.c. and looking forward to sharing more tonight. greg: governor o'malley? martin: hello to my friends across the south, i'm martin o'malley and former governor of maryland and ask for your support to be the next d.n.c. chair so together we can make the changes we need to make in order to win the next elections, to rebuild and reengage, to reconnect with openness, transparency, with truth about ourselves. i yield back the balance of my time. greg: ok. ben wickler. ben: it's an honor to join you today. the fight of the democratic party in our soul is the fight for working people. in 2024 we lost ground with working families in the south and nationwide across race and ethnicity, in rural areas and suburbs and cities alike but if we unite and fight at every level of the ballot, we can win. i'm honored to receive the

endorsement of north carolina chair anderson clayton whose work in every zip code helped power down ballot breakthroughs this year in north carolina. that's your wisconsin model, too and if i'm your d. h.r. chair we'll power that superfight in every region and nationwide. greg: nate snyder, please. nate: my name is nate snyder and believe our party needs leadership ready to face a crisis, and this starts with addressing the now, the exhaustion and anger we feel. we need an intervention. the d.n.c. needs to invest in the progress you've made, most importantly listen. because you know what, the south has something to say. extremists like the proud boys and freedom caucus aren't anything new to you. you all have generations of civil rights advocacy and organizing we should learn from as we face an emboldened opposition. as chair, i will work tirelessly to reimagine the d.n.c., rebuild the party and win elections. greg: thank you, sir. ok. my first question will go to all contenders and gives everyone a chance to expand on their

opening statements. we'll start with mr. wikler. two minutes for each question. the question is, what is the biggest mistake the d.n.c. made in the last election and what would you immediately do to fix it, starting with you, mr. wikler? mr. wikler: millions of americans didn't know we were fighting for working families. we need to connect everywhere in conservative media where conservatives dominate and tell the story about democrats, building a progressive media ecosystem where we tell our own story and speaking to folks who aren't tuned into politics and don't trust either party and people who are paying attention to youtube and tiktok and people on platforms that oftentimes older generations of democrats haven't heard of but dominate news and information for younger voters. that means building a war room nationwide on offense and laying out the fight for working people across race and ethnicity in rural areas and suburbs and cities alike and in every state, building a strategy custom built for that state to be able to

make the case that republicans are trying to divide us based on our identities in order to rip everybody off. we know the uniting thing in this country is everyone needs a safe place to sleep at night. they need food on their breakfast table and need to be able to send their kids to great public schools. in this country unions have tremendous trust and small business has tremendous trust but the democratic party and republican party don't have that trust because people need to see and feel that we're fighting for them just as democrats are fighting for working people in every corner this nation. it's communicating and organizing from the ground up across our full coalition across the states. i'll say this, too, in the last election we lost touch with a lot of voters because we weren't showing up where they were and there were consultants and people making decisions who we need to take a hard look at and should go in this next election cycle with no commitments to anyone who has been on a campaign payroll before and do a full audit top to bottom. there are candidates in this

race raising money from firms that made millions with the d. h.r.. i'm going into this race looking top to bottom and convening d.n.c. members to talk about how to build our consultant networks and build a path to victory with core values. greg: dr. hathaway, where did the d.n.c. go wrong and what would you do to fix it? dr. hathaway: there is to my knowledge no truth to the strategy. as you all have been able to tell from my actions i'm truly a southern woman though i reside in chicago, illinois now. i've lived and worked in the south, born and raised in nashville, tennessee, and lived in atlanta, georgia, for a period of time p. undergraduate at jackson state, university in jackson, mississippi and i spent the majority of my adult life in little rock arkansas, and i tell you those things because it's time for us as a party to lean in on stopping is a seeding the south to the republican party.

there has to be a serious intentional investment in knocking door-to-door, block by block throughout the southern united states. the south is the birthplace of the civil rights movement. it is the old confederacy and that saying is continuously keying -- dying hard around issues of race and ethnicity. we must be very candid with ourselves and party when it comes to addressing such issues around that very topic. i don't believe that anyone that is present, anyone that is in the candidates for this race can outcompete me when it comes to organizing and going deep down in the trenches and speaking directly to the local people in the south, doing the hard work of organizing the youth, the adults, middle class and upper class to build this grand

coalition of people and addressing the issues around race and ethnicity and police brutality, touching upon those hard issues america finds difficult to digest. greg: thank you. marion, what is the biggest mistake the d.n.c. made and what would you do to fix it? marion: the biggest mistake was suppressing a primary. very early on they said they saw their role making sure joe biden would be renominated. that is not the traditional role of the democratic party or any political party. the traditional proper role is to stand on the back and let the people decide who the nominee would be. a kenard was promulgated that we don't give to primary incumbent presidents but you saw it in the lyndon johnson race and saw him drop out. if we had the robust primary without the unethical suppression of candidates and if

there had not been the suppression and kicking people offbalance outs, in that year and a half when republicans were talking about their ideas, we would have been talking about ours. that was the mistake. we didn't -- we in the name of saving democracy, we ourselves suppressed democracy. that would not happen if i'm to be chair of the d.n.c. and we will begin by democratizing the d.n.c. this idea a few people whose decisionmaking is not transparent, even our budget committee doesn't even know the numbers. there no longer will be a few people basically making these decisions and dictating to the rest of the membership how we are going to do things. this democratization will mean state parties have much more to do with how the d.n.c. is run. state parties, the different members of the organization with all their talent and all their ideas will be part of the decisionmaking. there will be a reallocation of resources. america is not in washington,

d.c. and america is in those 50 states and search territories. to love democracy is to love the people. it means we will ourselves not think that we can make these decisions with the few people and consultancy class in washington, d.c. we'll celebrate democracy by practicing democracy within our own ranks and within all 50 states and those seven territories. that's how we'll realign. greg: thank you, ms. williamson. governor o'malley. what's the biggest mistake the d.n.c. made and what would you do to fix it now? governor o'malley: sometimes people blame the d.n.c. for decisions that were actually the campaign's decisions. we as a party have to own that and accept this really, really hard loss. i believe the biggest mistake we made was in not continually staying connected to kitchen tables all across america by talking about the economic concerns of people.

