TheDemocratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of theUnited States'sDemocratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the Democratic Party betweenNational Conventions",[1] and particularly coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well as works to establish a "party brand" and to formulate theparty platform.[2] While it provides support for party candidates, it does not have direct authority over elected officials.[3]
The DNC is responsible for articulating and promoting the Democratic platform and coordinating party organizational activity. In particular, it organizes and calls for theDemocratic National Convention held every four years to nominate candidates forPresident andVice President of the United States, and is subsequently responsible for thePresidential campaign. The DNC is more focused on campaign and organizational strategy thanpublic policy. According to Boris Heersink, "political scientists have traditionally described the parties' national committees as inconsequential but impartial service providers."[6][7]
In presidential elections, it supervises the national convention and, both independently and in coordination with the presidential candidate, raises funds, commissions polls, and coordinates campaign strategy.[3] Following the selection of a party nominee, the public funding laws permit the national party to coordinate certain expenditures with the nominee, but additional funds are spent on general, party-building activities.[8] There are state committees in every state, as well as local committees in most cities, wards, and towns (and, in most states, counties).
When the president is a Democrat, the party generally works closely with the president and the White House largely controls the committee.
The DNC is headed by a chairperson, five vice chairpersons, a treasurer, a secretary, and a national finance chair, who are all elected by vote of members of the Democratic National Committee itself.[9]: 5
According to its charter,[1] the committee is further composed of:
two representatives (including the chairperson) of each state committee orUS territory
200 additional members apportioned to the states according to their population size (minimum two per state), elected either on the ballot by primary voters or by the state committee or caucus
two additional members per US territory, selected by their Democratic parties
the Democraticleaders in the US Senate and House of Representatives
three Democraticgovernors (including the chairperson of theDemocratic Governors Association), mayors (including the chairperson of the Democratic Mayors Association), county officials (including the chairperson of the National Democratic County Officials), state legislators (including the chairperson of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee), and municipal officials (including the chairperson of the Democratic Municipal Officials), respectively
two representatives (including the chairpersons) of theCollege Democrats, the Democratic State Treasurers Association, the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, the Democratic Attorneys General Association, the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee, the National Democratic Seniors Coordinating Council, and theHigh School Democrats of America, respectively
eight representatives of theDemocrats Abroad (including the chairperson), who each have half a vote
up to 75 additional members elected by the committee.
Chicago delegation to the January 8, 1912 Democratic National Committee
All DNC members aresuperdelegates to the Democratic National Convention, and their role can affect the outcome over a close primary race only if no candidate receives a majority of pledged delegates.[10] These delegates, officially described as "unpledged party leader and elected official delegates," fall into three categories based on other positions they hold:[11]
elected members of the Democratic National Committee,
sitting Democratic governors and members of Congress, and
distinguished party leaders, consisting of current and former presidents, vice presidents, congressional leaders, and DNC chairs, are all superdelegates for life.
The DNC establishes rules for thecaucuses andprimaries which choose delegates to theDemocratic National Convention, but the caucuses and primaries themselves are most often run not by the DNC but instead by each individual state. Primary elections, in particular, are conducted by state governments according to their own laws. Political parties can choose whether to participate and accept the results of a state's primary election.[12]
An internal organization, the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC), convenes the state and territorial party chairs and vice chairs.[13] The president of the ASDC serves concurrently as a vice chair of the DNC.Jane Kleeb, chair of theNebraska Democratic Party since 2016, was elected in 2025 as president of the ASDC, succeedingKen Martin who had served as president since 2017.[14][15] The ASDC is assisted by the Association of State Democratic Executive Directors (ASDED), headed by Brad Martin (executive director of theDemocratic Party of Oregon) since 2017.
The DNC convenes at least once a year. AnExecutive Committee of roughly 65 members determined by the DNC is responsible for the affairs of the party and meets at least quarterly.[16] In addition, a National Advisory Board exists for purposes of fundraising and advising the executive. The present chair isElizabeth Frawley Bagley,U.S. Ambassador to Brazil.
The deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee was re-established byTom Perez in February 2017 after his win in the2017 DNC Chair race.
After a close victory over Minnesota CongressmanKeith Ellison, Perez appointed Ellison as deputy chair in an attempt to lessen the divide in the Democratic Party after the contentious2016 Democratic presidential primaries, which saw conflicts between supporters ofHillary Clinton andBernie Sanders.[26] Perez was seen as being more in line with the Clinton wing, while Ellison was more in line with the Sanders wing.[27] The role's revival in 2017 has been described by critics as largely titular and ceremonial.[28]
The DNC has existed since 1848.[117] During the1848 Democratic National Convention, a resolution was passed creating the Democratic National Committee, composed of thirty members, one person per state, chosen by the states' delegations, and chaired byBenjamin F. Hallett.[118]
In order to strengthen the national party organization,Franklin Roosevelt proposed in 1925 that the DNC should open a permanent headquarters in order to function "every day in every year" and exist on a "business-like financial basis." In 1929,John Raskob led the creation of the first permanent national headquarters for the DNC in Washington, DC.[119]
Cyber attacks andhacks were claimed by or attributed to various individual and groups such as:
According to committee officials and security experts, two competingRussian intelligence services were discovered onDNC computer networks. One intelligence service achieved infiltration beginning in the summer of 2015 and the other service breached and roamed the network beginning in April 2016. The two groups accessed emails, chats, and research on an opposing presidential candidate. They were expelled from the DNC system in June 2016.[123][124][125]
ThehackerGuccifer 2.0 claimed that he hacked into the Democratic National Committee computer network and then leaked its emails to the newspaperThe Hill.[126][127] During a CNN interview with Jake Tapper, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager,Robby Mook, cited experts saying that the DNC emails were leaked by the Russians but did not name the experts.[128][129] The press and cybersecurity firms discredited the Guccifer 2.0 claim, as investigators now believe Guccifer 2.0 was an agent of the G.R.U.,Russia's military intelligence service.[123][125][130][131]
On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released approximately 20,000 DNC emails.[132] Critics claimed that the Committee unequally favoredHillary Clinton and acted in support of her nomination while opposing the candidacy of her primary challengerBernie Sanders.Donna Brazile corroborated these allegations in an excerpt of her book published byPolitico in November 2017.[133] The leaked emails spanned sixteen months, terminating in May 2016.[134]
The WikiLeaks releases led to the resignations of Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Communications Director Luis Miranda, Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall and Chief Executive Amy Dacey.[135] After she resigned, Wasserman Schultz put out a statement about possible FBI assistance in investigating the hacking and leaks, saying that "the DNC was never contacted by the FBI or any other agency concerned about these intrusions."[136] During a Senate hearing in January 2017, James Comey testified that the FBI requested access to the DNC's servers, but its request was denied. He also testified that old versions of theRepublican National Committee's servers were breached, but then-current databases were unaffected.[137]
The DNC subsequentlyfiled a lawsuit in federal court against WikiLeaks and others alleging a conspiracy to influence the election.[138]
^Boris Heersink, "Trump and the party-in-organization: Presidential control of national party organizations."Journal of Politics 80.4 (2018): 1474-1482.
^Cornelius P. Cotter and Bernard C. Hennessy, eds.Politics without Power: The National Party Committees (2009)excerptArchived October 14, 2021, at theWayback Machine
^"Banker St. John Dead".The Cheney Sentinel. Vol. III, no. 52. Cheney, Kansas. February 18, 1897. p. 1.Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 26, 2023 – viaNewspapers.com.
^"Carter Glass".The Evening Independent. Vol. 1, no. 99. Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. June 18, 1916. p. 1.Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. RetrievedJanuary 24, 2023 – viaNewspapers.com.
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