The chair of the Democratic National Committee said the party is investing more in Ohio to win races up and down the ballot.
Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland on Wednesday, Ken Martin, who took over as DNC chair in February, said Democrats must organize in every corner of the state and prioritize local, state, and federal elections alike.
"Ohio is a critical piece of this," Martin said. "It's a huge swing state in '26. And the DNC under my leadership will be investing significant resources in this state."
Martin is touring the country following President Donald Trump's re-election. According to Martin, the DNC is casting a wider net rather than focusing on a few battleground states and key congressional seats.
He said every school board race is something worth watching and getting involved in.
"Our own indifference means that now some of the biggest school districts in the country are controlled by conservative majorities and they're banning books, they're whitewashing history, they're attacking our children," Martin said. "That's as much on them as it is on us because we ignore them."
Martin said the party needs to step-up after key groups voted for different tickets in recent elections.
"The reason people think we're weak is because we don't stand up and fight for what we believe in," he told the audience at the City Club. "And let me ask you this, if you're not willing to fight like hell for the things you believe in, do you really believe them at all?"
When asked about who the party represents, Martin discussed the party's stance on civil rights in the 1940's, which he claimed prompted some southern Democrats to leave the party altogether.
"Change happens when we allow new voices and people to come in and push our party to evolve, to be better," Martin said. "We are not a perfect party. But as long as I am chair of this party, we are going to be open to all ideas and new voices and people who want us to be better on any given issue."
Once thought of as a swing state, Ohio has voted decisively for Republicans in the last three presidential election cycles, electing President Donald Trump by 12 points in 2024 and nine points in 2016. Although Democrat Joe Biden went on to win the presidency in 2020, Ohio voted in favor of Trump by an eight-point margin. Prior to Biden's loss in Ohio in 2020, the last Democrat to lose the Buckeye State but still win the presidency was John F. Kennedy in 1960.