we got kind of juked and thrown off our core message as a party and our purpose for even having a party and that purpose is this, to advance the economic security and well-being of every single man, woman, and children in our nation. so one of the first things we have to do upon the election of a new chair is reassert our dedication to that principle, that ours is the party focused on the economic security of families all across america. but there are two other big shortcomings of the party and day want to compliment jamie harrison. i think he did a lot of good things in his time as chair. but these mistakes preceded him p. one is that we got out of the business for the most part of directly registering voters. and number two, we stopped recruiting candidates to run everywhere. we can no longer have a national party if we keep falling further

and further back with our own blue perimeter. we need to suspend that narrow-minded view of battleground states and realize that our whole country is a battleground. we need to recruit candidates to run in every race across the south, across the west. what a sad irony the very republican legislators in texas and mississippi and ohio who advanced abortion bans didn't face a democratic challenger. we'll change that. our battleground is throughout the country. greg: ken martin, the biggest mistake the d.n.c. made in the last election cycle and what you'd do to fix it. ken: thanks, greg. we lost a lot of voters in 2024 from rural voters, latino voters, working class voters and young voters. but coming out of this election, what i'm most concerned about is the protections the two have of the political parties has completely switched. the majority of americans now believe the republican party

best represents the interests of the working class and poor and the democratic party is a party of the wealthy and elites. to prove the point, of course, the only two groups we overperformed with were wealthy households and college educated voters. that is a damn indictment on our party brand. there's a dismissive notion working class is a code for white voters and we lost ground among all families, black, brown and white. they're all disconnected from our party. the future of our party is focusing on a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of working people in every state, every community and every zip code and standing up and fighting for them. donald trump for all the pain he'll ultimately bring to people in this country represented an enticing rejection of the status quo but he's going to use his power to engage in revenge and political retribution and not helping the folks who voted for him. what we have to do to counter this is stand up a permanent campaign where we're not just

showing up to communities four months before an election and asking the communities for their vote which we haven't earned by being in the community and having conversations with voters when we don't need their vote. we need to earn back the trust of big parts of our coalition and part of that permanent campaign means we need year-round organizing and year-round communications apparatus that's communicating with people all the time. that's the biggest lesson from this election and where we fell down, not as a democratic party or the d.n.c. but the whole democratic ecosystem needs to change how they are organizing and communicating with voters. thank you. greg: thank you. nate snyder, biggest mistake the d.n.c. made and how you'd fix it. nate: unlike some folks here have some really good experience on working on every single early state but also working multiple presidential cycles.

if we take an inward look, we need to listen better. we were hearing it from local partners on the ground and not hitting certain communities and taking some for granted and not investing in places, say, for instance, rural america in the south because there are battles to be won p. we opened the playbook of what we've done before. we saw a lot of volume on the ground and a lot of doors hit but how many people from the communities knocking doors were from that own block? how many were actually talking to the neighbors? did we do enough to recognize the dynamic how we're dealing with the politics in our campaigns reaching people has fundamentally changed. a lot of people have relationships online that are a lot stronger in real life and we didn't look at that. one of the things we need to do is listen more. we need to uplift our youth leaders within the d.n.c. membership that understand the new environment. that much more than everybody here put them in decisionmaker roles and use that knowledge to empower ourselves. also kick the tires on organizing infrastructure. it is tired.

the assumptions are old. i spent years and years being a riveter and building that infrastructure across the country. yes, we need to change our tactics and the work we did then was meaningful and will be in the future but we need to redefine the relationship we have with voters and make sure nobody is overlooked and make sure no voters, quite frankly, are taken for granted and we look at the math and reimagine what our coalition looks like but it really starts listening and then doing and then making sure that we're including everybody. greg: thank you, sir. jason paul, same question to you. jason: absolutely, i do thinking, unfortunately, we have to start with somewhat of a history lesson because we just talk about this cycle, we're going to be making a lot of the same mistakes we always make. so i think one of the biggest mistakes we always make is we waste a lot of time. it's our most precious commodity and as a party, we're not talking to people all the time, we talk to them when it's sort of time to talk and by that time a lot of people are tuned out.

our party, we sort of got to the mountaintop with barack obama and won a smashing victory and the people who helped win that victory were basically told, go home, you've got it from here, we're taking it over. thatless to disinvestment and disengagement and president obama couldn't do it over clinton and maybe people weren't as strong as they needed to be and how we got to all the problems. in this cycle, really we focused on 43 states, the seven battleground presidentials and the two senate battleground, the other sort of 43 were left to their own devices. i think that as a communication strategy, democrats did not connect with inflation to the pandemic which was a major failure because people then blamed sort of biden's plans for

that. i think we let too many other people speak for us too many of the time so a lot of times on fox news people think the democrats wanted to defund the police. we don't want to defund the police. we ignored the sort of changing media landscape. it's not possible to speak to sort of the mainstream media but they'll get our message out. we have to do that ourselves. there's a huge divide between people who pay attention and people who don't pay attention. that led to sort of a split screen where people liked trump more worried about the voters because they imagined things were better under him because they weren't paying attention to all the things we saw. i could go on but feel i just hit my time. greg: thank you, mr. paul. last, james, biggest mistake the d.n.c. made and what you'd do right now should you be elected to fix it? james: greg, we have to throw out the old stale d.c. playbook that should have been thrown out, quite frankly, a decade or

so ago. we need to do a lot more listening to voters and a lot less listening to d.c. consultants that have a stranglehold over our democratic national committee. i spoke with a d.n.c. member in a battleground state three or four weeks ago and she told me she was getting upwards of 16 glossy mailers a day from national democrats. 16. i run enough campaigns to know and i'm 8-0 undefeated in those campaigns there's nothing the 16th mailer is doing that the 15th mailer was not already accomplishing. but the fact is that at the d.n.c., we have a lot of vendor contracts whereby it's a friend of a friend of a congressman or someone otherwise well connected to the party infrastructure and why i'm the only candidate in this race out there saying if fortunate enough to be elected, i'd let every single vendor contract expire, no more order renewals. and if you want to earn our business as a party, you'll earn it honestly and by demonstrating

value and winning those contracts competitively. no longer winning them because you know someone within the d.n.c. the other piece here is we do need to start showing up everywhere. we let consultants write off 43 out of 50 states and all but two states in the south. we're all running for chair saying we should be showing up everywhere. unless you've shown up in hunting clubs and talked about how democrats are not going to be taking your guns. unless you've shown up in chamber of commerce meetings and talked about supporting increasing the minimum wage like i have in my trump bus 12 district, i don't want to hear if. that you want to start showing up everywhere. have you been doing it? i've been living and breathing it for 12 years and will certainly do it as the next d.n.c. chair. greg: i asked a broad question of all of you and now will ask a specific question for all of you starting with jason paul. this is a question that comes from wendy davis, a georgia d.n.c. member and is very pertinent to democrats in the

south. here it is. there are hundreds of counties across the south where g.o.p. candidates routinely get 65 to 80% of the vote. what concrete steps are you taking as chair to start closing that gap. again, mr. paul, take it away. jason: i love this question. it's my favorite question. one of the major problems we have is when you start seeing the 65-85 margins is no one is there showing up, no one knows a democrat. no one knows a democrat they like. if you don't personally know a democrat you like, you cannot possibly hope to win support for those people for democrats. so this for me starts with i want a paid organizer in every county in america, red, blue, purple, yellow, don't care the county organizer. and in addition to that, we'd get one for every 50,000 in the population. for specifically sort of really red counties, it's really

