joining me now is ben wickler, he's the chairman of the democratic party of wisconsin and is running national committee. ben, thanks for being here. we're going to talk about that in a moment, but i wonder what you make of that statistic, that two thirds of voters in a county, in a key swing state flipped trump's way and why you have the working theory why that might be. >> thanks so much for having me on, alex. when you look at this election look around the world. everywhere in every democracy voters fed up by inflation and hit hard by high prices swung against incumbent parties left, right, and center. we saw that in the united states, and i think what that tells us is that pocketbook issues makes a big difference especially for voters that are struggling to get by and are trying to figure out who's on their side. it's also the case the fight for reproductive freedom and against abortion bans did motivate voters. it helped in a state like wisconsin to close the gap. the swing in wisconsin was just a quarter of the swing nationwide. we fought on that issue. it helped tammy baldwin wi

it seems like this has become a race really between ken martin and ben wickler. the election will be held in early february. you also have maryland governor martin o'malley in this race, new york state senator james scofis. all of these candidates with a similar vision for the party. i mean, we might have some ideological differences here or there, but democrats i speak to say the difference is the vehicle in which these candidates get to where democrats need to improve. it's very important this year because we, of course, know that they are coming off of these widespread losses last month, in the 2024 presidential election. but look, the endorsements i think are big here. you have ken martin seemingly consolidating a lot of support from dnc members. but at the same time, jonathan, i've chatted with a number of members who have said they're still taking their time getting to know all these candidates. and i think it is notable as you noted earlier in the segment, that someone like ben wickler has been able to get the backing a third way, a centrist, center left g

ben wickler just threw his hat into the ring and he joins me next.the ring and he joins me next vapocool drops? it's sore throat relief with a rush of vicks vapors. ♪ vapocooooool ♪ whoa. vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops. millions have lost weight with noom. like lauren, who found the perfect companion to her glp-1 journey. now i've gotten in the routine of noom, i'm hopeful that taking glp-1s won't be a forever thing. get noom glp-1, now available at noom.com. have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free. so we invited people to give ehealth a try and discover how easy it can be to find your medicare match. this is pretty amazing. i can go on a vacation with this money. i have quite a few prescriptions. that's why people call us. we're going to compare plans, and i'm gonna try to get you as much bang for your buck as possible. that's great. this one here covers all your prescriptions, your doctors as well. oh, wonderful. i have a hard time with this. that's okay,

ben wickler is among those in the race and he will join us to outline his vision for the party.s in deep blue d.c. get ready to return to the office. how the incoming trump administration plans to put an end to federal work from home policies. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. ♪ who knows what tomorrow ♪ ♪ will bring ♪ [dog barking] ♪ maybe sunshine, ♪ [dog whining] ♪ and maybe rain ♪ ♪ but as for me ♪ ♪ i'll wait and see ♪ [knock at door] ♪ and maybe it'll bring my love to me ♪ ♪ who knows ♪ ♪ who knows ♪ ♪ it's hard to say who'll be more excited on the day after christmas. the guy who got a brand new truck from mom and dad. or the guy who got all the weathertech protection for his truck. like laser measured floorliners...

joining me is one of the contenders for the job, ben wickler. i want to mention we had on this show two other candidates. martin o'malley, the former mayor. you announced today that you are entering the race to head the dnc in order to, quote, unite, fight and win. you have led the wisconsin democratic party since 2019. what is your vision for the future of the party, a behind the scenes fund-raiser or someone eering the direction of the party. >> thanks for having me on. it's an honor to be with your audience in a moment of crisis where we are facing total republican domination of our federal government, even though this is one of the narrowest elections in the last 100 years. many voters who cast ballots don't want what trump wants to do. we need to have a national party where the communicates and supports a ton of other great communicators to go out and fight back against the trump administration's plan to dismantle support for health care for working people and give trillions of dollars to billionaires who don't need it, who financed his cam

martin o'malley, and new york state senator, ben wickler, wisconsin democratic chair. and williamson recently joining the party. former democratic presidential candidate. how do you assess what these individuals will need to bring to the table in order to secure for themselves the victory. that's important. but more importantly, assure the delegates who will be voting for them. the members who will be voting for them that they will have the vision to stand toe to toe with the maga threat that stands in front of them? >> and michael, as you know, i just want to make sure other folks know when you don't have the white house, the dnc chair is elected from the membership. it always is, but not nominated by a sitting president. so it is a very different role. i was chair when we would have a sitting president, and then went into an election where we were electing a new president. and it is critical that any of these cam cats are going to be committed because we won't have the white house to working closely. tightly coordinating all of our work together, so we can make sure

