Ben Wikler’s run for DNC chair gains support of center-left think tank

Ben Wikler’s bid to lead the Democratic Party out of the rubble of a disappointing election is gaining momentum.

Mr. Wikler, who has been chairman of the Wisconsin Democrats since 2019 and a political organizer for MoveOn in 2024, received support Wednesday from Third Way, a center-left Washington think tank.

Jonathan Cowan, the group’s co-founder, said the 43-year-old Mr. Wikler should lead the Democratic National Committee because he represents generational change, is rooted in a part of the country where Democrats have struggled, and has shown he realizes that “Democrats cannot be seen as an elitist club for the college-educated and well off.”

“To contrast most distinctly with a Republican Party led by the oldest person ever elected president, Democrats should pick a future-oriented leader without the baggage or scars of the past decades of political warfare,” he said in a Politico op-ed.

Mr. Cowan also praised Mr. Wikler’s ability to cater to the party’s more liberal and moderate factions, pointing out that Rep. Mark Pocan, former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Satya Rhodes-Conway, the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, have rallied behind him.

“Third Way and people like Rep. Pocan have differing ideological perspectives, policy priorities and theories about how to fix what went wrong in 2024,” he said. “But we all believe that Ben Wikler is the right person to unite our coalition, modernize our party and expand the map so that Democrats can win and govern again.”

Mr. Wikler’s bid got another boost after former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a seasoned political operative whose tenure as ambassador to Japan is ending. He told The Chicago Sun-Times he has no interest in the job, ending swirling speculation that he could step in as DNC chair.

The race to succeed outgoing chair Jaime Harrison also features Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who recently resigned from his post as commissioner of the Social Security Administration and New York state Sen. James Skoufis.

Mr. Martin entered the race touting the support of 83 members of the Democratic National Committee, who will tap a new leader in February.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wikler entered the race weeks after President-elect Donald Trump narrowly defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin. It was a stain on Mr. Wikler’s otherwise strong electoral record.

However, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin won reelection, and Democrats flipped 14 seats in the Wisconsin state legislature in November.

Wisconsin Democrats also helped elect President Biden in 2020, elected Gov. Tony Evers to a second term in 2022 and flipped the balance of power on the state Supreme Court last year.

“What it teaches you when you fight in a state like Wisconsin is how to organize everywhere in rural areas, cities, suburbs, small towns, across race, ethnicity, gender, geography, generation, ideology,” Mr. Wikler said on CNN. “It teaches you to communicate even to voters who may not be paying attention to what Democrats have to say,” he said.

“We know that we lose when voters get their information about Democrats from Republicans,” he said. “So, we need to level up the intensity, the omnipresence of our fight, and we need to communicate directly to working folks, no matter what they look like or where they live, about how we’re on their side and the Republicans are trying to rip them off.”