important that you not throw everything and and run a bunch of candidates because if you end up acting like the washington generals and just lose, you can build some momentum through that but the infrastructure needs to be permanent. for superred areas, you know, i think what is a small business that that county needs that it doesn't have and is it possible the democratic party could run it at somewhat of a loss but not a huge loss so we start providing added value to that county. the person who runs that for us is someone the people might grow to like and sort of that you really have to be showing up everywhere when it's not politics. i think that's the most important thing in superred areas is you have to show up not about politics because if you show up about politics, people already have their guard incredibly up. but if you show up about the things they care about unrelated to politics and you start in february of the election year, not norv, not september of that

election year, then you can get to a point where, you know, people start to like you and think differently about you, you're not going to start winning, i believe ms. rome is from marjorie taylor greene's district and we're not going to start winning there but if we cut the margin is how we win georgia better. greg: senator skoufis, how do democrats dig at these deep red communities? senator skoufis: i represent in my district 300,000 people several communities that donald trump won by literally 70%. i overperformed the top of the ticket eight or nine weeks ago by 26 percentage points and it starts by showing up everywhere. i walked into those meeting rooms whereby folks know i'm a democrat and look at me because of that fact like i have 19 heads. but if you're not getting your message out, you're not demystifying that characterization that some folks

have that every democrat is like the democrats they talk about on news max or wherever they get their information from on social media, then you completely creed the argument and the value. the other piece of this that's very much interconnected is we have to start being relatable again. i'll give you a perfect example. here in new york we activated something called congestion pricing this is a new toll which is $9 and if you drive to downtown manhattan you hit a new toll, a $15 toll to cross one of the bridges in manhattan to begin with. i'll bring it up to debate the merits of the argument. you know what some democrats did when the cameras were turned on january 5, they lit cigars and popped champagne. and there are hard-working middle class and working class new yorkers and folks from new jersey who commute whose financial lives are going to be altered by this new policy. we have to get out of our elite ivory towers and back on to the

factory floors and being relatable and talking in language people understand and find respectable and stop using this overly academic language and terms that stiemsma it seem like we're better suited running for university chancellor. yeah, we have to start showing up again like i do in every corner of my deep red district and start talking to people and respecting their viewpoints and stop being so elitist. greg: thank you. nate snyder, how do people chip away at these rubery red territories? nate: we love this question, i definitely do, going back on my rural organizing experience. yes, everybody, we need to show up and i think we all can agree on that. one of the things is about investment. since we're talking southern states membership here, it boils down to investing in you, investing in you as being validators, messengers, and being empowered in your community to do what you know how to do best. we don't need to have a long

screwdriver from the beltway trying to fix things in the south. no. what we need to do is put up the resources, make sure that rural areas are contested, that there are organizers on the ground. the one thing that boils my blood, though, every time and this is consistent what i've heard in d.c. and party politics that rural organizing is too hard. it takes too long. it's going to kill my car. but you know what, no, i've done it. i've been house to house and knocked those doors. it is possible. and one of the things when it comes to investing in rural america and rural communities, can you stretch a dollar so far. there's so much you can do with that. and folks in rural areas in these red areas are not just asking for handouts, they're asking for opportunity. so just simple investments that yes, will go a long way, whether it has to do investing with youth rural organizers and making sure there is infrastructure put in place such as field offices or those having to deal with i.t. challenges and

various other things. we need to have a basic operational baseline to where we can take on these fights. we also need to have shared services to offset costs that rural communities in these red communities face because if we don't, it's going to limit our ability to recruit candidates, run at every level and ultimately win. so yes, it is work, it is hard work but it's possible but it's just a matter of actually putting our ideals where our mouth is. greg: thank you, mr. snyder. ken martin, how does the d.n.c. and democrats work to chip away at the republican dominance of many rural counties and even some suburban counties? ken: we need to start with contesting races up and down the ballot in every county. last month the census bureau reported the american south remains the fastest growing region in the country and currently the only place where more people are entering than exiting. places like south carolina, north carolina, georgia, texas,

florida, and tennessee are all experiencing major growth and in fact the brennan center most recently reported it's possible up to 12 congressional seats and electoral votes to shift away from democratic strong hold states. and many of those will end up in southern states. by 2030 the south will be home to 40% of americans. and it is anticipated the population growth will be driven in large part by communities of color and voters who democrats need to make our case to. when i say we have to focus on a 10-year strategy which rejects southern political disinvestment, it's not a platitude but mission critical. in 2023 i was in mississippi with brandon presley, our candidate for governor and he shared a story with me. i asked him, he's on the verge of winning this governor's race, what more can the d.n.c. do he said after years of disinseptemberrive, i'm on the verge of winning yet there's no

program on the ground to help me. what if rewe had looked at mississippi 10 years prior and saw there were more african-american voters on the ground in mississippi than any other state and we had started to register those voters, to mobilize, like they did in georgia. that's what we have to do as a political party. we can't just focus on one election cycle. we can't focus on 2026 or 2028. we need to start preparing for the next 10 years. that's krit chasm that's why the south will be receiving a lot of investment. that's where the power will be in the next reapportionment. greg: thank you, sir. what concrete steps would you take as chair to close the gap in some of these ruby red counties? >> i want to thank you for that

question. for many years we have been in retreat from red areas. i'm the only person in this race that's actually chaired a national committee, that is the democratic governor's association. when i was chair we had not only a-- we achieved not only three years of record fundraising but under the banner of jobs opportunity now, we won in places like kentucky which we still hold the governor's office and also in places like west virginia, missouri for a time, north carolina. after i was a sur gant for -- a surrogate for hillary clinton in 30 states in 2016 i created and continued to travel the country with my observe leadership and it was called win back your state. i campaigned for men and women that were running, eubl we flipped 17 legislative chambers

all across the country. you want to win back your country? win back your state. that's why when i'm chair of the d.n.c., one of the primary areas of focus with our new program, actionstat, will be twoafer weeks to focus on how we recruit candidates to run in every single legislative district in our country. and we don't have to do all of the heavy lifting ourselves because there are groups like the stakes project that have already figured out how to knit together groups of democrats who really understand and care about their state legislatures. when we whip back our state we will win back our country, we will win back the house, and we will win back the white house. that's what we need to do to rebuild and come back all across the south. >> thank you, governor. ms. williamson, your thoughts on how the democrats can chip away at the r.n.c. in so many states -- sorry, county, where

there's a double digit lead. >> it's dysfunctional -- every place neetsz to -- needs to know that we are there. the people who know how to do that are people working in those state. this is epeople who are members of the d.n.c. in southern state, these southern party they know what to do. texans don't like it when people tell us how we should talk. don't like it when yankees come down and tell us what to do. southerners have their own culture, very proud of it. we shouldn't be getting new contracts for consult ancy groups, if we're going to hire them hire them in the south. i would be working very closely with the state party leaders in the south. they know the south south and they know how to do it. about these rural communities. there was a small town mayor in

