The Minnesota DFL has a New Chair

Ken Martin served seven terms as the chair of the Minnesota DFL, far longer than any previous chair in the 81 year history of the DFL, but he left office on March 29. Martin didn’t run for re-election, because he was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee on February 1. The members of the DFL’s State Central Committee (SCC) met on the 29th in Edina High School to elect Martin’s successor and other statewide officers for a 2025-27 term. The party chair is a full-time paid position while the first and second vice-chairs are part-time paid positions. Other officers are volunteers. Campaigning for these positions had mostly been by phone, social media, and email, though there had been some in-person candidate forums organized around the state by local DFL units, including one in Rochester.

An unusually high percentage of SCC members turned out to hear candidates for office speak and answer questions, then vote. They elected

chair by a large margin. Carlbom has been involved with the DFL for 20 years, starting as field organizer. He’s known to many in our area because he was finance director for Tim Walz when Walz first ran for re-election to Congress in 2008 and was Walz’s campaign manager in his close re-election race in 2010. He was also the director of the successful campaign in 2012 against the constitutional amendment that tried to bar same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Since then, he has worked as a political consultant and, for the last few years, as Walz’s Deputy Chief of Staff. He plans to draw on his organizing skills to improve DFL organizing efforts around the state, but especially in Greater Minnesota, and to develop a rapid-response team to rebut Republican attacks.

Also elected at the meeting were:

Marge Hoffa, re-elected as First Vice-Chair

Savanthi Sathanadan, re-elected as Second Vice Chair

Ceri Everett, re-elected as Secretary

Lindy Sowmick, elected as Treasurer

Quentin Wathum-Ocama, elected as Outreach and Inclusion Officer