ben wickler, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks so much. >>> that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. >>> i think there are questions that some members have, and we're going to be looking for an answer. >> are you among the members who have questions? >> well, i'm looking to be supportive. >> that was yesterday responding to the growing allegations against pete hegseth, donald trump's pick to serve as secretary of defense. we'll bring you more from capitol hill as well as new reporting on who trump may already be considering you naming to replace hegseth. also ahead the latest from south korea where lawmakers are working to impeach the country's president following his abrupt martial law declaration yesterday. and we'll explain how donald trump's attorneys are trying to use president biden's pardon of his son, hunter, to get one of trump's legal cases dismissed. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this wednesday, december 4th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we'll begin this morning with the

wisconsin's democratic party chair ben wickler is running for chair of the democratic national party. he'll be here. we'll also talk about reporter gretchen carlson about pete hegseth nomination. all of that will start back here tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern. follow us on social media @theweekendmsnbc. folks, we appreciate your time. our coverage with continue with "velshi." charles coleman is in for ali. take it away, charles. >> so good to see you guys. i want to echo your sentiments as well as thank alicia for being the one to bring up that very, very important story. and for michael to echo the sentiments of so many of us in terms of where our priorities lie and what's important to us. so, even though it's not necessarily the most holiday-happy message, it's a very, very important one and one that is imperative that we do not forget. so thank you all for bringing that up. >> thank you, man. >> i wore candy cane earrings today. that's as much holiday cheer i get. >> i got deer, reindeertomorrow. >> she's trying to show you up, michael. >> have a nice show, charles. >> "velshi" star

starting with ben wickler. >> i'm running for chair of the democratic national committee to unite the party, to fight everywhere and every state up and down the ballot and nationally and win elections. we're in a moment of crisis for the country. the republican narrative -- communicate a language that doesn't just feels good to say. our values are america value. we need to demonstrate that through the way we communicate, where we communicate, who communicates, and through our actions. >> and here's the head of minnesota's democratic farmer labor party, ken martin. >> i'm running for the dnc chair, because there's too many in washington who want to win the argument. i want to win elections again. republicans have beaten us to the punch here, right? for the last four years, they spread misinformation and lies on platforms from gaming services, to podcasts, to nontraditional information site. we need to go to where the voters are. we need to go where people are at and where they are getting their information. we have to be much more sophisticated in how we do that. we can't just send pol

we'll be joined by one of the candidates, wisconsin democratic party chair, ben wickler. limu emu & doug ♪ woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> the race to lead the democratic national committee is beginning to take shape. four candidates have officially thrown their hats in the ring. the chair of the minnesota democratic farmer labour party, ken martin, martin o'malley and new york state senator james skoufis. good to have all these putting their hats in the ring. but here now with us is wisconsin democratic party chairman, ben wickler, who joins us now. and ben, your hat is in the ring, too. i want to know, it came from a state that kamala harris lost. so what makes you the logical next step to lead the party? and what do you think the biggest challenge is for the party moving forw

wisconsin's democratic party chair ben wickler is running for chair of the democratic national party.er gretchen carlson about pete hegseth nomination. all of that will start back here tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern. follow us on social media @theweekendmsnbc. folks, we appreciate your time. our coverage with continue with "velshi." charles coleman is in for ali. take it away, charles. >> so good to see you guys. i want to echo your sentiments as well as thank alicia for

ben wickler and new york state center james skuofis all took part.e senator skuofis joins us now. welcome to "morning joe." >> good to have you here. we have the most powerful democrat of america sitting next to you. why don't you ask the first question? >> reverend al, take it. >> james, over the last three decades, we've seen the fight in the democratic party back in, say, the late '80s, '90s, it was the democratic leadership council against rainbow coalition. then howard dean and i ran in that cycle against the more moderates. how do you see you running as a new face nationally, trying to bring the party together rather than having these torn sides which only leads to ultimate defeat of the democratic party when you have the conservative or the so-called moderate side against those that are more progressive? >> this is the core question, right? how do we rebuild the once big democratic tent, the tent that's fraying on both edges? i've done this for the past 12 years daily. i come from a district that donald trump just won by 12 points. >> but you

message that i just did, which -- and there is a couple of people out in the democratic side, like ben wicklerg for the dnc chair, we don't have a lot in common, but he has the right instincts about the communication strategy, which is republicans are defining who democrats are for the american people and democrats better start defining it for themselves. and so we are in a communications world now. we are in a world where, you know, your good policy decisions and your defense of democracy norms values and institutions isn't enough. you have to communicate with people and got goat in there. look, not just fight in that sort of silly way. you have got to fight for your ideas. you got to tell a good story to the american people. and democrats are gonna learn that lesson going into 2026 or they are not. that's the one i will keep pushing. >> vaughn hillyard, trump is conceding one of the things that sarah finds in her focus groups the cost of things is something that is going to be hard to do anything about, saying, quote, it's hard to make things go down. how committed does the trump team seem t