south carolina, he endorsed my campaign. this is the story he told me he said before the 1980's, a farmer would come into their local banker, the local banker probably knew that local farmer. the farmer would say we didn't have a good year this year. the local banker said that's ok, you'll pay us next year but then when reagan came in, thank you very much, it was about big banks. big banks who tnt know that farmer who tbobl tipped the little banks. the farmer would say we didn't do well. the big banker would say, i guess you have to sell off to one of those big agricultural farms. these farmers' lives were devastated. the banker didn't know them. the people who owned the fares never even walked the farm. people were having to do things with the food. these were people who were taught by their parent, by their grandparent hours, to grow food. how to treat the land how much to love the land. big food companies and big agricultural companies and big banks came, in took over their cultures, took over their

economies, they didn't see the democratic party say we give a damn that would change if i'm chairman of the deform n.c. greg: dr. hathaway what steps would you take to close that gap? dr. hathaway: we must re-educate the population on the census. the 2020 census is critical to political power and reapportionment. i know even in my congressional race in 2022, reapportionment occurred through the state legislature and it happened the way it was supposed to, the way the republicans in the legislature, the state of arkansas, decided it would be. in the previous election in 2020, when one of the state senators ran for a congressional seat, second time around, the race was so tight it came -- the polls were showing it was may believe a 5% race, then it came down to about a half percentage

for her to win. the republicans in the legislature were so afraid that a democrat would win that seat the next time around that they drew the lines and manipulated the lines in such a way that it cracked pulaski county, arkansas, into three cop gretional district. the same thing occurred in my hometown where i was born and raised in davis, tennessee. more has to be done when it comes to litigating on the side of us obtaining power as a party to top they will republicans as well as candidate recruitment. we need a sustainable bid for democrats to win back. that starts with the legislature informing citizens what it's going to take for us to win in 2026, 2028 and any other

election in this country. i'm so upset and hopefully i won't get too much on my soap box as we go through this forum, it is going to take a serious, concerted effort for us to go door-to-door in the south to regain power in the democratic party. greg: thank you, dr. hathaway. ben, last question to you on this one, last round. how would you help democrats compete in deep red counties where they hardly compete right now? ben: we don't just need a 50 state strategy, we need 50 different strategies, in some places republicans are getting votes because there's a lot of republicans. but there are places where republicans dominate elections because of voter suppression. often specifically targeted black voters and other voters of color. we experienced this in

wisconsin. republicans passed voter suppression laws in 2010 and gerrymandering that eliminated the voice of a ton of folks in our state. that mean years-round voter protection, taking this fight seriously to the ballot and showing up. showing up everywhere with candidate recruitment, taking a page from the democratic govern yos, democratic senator, house members, and county ficials and mayors that are showing how this is done. we in wisconsin have been funding every downy party. we fund and operation without parallel. no yard left unsigned we call it. we ensure we're working with our county pears to build communication that works where they are. sometimes that's across english and spanish, sometimes other languages, we show up in rural radio, on radio listened to by hispanic folks an african-american folks in our state. we make sure we're communicating where people spender that time and have local, trusted communicators who are speaking the language people use in their

own lives. when we talk about reconnecting with working people there are working people across rural air dwhraryks reddest areas. working people are a multiracial coalition of folks across the country. when we connect to people about the fundamental things that matter in their lives, talking to their neighbor, with people that they trust because they know them from kindergarten from their local public school, that's when we make inroads. republican's message is always the democrats are them. someone for a away, unlike you. when we show up and talk to the person next door, the democrats are us. that's when we win. greg: thank you, sir. next question for governor o'malley. republicans made gains with voters of color this past election. during the off year the r.n.c. microtargeted latino and asian american communities. opening up community centers in many of these communities across the south and across the nation. should the d.n.c.'s chair invest in similar outreach efforts not coming election cycle?

governor, you first. governor o'malley: yes, we should. they have done it better than we did for a long time. not so long ago we had precinct organizations. when this party was first created we made sure people were engaged with people where they were at. thanksgiving, taking baskets to the poorest families in neighborhoods of every color and every ethnic background. with eneed to start doing that now. and there are opportunities to do that. the other guys showed us how. we now have to do that ourselves. in addition to that, we also have to get online, on those channels that people listen to in so many places. much more so than they ever did cable news. when senior democrat said to me, i'm all for ground view put in this last election we were knocking on dwoors stone

tablets. meanwhile the other guys were already inside those homes. using the best in marketing analysis. to segment their audiences. to have influencers and people they trust, delivering messages. sometimes under the guise, if you will, of sharing an affinity group or sharing an interest in some sort of sport or athletic act tiffty, but then doing the work, connecting, convincing a lot of people not to show up to vote. convincing them that we didn't share their values. that we didn't have their back. so we've got to learn from that. we have to be better at doing it ourselves. we are the party that stands for working people. we are the party that advanced civil rights. we are the party that needs to defend voting rights and connect with the human dignity in every single person, all across our

country. greg: nate snyder, same question to you. how should -- should the d.n.c. invest in similar outreach efforts, microtargetting minority communities? nate: we've got to stop talking in platitudes and overtures in this question. i take this question personally. i think it go baks to the issue that specifically talking about the latino community and where the other side made investments and headway is because they showed up. they went there. and when they went to talk about issues about things affecting latino and working family, it didn't lead with immigration. it didn't lead with border security. it led with working family issues about putting food on the table, access to affordable health care, loan forgiveness and things that the latino community cares about. instead the democratic party went through, either we're not going to visit you and we saw evidence of this. we saw with "the new york times"

article to where organizers went rogue and had to do the work themses because the effort, the investment was not there and they saw that these communities were not being met. they were not being invested in. they were definitely not being contacted. it was too little, too late. we need to change the culture within the d.n.c. we need to make sure not just the latino community but other diverse communities are treated as partnerships. that there's decision making roles for them. and that we're listening. not that we're investing for every single election psych bull investing long term. we need a long-term investment. we also needed generational. a big part of this is investing in those communities, showing up, meeting them where they are and being authentic, understanding issues, there are issues that are -- that we need to address with them and they are concerned about, but overall, lead with working

family values. that's what families are concerned about. we need to be awe they want i think about our mistakes where we overlook and we need to correct them. i'll put folks with that experience in leadership roles to make sure we don't make those assumptions again. greg: thank you, sir. this one for dr. hathaway and the senator. what can democrats learn from republican strategies in the next election psych snl dr. hathaway, you first. dr. hathaway: we are going to have to do a better job as a party partnering with, building relationships with both turn and historic voting rights and civil rights organizations. they are doing the hard work, not just on high up on capitol hill, but down on the ground doing work that is necessary for getting people registered to vote as well as turn out. the republican party is known to be the party of business class.

