Democrats push for unity in battle against Trump as DNC meeting comes to a close

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin is expected to reiterate his push for party unity as the DNC’s annual summer meeting comes to a close on Wednesday.

“We can expect Chair Martin to underscore the importance of moving forward as a united party laser-focused on winning,” a source with knowledge told Fox News.

Martin, pushing back amid talk that the party remains divided over a slew of policy and political issues, highlighted party unity as Democrats counter a slew of sweeping and controversial moves by President Donald Trump since he returned to the White House seven months ago.

“In this big tent party of ours, we are unified towards one single goal, to stop Donald Trump and put this country back on track,” Martin said on Monday as the confab kicked off.

DNC CHAIR DEMANDS DEMOCRATS ‘STOP BRINGING A PENCIL TO A KNIFE FIGHT’

Martin, in his closing address, is expected to focus on the momentum Democrats have heading into elections this fall, and will spotlight how Democrats have “overperformed or won in 36 out of 37 key elections” during his seven months as chair, according to the source.

But party leaders and officials, meeting in Martin’s home state of Minnesota, are facing a multitude of problems as they try to escape the political wilderness.

Democrats are aiming to rebound after last year’s elections, when the party lost control of the White House and the Senate and fell short in their bid to win back the House majority. And Republicans made gains with voters who make up key parts of the Democratic Party’s base.

But the situation has only deteriorated for the Democrats in the 10 months since last year’s election setbacks, according to key metrics.

The Democrats’ brand is deeply unpopular, especially with younger voters, as the party’s poll numbers continue to drop to all-time lows in national surveys. 

And the DNC faces a massive fundraising deficit at the hands of the rival Republican National Committee (RNC), as well as concerns over lagging party registration.

DEMOCRATS DIVIDED: TENSIONS FLARE OVER WAR IN GAZA 

As Democrats hunger for more forceful pushback against Trump’s agenda, Martin targeted the president, arguing Trump’s acting as “a dictator-in-chief” and that his second administration is “fascism dressed in a red tie.”

Martin, pointing to the forceful response by Democrats to moves this summer by Trump and Republicans to create more right-leaning U.S. House seats in states across the country through rare mid-decade congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s midterm elections, said that he’s “sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight.”

“We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore,” he urged.

While Martin and other DNC officials preached unity, divisions flared on Tuesday as a key DNC panel considered two dueling resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The tension came as the DNC’s Resolutions Committee voted down a symbolic resolution calling for an arms embargo and suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, which has long been the top American ally in the Middle East.

A separate resolution introduced and supported by DNC chair Ken Martin that called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as unrestricted access to humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, was unanimously passed by the panel.

But the defeat of the second, more forceful resolution, which was introduced by 26-year-old Allison Minnerly, a new DNC member from Florida, sparked opposition among some members on the panel. 

DNC MEMBERS RALLY AROUND PRO-DEI RESOLUTION

“It’s not enough,” DNC committee member from Washington D.C. Sophia Danenberg said, as she pointed to Martin’s resolution. “People want to hear a louder, stronger, statement.”

Danenberg emphasized, “I do fear that we’re losing our future as the Democratic Party by not being courageous on this issue.”

Minutes later, following a private conversation between Martin and Minnerly, the DNC chair asked the committee to “withdraw my resolution so we can move united today and have the conversation.”

“We need to keep working through this. We have to find a path forward as a party, and we have to stay unified,” the chair added.

Martin’s move was embraced by the committee.

The showdown over the resolutions came as the Democratic Party’s once nearly unshakable support for Israel has fractured amid the bloodshed. And concerns over the growing death toll among Palestinians by many in the party’s progressive base have soared this spring and summer, amid what many describe as a famine in Gaza. Recent polling indicates support for Israel’s continued military actions in Gaza is plummeting among Democrats.

The Resolutions Committee passed a slew of resolutions, including unanimously approving one that affirmed what was called the “‘American Values’ of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” The party’s support for DEI came amid relentless conservative backlash against such programs in recent years.

Another resolution unanimously passed called for “condemning the first 6 months of the Second Trump Administration.”

The resolutions approved by the panel will face votes by the full 400-plus DNC membership on Wednesday, during the closing general session.

Later on Tuesday, Martin declared that “the presidential calendar process starts today.”

Speaking at a meeting of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which oversees the party’s presidential nominating calendar, the chairman announced that “we’re planning for meetings throughout the fall and winter and through the spring to make sure we have a rigorous, effective, fair calendar and process.

“We need this process to give us the strongest possible candidate, a candidate that’s battle-tested to win and ready to lead America forward,” Martin emphasized.

And DNC officials said they’ll hammer out rules in the coming months for states to make their cases on why they should be in the first group of states to hold presidential primaries in the 2028 cycle, when Democrats hope to win back the White House.

The meetings will kick off a fight between a handful of states battling for the lead-off positions in the next primary calendar, after the DNC, following the wishes of then-President Joe Biden, upended decades of tradition and bounced Iowa and New Hampshire from their lead-off roles in the party’s nominating schedule in the 2024 election cycle.

South Carolina, which Biden chose to lead off the 2024 calendar, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Iowa will likely all bid to hold the kick-off contest in the next presidential election cycle.

Martin also pushed to make sure DNC officers and staff stay neutral in what will likely be a “very crowded Democratic primary process.”

“We have an obligation to Democrats not in this room,” Martin said as he pushed for committee neutrality.