Flying Phones: The Drama Tearing the Democratic Party Apart from Within

100 days before the US midterm elections, the Democratic Party is in a severe internal crisis: debts of about $2 million, party chair Ken Martin isolated and battling leakers, and suppliers asked to defer invoices until after the elections.

100 days before the US midterm elections, the Democratic Party is in a severe internal crisis. Party chair Ken Martin (53) finds himself isolated and under heavy pressure amid debts of about $2 million. The party has asked suppliers to defer invoices until after the elections. The largest expense during Martin's tenure was the purchase of donor lists from Harris's 2024 campaign for $7.3 million, used to cover the failed campaign's debts. The committee took a $15 million loan, on which it pays over $75,000 in monthly interest. Meanwhile, Martin is waging an internal war against the 'leak culture' at headquarters, after publishing a censored draft of the autopsy report of the 2024 defeat. Republicans, by contrast, are flush with cash: Trump's Super PAC holds about $400 million, and the Republican National Committee about $130 million.