we are the party of working class, the common man. we need to get back to that. on the side of multiracial, multiethnic, multinational background. i believe we've gotten away from that. coalition building will be key in order for us to rebuild this infrastructure. mass voter registration is going to be key for us rebuilding this infrastructure. also we're going to need some brave democrats, local, state and nationally, running for office, that are going to be willing to introduce, sponsor and co-sponsor the john r. lewis voting rights advancement act and freedom to vote act in order for us to be able to compete in a strategic, methodical and legal way as we continue to go forward. i'm going to pull from mr. martin on this. the fact that he released a platform pertaining to a 10-year

strategy, i plan on releasing a plan over the next couple of days, we have already started this project, of what it looks like down on the ground in order for us to build the bench. i know these are buzzwords we use but it's not just a buzzword. it's smag that must be done in order for us to step back into the reins of power at each level of government. greg: thank you. senator what page from the g.o.p. playbook would you steal? >> great question, greg. we have to be authentic again as a party and as candidates running for office. we also have to stop running away from the difficult issues. and i'll give you a perfect example. on the conflict in gaza, our party, national party, was walking on eggshells during this entire conversation. we were afraid of saying the wrong word that might piss off this group or saying the wrong word that might pis off that group. what wound up happening in the

end is we angered and created distrust with every single stake holder group on this issue as a result of riding that fence. and from the arab american communities in michigan to our college campus activists, to orthodox jews, i represent over 30,000 orthodox jews in my district. every single one of those groups and mohrs looked at us and said you're not meaningfully engaging. you are running away, obfuscate, dodging and we see you and we done like you as a result. we have to read a room. we've got to be honest with people. we do have to meaningfully engage and not run away. say what you want about donald trump and there's a lot to say, and it's a little disheartening that we are new 50 minute into this conversation, i don't know that donald trump's name has come up once until what i'm about to say. i'm the guy who represents the trump plus 12 district. say what you want about him. he's a liar, he changes position from monday to tuesday. but he's authentic in the eyes of a lot of voters.

a lot of those voters were once under our big democratic tent and are now on the outside looking in. one of the primary reasons i hear from voters every sickle day in my district, folks who voted for me and for donald trump, they voted that way because of authenticity. we have to get back to that as a national democratic party. grip on this one i want to hear from ken martin and ben winkler. it's a question from brian graham, a virginia d.n.c. member. how do we outmaneuver the self-serving p.a.c.'s that seem to be everywhere. mr. martin, you first. mr. martin: i think the first thing is making sure we as a party are living our values. and that starts by not taking money from some of these p.a.c.'s that aren't aligned with democratic values. we see too much money, by the way, in politics. it's playing a very corrosive, has a very corrosive effect and

impact on our democracy. so i favor making sure that we try to find a way to end citizens united completely overhaul our campaign finance system so that we can get the corrosive effect of money out of politics. but that's not enough, right. i mean i think for us at the end of the day we need to make sure that we get back to basics. there is nothing more important as my old boss paul wellstone used to say, there's no greater form of political persuasion than face-to-face conversations. while we should reduce the influence of money in politics, we spent over $10 billion just in 2024 alone on democratic campaigns. that's obscene. but we, by getting back to basics, building trust with voters again, we have permanent campaign where we have year-round organizing and we are communicating with voters all the time, that's how we beat back the effects and impacts of big money in politics. we know that people power will

beat big money and big corporations all the time. but we need a -- we need to marshal the energy of all the thousands and hundreds of thousands of activists around this country who care deeply about our values and make sure we give them an outlet for that energy. focus that energy in ways that'll translate into victories so we can win in state legislature, in local races, win congress back and do the work of delivering for americans again. people power will always beat big money. greg: mr. winkler, same question. mr. winkler: i agree. we need to win enough elections to change the campaign finance laws and stop the slide toward pleuing to becy that donald trump is accelerating in real time right now. at the same time, members of the democratic party, our candidates and p.a.c.'s, engage with moving forward engaging with people authentically. if you're using a capital o

instead of zero to get past a spam fit for the someone's inbox to claim off 400% match you're doing something wrong. we need to explain to people what we're doing with their funds, actually do it, and show what we've done. that means practicing what we preach. it means a full audit, this is on my platform i laid out today, a full audit of all consultant platforms, including zero commitments, it means working with venn dhoors represent our full coalition. that means working with folks who understand how to communicate in the communities that they come from. it means working with minority-led firms. it means hiring full-time accessibility director eat d.n.c. to making sure those with disabilities can fully participate. it means moving away from the churn and burn mentality where we view our volunteer donors and staff as something expendle this

only works if we get stronger with every fight. that means building trust. and trust is only earned when we do what we say we'll do and evaluate the results together. we need to look back at what happened in this election, we should identify where money was wasted, where in it was spent on things that didn't win elections. we're going to earn trust when we show we mean it, when we say we're going to fight for working people. when we say we're going to fight for people up and down the ballot never state. when we show we're serious about winning power at every level. when we do that that'll give thus epower to win elections, to change our electoral system and make it work for people, not money. greg: for this one, let's hear from jason paul and marianne williamson. this is from michelle johnson, a louisiana deform n.c. member, and here it coe goes. do you think there's a problem with d.n.c. engagement? if so, how would you change it

if not, how do you are maintain it? >> i think there are a problem and the problem is there's two different d.n.c.'s. d.n.c. when we don't have the white house, we innovate, think about how things can be better. then there's the d.n.c. when we have the white house. the d.n.c. when we have the white house is very clearly a massive rubber stamp, we're doing what the white house political operation says. they the ones who raise all the money anyway. and sort of you become an appendage. i think it can be a little bit better under now i think the major thing we need to do is come up with visions and plans that are so bold, so innovative so valuable in people's lives, it's like the affordable care act. once we have it no one will want to lose it. i think when we have a 50-state strategy under howard dean, or

the 53 state strategy to incorporate other territories. that was great but it wasn't big enough for the obama white house not to gut. we need something so big so valuable that people want it. then members have to be empowered. i called for moving to a a situation whereby 0% of the committees are from the elected members versus the appointed members. that's where you start to get more involvement of deform n.c. members. for me it starts with the stuff that people want to be involved in, so then they can't take it away. greg: ms. williamson does the d.n.c. have an engagement problem with its members? ms. williamson: we definitely do. i've spoken to many people. they feel disempowered. they feel like they have to come to some meeting, half the time they're given any money to help the problem.

they go and they're simply told what's going to happen. the people in these states have so much wisdom. some of these people have worked in these states as operatives working there for decades. they know their states. the first thing that has to happen, we need to give them resources. they need to be paid. they made to be at the table making decisions. and the way the organizations works right now they are not and they know it. there was recently a negotiation so that they could get more money. i thought that i actually -- i thought i was reading the wrong numbers. you'll get $2-rbgz 500 more a month. are you kidding me? you think when the d.n.c. leadership makes a negotiation contract with some big firm on k street that they're talk about $2,500 a month? i assure you they are not. the people who work in these states who are member, they know what to do. they know what to do in the south. they know what to do in the midwest. they know what to do in pacific northwest. they know what to do in new england. they know what to do in florida. they know what to do in texas.

