The Democratic National Committee's latest fundraising struggles and a delayed post-election report have laid bare what many insiders see as a chronic weakness: the party's inability to build lasting infrastructure beyond the presidential cycle. The DNC's “After Action” report for 2024, released far behind schedule, repeats familiar prescriptions—stronger staff pipelines, more support for down-ballot races, and a genuine 50-state strategy. Yet as 2026 approaches, little has changed on the ground.
Kelly Dietrich, a longtime Democratic strategist and CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, argues that the party’s problems run deeper than the DNC’s dysfunction. “Winning elections is not the same thing as building power,” she writes, urging Democrats to stop treating the DNC as the solution to infrastructure gaps. The DNC’s mission, she notes, is centered on winning the White House and raising money—not on the year-round organizing and training that state parties and down-ballot campaigns desperately need.
In a recent interview on Pod Save America, DNC Chair Ken Martin defended his strategy of investing in off-year 2025 races and state parties, but Dietrich likened that approach to “a fresh coat of paint on a structurally unsound building.” She points to overworked state parties and under-resourced campaigns as symptoms of a deeper rot, one that the DNC’s revolving door of leadership can’t fix.
Dietrich proposes a new entity: the Democratic Innovation Fund, dedicated solely to providing down-ballot campaigns with skills, resources, and year-round organizing—independent of the election cycle. This fund would operate outside the DNC, drawing inspiration from how Republicans have long used parallel groups like the Koch network and Turning Point USA to build durable volunteer bases and voter outreach. “For decades, Republicans have invested in a parallel infrastructure outside the RNC, built to outlast any single candidate or election cycle,” she notes.
Democrats, by contrast, treat organizations like the National Democratic Training Committee as peripheral players or even competitors, rather than partners. The party’s ecosystem is scattered, with strong-willed pockets of organizing power but no unified strategy for wholesale change. Dietrich argues that a single fund could break down silos and enable smarter, faster, cheaper collaboration—especially as new tools like AI reshape campaigning.
The stakes are high. With razor-thin margins in many races, investments in down-ballot races can boost the top of the ticket. The ongoing redistricting fights underscore how state legislatures shape national power. “We must at least create the structure outside the party so that, in the lows, we have something to fall back on and, in the highs, our gains are stronger,” Dietrich writes.
Democrats are seeing momentum: a surge in sign-ups for campaign training since last year suggests energy is building. But Dietrich warns against complacency. “We can’t keep making the same mistake we always do when Democrats clinch a victory—celebrate and expect to ride the same coattails to the next election,” she says. The party must learn to both win elections and build lasting power, or risk repeating the same failures a decade from now.
