The chair of the Democratic National Committee is the

party chair In politics, a party chair (often party chairperson/-man/-woman or party president) is the presiding officer of a political party. The nature and importance of the position differs from country to country, and also between political parties. Th ...

and '' de-jure'' leader of the Democratic Party. The chair manages the day-to-day affairs and operations of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

(DNC), prepares and conducts the quadrennial

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

, and promotes the Democratic "party brand" and

political platform A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...

, as well as assists in party

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

and election strategy. The DNC chair also serves as a

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

to the Democratic National Convention and can affect the outcome over a close primary race only if no candidate receives a majority of pledged delegates. The current officeholder is Ken Martin of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, who took office on February 1, 2025.

Chairs of the Democratic National Committee

References

* Cotter, Cornelius P., and Bernard C. Hennessy, eds. (1964). ''Politics Without Power: The National Party Committees''
excerpt
. * Heersink, Boris (2023).
National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics: The Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1912–2016
'. Oxford University Press. . . * Heersink, Boris (March 2021)
"Examining Democratic and Republican National Committee Party Branding Activity, 1953–2012"
''Perspectives on Politics'' 21:1: Special Section: Las Américas. 1–18. * Heersink, Boris
"Party Brands and the Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1952–1976"
''Studies in American Political Development'' 32.1 (2018): 79–102. {{DEFAULTSORT:List of chairs of the Democratic National Committee * Leaders of political parties in the United States Democratic National Committee Democratic Party (United States) politicians

Chairs of the Democratic National Committee

See also

References

Further reading