they need to have money. they need to have resources. they need to be listened to. they need to be respected. the people in the d.n.c. need to be not working to tell them what you need to get whether it's your voter files or your fundraising. it is outrageous. the d.n.c. leadership basically looks at people in these states from a game me mentality. go raise money and give us your voter files. that will change if i'm head of the t.n.c. my question will be, how can we help you? do you want me to come? i want to have a meeting in every single state. i want the party leaders to put together the stake holders there that they are important. i will listen. so we have a cohesive world view. the republicans have a cohesive world view. it's abhorrent but it's cohesive. we need a world view that we know what's happening. greg: we're going to stick with you for the next question, along with jason paul and kim martin.

donald trump and other republicans openly talked throughout the 2024 campaign about their strategy in battleground states like here in georgia, it was on flipping voters. should the party work more to engage the base? ms. williamson, you first. ms. williamson: our main focus should be the declaration of independence. all men are created equal. every voters matters. we shouldn't be picking and choosing. you matter, you don't. if there's a voter, they matter. if they have a need, that matters. some people are very educated, some people are not so educate. the point is that we must use whatever resources that we have to help people improve their lives. i wouldn't be thinking in terms of this group or that group. i would be thinking in terms of some groups that have greater

needs than others. groups that, for instance, racial group, sexual orientation that have particular needs. we should certainly be helping them. but we should never look at any group of people as though they don't matter. every group of american voters matter. am i answering your question as you asked it? greg: yes. jason paul, should the d.n.c. focus more on winning over swing voters or focus more on these local voters we saw come out in droves for donald trump this past election cycle? jason: i think if you make a choice you've made the wrong choice. you're trying to get the absolute highest number of votes. there are some votes to get to get more voters and there are some votes to get in getting swing voters. you have to do both. as a party we start sort of with what is the floor of what we have. to me that floor is that one organizer per capita if you have

on organizer per county someone is telling you what you need to know. it's about a 50,000 ratio per voter to organizers. you have someone close enough to getting that. that's sort of your floor. when you sort of see what you need and sort of how that works. i think sort of coming up with a one size fits all idea of what we're going to do this then that's going to work, i completely agree with chair wickler it is 57 strat ju, not one 57-state strategy. the other component of that for me is that it has to be more human. everything we do has to be based in sort of a person-to-person, more human way. because overcoming sort of the republican trumpian mindset means, look guys, we should be selfish. whether we should be selfish for just ourselves, whether you should be selfish for your kinds

of people. whether we should be selfish for america, the bottom line is be selfish. the model that says be selfish and the model that says done be selfish condition use the same strategies. the mod theal says done be selfish has to be one that build back community into everything that we do if it's a place that people want to be then some low-propencetive voters will wan to be there. then swing voters will want to bethere what you can offer ultimately depends on what the voter wants. if that's your strategy, that's how you do this, it's got to be both. greg: kim martin, same question to you. should the party focus its resources more on winning over swing voteers? or focus more on engaging low turnout voters like we saw the republican party do.

ken: the goal of any election is to get to 50% plus one so you can win and build power. what that means is that we have to take the approach that we can't take a cookie cutter approach to how we run wane exains. we need to trust people on the ground. in different states it takes a different calculus on how you win. in some states all you have to do is turn out base voters to win elections. in most states you have to turn out base voters to actually win over independent voters and nonpartisans, right? and in some states you have to engage the low information, low propencetive voters to engage them in the conversation and turn them out. the first thing we have to do is trust people on the ground. i don't want someone in d.c. telling us how to win elections any more than someone in minnesota wants someone from sth how to win elections. trust people on the ground. we need to put the resources in

there. let me say the republicans did an amazing job the last four years. they understood that they could start and information campaign, starting after the 2020 election, an incessant drum beat of beating the hell out of joe biden and the democratic party in information spaces we weren't even competing in. targeting voters in way es we weren't even engaged in, right. on podcasts, game serg vis, streaming services, other online spaces that we weren't even on, using trusted messengers and validators already in those communities to spread their misinformation, disinformation and lies. if we're going to get to those voters we have to use new tactics, not these outdated tactics that d.c. consul tans which will be gone when i'm d.n.c. chair. if you're not bringing a plan to win you're not going to get a contract from the deform n.c., that's for sure. greg: this next one is for ben wick ler and governor o'malley.

congressman johnny robuck, an arkansas d.n.c. members, what are your specific plans to be more inclusive with all members? mr. wick ler? mr. wickleer: the d.n.c. chair will appoint a leadership team that lifts up the full coalition. with african-american, lgbt gi, asian aapi, and others to work in consultation with d.n.c. members. shouldn't be a body where you show up every six month airks plawd to some speeches and vote unanimously and go home. we should actually be a consult tative body. on questions like the primary calendar we shouldn't have the chair's thumb on the scale. we should hear from people and think through how we're connecting with folks. it includes our team. includes how we think about staffing. how we get the work out that

needs to be done through contractors and consultants and working with the party to build an inclusive party and make sure we're staffing year-round coalitions at our headquarters. then it means working to make sure we're communicating in an inclusive way across the country about issues that affect everybody's lives. there's a false distinction between fighting for work families on economic issues and embodying our full values. the belief that every person deserves freedom and respect and inclusion. those are values that are not in conflict. the economic solidarity we build as a party is the bedrock the thing that gives voice tour ability to lift up and fight for the freedom of everything in our coalition. so if i'm the chair, then my goal is to build a training operation, communications operation that can help lift up enormous diversity of messengers across our party to fight on the things that every person needs in a way that opens the door for fighting for the kind of progress that every person deserves. i think as a democratic party,

we have to be the party that fighting for everyone. and every one of us, needs our basic human needs met. if we're the democratic party, we're going to live it out, we're going to fight it out, that's how we're going to win. greg: governor, what are your plans to be more inclusive of all members. governor o'malley: i was endorsed this week by a former d. nmple c. chair, former governor tim kaine, now senator. both of us have some things in common. we were governor bus before that we were both mayors. mayors only get things done by being collaborative and inclusive. so for arkansas let me run through a 100-day plan that will make every member of the deform n.c. and their county chairs truly respected and heard. of then first tai i'll reassert our commitment to the economic security of every family in america. i'll name a transition share chair. i will announce the standing up of two new sector, the action

stat center and the center for digital communications at the d.n.c. i'll announce on day two that i will be holding county chair town halls, this came from former d.n.c. chair david wilhelm, in every single region of the state. and we will listen to each other. we will hear and we will learn from each other. i will appoint an after-action commission with the dispassionate deep dive on what we failed to co-in the last election and be open and transparent about it. i will appoint a task force on by day 10 on open and transparent governance so we can change the way we do business in order to restore trust among all of our members. on day 15, i will appoint a task force on the future of our party, so we can change the way we engage with the next generation of democrats. on day 40, we will stand up that

action stat room and we will focus on candidate recruitment, voter registration, fundraising and digital communications on a regular recurring cadence of collaboration, every two week we will live stream it to state chairs all across the country on day 50 we'll stand up a center of excellence and by day 100 an action plan informed by those conversations. greg: thank you, governor. he's a question for mr. snyder, dr. hat away and senator skoofus. it comes from jeff strader, a member from texas. several southern states could be key battlegrounds in upcoming election. how would you craft a battle plan to win these states? this member is from texas. let's start with you. >> i think the common theme is making sure those like members from texas are informing the strategy. many of us have folks on the ground, know their communities,

know the approach, know thousand empower those to get the job done. i think we need to do a better job of doing that. i think that goes back to the previous question, how do we engage members bet her yes, i have also heard from members across the country about meetings being performative. not being listened to. them ringing alarm bills that -- bells that are things are happening. voters are shifting but not taking action to them. so the big thing is with texas, we need to also make sure that the diversity is understood and listened to within texas itself. they have unique challenges versus other states as well. so a big thing that goes back to this investment. making sure we're putting money and resources to where they can fight those battles along with the other states that you mentioned as well. understanding the diversity there. making sure that the organizing apparatus actually fits those states and communities. so as we've been talking about a cookie cutter approach isn't going to work here. buttening we also need to open

more transparency. we're fund -- where funding to going how much it's being spent. making sure it's outcome focused. also looking at the consultant class here. i think there's a lot of great stuff happening outside of d.c. in these communities so consultants and those who understand the communities understand how to reach them. they need to be empoweredtoo those that aren't getting the job done need to go. and then also looking at, we're all talking about the landscape and how it's changing. understanding how to go to nontraditional media outlets. how we look at to reach other audiences. building those relationships to make sure we can reach folk we can empower them but also share with state parties on information analytics so they can then tell their messages better and also weed through the misinformation and disinformation. tbroip dr. hathaway how would you need the d.n.c. to compete in emerging battlegrounds in the south? dr. hathaway: as i informed you

all, i lived in four states in the south, georgia, mississippi, alabama an arkansas. over that time what i've seen is in the state of tp, al gore lost our home state in 2000. to george bush. that was a major flip. from that time forward we have not regained traction as a party in winning statewide races. also i spoke about how they would traij the free three congressional districts. that was a power grab from the republican ledge slay sure so we'd lose that seat. now there's only one democrat that sits in the congress out of west tennessee. there's only one congressional seat held by democrat democrats from the state of tennessee. in the state of arkansas, there has not been a democrat held congressional seat since 2011 when dr. snyder stepped down at that time.

and republicans came in and seized that seat. in the state of mississippi, the last time a democrat held a statewide seat was governor musgrove. i can speak to that simply because i was in jackson, mississippi, at the time. i say this because we're going to need a real, concerted effort for democrats to win back the south. it cannot be lip service. cannot be ear service. there must be tactical, intuitive, instructive measures for us to win back the south. also we must build our base when it comes to urban america. at any given time, any given national election, democrats are carried forth by urban population centers. when we do the serious investment of growing our base in those areas, also being intentional about unlocking our power in the south that will operate and open our liberating

power throughout the united states. greg: thank you. senator, that question from jeff straider, a d.n.c. member from texas, how would you employ the d.n.c. to duke it out in emerging battlegrounds here in the south? >> thank you for the question. and it's important to note, we went from losing texas in the 2020 election by six percentage points to just losing it by 14. we saw massive back sliding in texas and other states that we would like to think are emerging battleground states that we have a lot of work to do in. it starts by having a d.n.c. that reorients resource away from that d.c. consultant class. to our party faithful on the ground, state committees, new partnerships, organized labor. let's talk brass tacks. there's been a lot of discussion about the 50-state strategy. the 50-state plus seven territory strategy. here's what that means today as we're talking right now.

that means a d.n.c. that just raised billions of dollars managed to find, per month, $12,500 to if your a red state, $15,000 a month to states on a monthly basis. big whoop. if you're texas, getting $15,000 a month, that's barely must have to keep the lights on in your office. that's not bench building. that's in the party building. the d.n.c. needs to make a farmer serious commitment to sending resources to red states if we're going to have a better shot in the next presidential election cycle, never mind the mid-terms. the other piece i'll mention briefly is we've got to reorrient away from the perception that we are in favor and side with corporate elites more so than working class americans. especially in these red states. and look i'm known in new york for taking on corporate welfare. the last couple of election cycles i refused corporate campaign contributions. you can't have it both ways as a

national democratic party. we tried to do so. we have failed. the next deform n.c. chair has to reorient away from, yes, d.c. consultants, and yes, the corporate elite. greg: only a few moment left but i want to ask everyone, this question from carol fowler, a d.n.c. member from south carolina. we can only give you about 30 seconds for this question. here it is. will you commit to be a full-time chair working at the kk headquarters every day that you're not traveling to support democrats around the country. drcht hathaway? you might have -- technical difficulty. dr. hathaway are you still there. dr. hathaway: yes, can you hear me now? i'm willing and able to move to washington, d.c. and give my full heart, my soul to the work of the democratic party. greg: ken martin? ken: absolutely.

it's critical that the next d.n.c. chair is in washington, d.c. though most of their time will be on the road helping in all of our 57 states, making sure that we're keynoting dinners, raising money, organizing and recruiting candidates and volunteers. so while i'll li in d.c. i don't think i'll be there very often. greg: governor? governor o'malley: yes. the answer is yes. leaders lead from the front, they have to be present at the center they have circus. i would anticipate just as president biden was talking about turning stion around, i'd be in headquarters monday and tuesday and be out in all the states the wednesday, thursday, friday. greg: jason paul? jason: yes. greg: senator? >> this has come up in many conversations as a sitting elected official and as i told d.n.c. members, i would step down as state senator if

fortunate enough to be elected to d.n.c. chairmanship because given the state of our party right now, the next d.n.c. chair must be fully committed, live and breathe rebuilding our party and certainly i would be. greg: mr. snyder? mr. snyder: i would commit to that. however i would also be busy traveling as well. part of my plan, i want to open organizing hubs in states like texas, georgia, pennsylvania, michigan, iowa and nevada. i'll be visiting the filed, going out there work alongside folks fighting the battles that need to be, if i need to i'll pick some fights as well. greg: mr. wickler? >> i'd be in d.c. on a regular basis, like a congressional schedule. i'd keep raise my families in wisconsin, because i think there's strength that come froms from being someplace democrats don't win every time. in this whole thing no one mentioned unions. i want to point to texas where

the afl-cio, martin luther king jr. civil and human right conference celebrated the reaffiliation of afl-cio and seiu. we can learn from that. let's do the work. greg: ms. williamson? ms. williamson: we all know the organizing and strategic things that need to be done. i would pick one of these yemen and say get to it. i would be on the road. i would empower people to do things. i would be on the road. i'd be talking to people in local communities all the time? yes. would i come back to d.c. in yes but we need to talk to people where they live. we know the middle class has been destroyed. we know you haven't felt our heart felt advocacy for the people of the united states. we are going to within five years have health care for every american. within five years a roof over the head for every american. i'd be on the road talking to

people and you guys would be talking -- taking care of the strategic thing. greg: now time for closing statements. 30 seconds each. we'll hear from each candidate in reverse order from openings. nate snyder, take it away. state thk thank you for this discussion. appreciate it. one of the things i want to say, i'm not running for chair to seek a job. i'm running to solve a problem. i worked at the highest levels in national security. i wish we talked more about the hate and fear that's going to be spewed out by the trump administration. i'm there to protect obviously the party but also take the fight to them and i think with my background not only organize bug running and winning campaigns across the country, we get the best of both roles. and like i said, we're just going to fight. we need to pick ourselves up to do it. greg: mr. wickler. mr. wickler: you might want a chair from a plu state or from a

state where they've had total control where we've had to fight back year after year up and down the ballot to unbreak our state. if that story sounds familiar it's not just wisconsin. it's across the south. that's what's making a difference in georgia and north carolina. it is across the entire south. these fights are taking place right now. this is what we can do together with a strategy in each state. i'd love to do it with your support as chair. greg: governor? governor o'malley: what our party needs right now is not a leader that's a caretaker but a changemaker. someone who can take on donald trump from day one in this wartime footing. i have proven my ability at every single level to turn around organizations. that's what i did as mayor, that's what i did as governor, that's what i did most recently at social security. so i ask for your vote, i ask for your support and together we will take on trump and save our republic. greg: mr. martin.

mr. martin: thank you so much. what the party needs right now is a work horse, not a show horse. of all the titles i've had, the most important is organizers. i organized southern states for the clinton campaign back in 1992. i've worked in 40 states in the past two years. i'm the only candidate in this race who can say this. i thank about my friend franklin who said the sign of any good organizer is how much dust they checked on this dirt roads my clothes have collected a lot of dust the past few years. i look forward to collecting more. greg: ms. williamson. ms. williamson:: that along with the chairman, in warm springs georgia gai him what he needed to understand what people were experiencing. that's what we need. towns what people are experiencing. that will lead to our redo.

if i'm chairman of the d.n.c. we will not be just looking at data. we will understand. we will inspire. we will excite people with our audacity to claim an america which actually works for everyone, our passion, and in turn they'll brick brink their passion to voter fus on election day. greg: mr. paul. mr. paul: we all seem to agree on what's really important. i'm a reformer which means it's particularly important that accusations of corruption require strong evidence. society has impatience which is why we disinvest. we need to explain to governors if you lose 24 states by so much it's not time to be thinking. control of the government is worth $1 trillion. $10 billion is nothing. what it's spent on matters. but saying we need less is wrong.

greg: dr. hathaway? dr. hathaway: i'd like to thank the t.n.c. and all who have participated in today's forum. what it's going to take for us to move forward as a party under new leadership, we're going to have to have a field of victory. it's time for us to waken the minds of millions all over this nation and we must be courageous in our statements. it's time for us to disallow the roll back of voting rights, it's time to pass the john r. lewis voting rights advancement and act and freedom to vote act. now and forevermore. greg: senator, finally from you. >> if you want someone from a state that donald trump just won or someone who left elected office handing the baton to a republican in a deep plu state i'm not your guy. a lot of words were said today. there's only one candidate in this forum who goes in and out a

trump plus 12 district and evangelizes, not preaches. we have to do things differently. we have to tell the status quo stake holders within the d.n.c. no, we're not doing it your way any longer. and we need to get back to inwithing. that's why i'm running and why i'm asking for your support. thank you, fellow democrats. greg: that's all the time we have. i'm your moderator, greg, it's been an honor to facilitate this conversation. a reminder that the d.n.c.'s 448 members will elect a chair and other officers at the winter meeting at the gaylord resort in national harbor, maryland, january 30 to february 1. thank you to the candidates and hardworking staff at the d.n.c. to for putting so much time and effort into this virtual forum. now to chair hirsch. >> this forum was a vital part of our process. we will continue to hear from our candidates throughout the month as we choose our next

d.n.c. officers. i want to say a special thanks to all our southern d.n.c. members for all that you have done to support this party, particularly under my chairmanship over the last four years. your voice is so critical and so crucial and i do believe that the future of the democratic party runs through the south. the new south that's bold, progressive, inclusive. and so i want to thank you all for all your hard work and your effort. thank you to our moderators and our team who helped organize this event. the k.n.c. staff are the crown jewel of our organization. i'm so appreciative of all the hard work and effort they've put in to making these forums and all of these events just go off perfectly. the decisions we make during this election will shape the democratic party and our future so these forums are critical for our members and democrats across the country to hear these candidates and their visions for the future. we'll see everyone for our next regional forum.

this time we focus on the midwest. and we're going to have in-person forum in detroit. excuse me, on january 16. so until then, please be sure to continue submitting questions for future forums so that the candidates can answer directly the questions that members wan to hear. again, thank you all so much for participating today. i think it was a great forum, a great discussion. we look forward to hearing even more ideas and visions in the future. take care and we'll see you on january 16. >> c-span's "washington journal," our live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics and public policy. from washington and across the country. coming up wednesday morning, nebraska republican adrian smith, chair of the house ways and means subcommittee on trade, he discusses the new congress and future trump administration

trade and tariff policies. then, peter montgomery from the progressive group people for the american way on pam bondi's confirmation hearing to be attorney general. c-span's "washington journal." join in the conversation live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. on c-span. c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> witness democracy unfiltered with c-span. experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live coverage this month as republicans take control of both chambers of congress and a new chapter begins with a swearing in of the 47th president of the united states on monday, january 20. tune in for our live all-day coverage of the presidential inauguration as donald trump takes the oath of office becoming president of the united states. stay with c-span this month. for comprehensive live, unfiltered coverage of the 119th congress and the presidential

inauguration. c-span. democracy unfiltered. >> attention middle and high school students across america. it's time to make your voice heard. c-span's stay tuned cam documentary contest 2025 is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness and make an impact. your documentary should answer thissier's question -- your message to the president. what issue is most important to you or your community? whether you're passionate about politics, the environment, or community stories. student cam is your platform to share your message with the world. with $100,000 in prizes including a grand praise of $5,000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact by also be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. enter your subssions today. scan the code or visit studentcam.org for all the

details on how to enter. the deadline is january 20, 2025. ♪ >> democracy is always an unfinished creation. >> democracy is worth dying for. >> democracy belongs to us all. >> we are here in the sanctuary of democracy. >> where the responsibilities fall once again to the great democracies. >> american democracy is bigger than one person. >> freedom and democracy must be constantly guarded and protected. >> we are still at our core a democracy. >> this is also a massive victory for democracy and for freedom. ♪ >> i, franklin delano roosevelt -- >> i, harry truman --

>> do solemnly swear -- >> i will faithfully execute -- >> the office of president of the united states. >> the office of president of the united states. >> and will to the best of my ability -- >> and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states, so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. [applause] watch c-span's all day inauguration coverage on monday, january 20 including the historic swearing in as donald trump takes office as the 47th president of the united states. announcer: c-span, democracy unfiltered. california democratic congressman ami bera join the discussion on u.s. competitiveness in artificial intelligence focusing on national