Just eight weeks before voters in some states head to the ballot box, the Democratic National Committee says it is not leaving anything up to chance in 2025.

Spectrum News has learned that party leadership plans to hold a national organizing kick-off call Tuesday, with officials expecting the attendance of thousands of volunteers.

“As the fall election season starts, the DNC is all hands on deck to win the crucial Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and California ballot measure elections in November,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said. “That’s why we continue to invest heavily in the fall elections and are mobilizing our thousands of volunteers to give them a roadmap on how to get involved, starting with the kickoff call tomorrow.”

What You Need To Know

  • The Democratic National Committee is attempting to rally voters across the country ahead of the November election, launching a national organizing kick-off call Tuesday, Spectrum News has learned
  • A source familiar with plans for the event says the goal is to have 50,000 DNC volunteers active in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and California by November
  • There are gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, while voters in Pennsylvania will decide the balance of power when it comes to the commonwealth's Supreme Court
  • Democrats feel they are in a strong position to win important races up and down the ballot this fall, as President Donald Trump’s tax and spending agenda that congressional Republicans approved this summer remains unpopular with voters

A source familiar with plans for the event says the goal is to have 50,000 DNC volunteers active in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and California by November.

The DNC announced back in July it was making an initial investment of $1.5 million to support both the upcoming Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections. The DNC said at the time it was the largest investment the organization has ever made into the Garden State, and some of the earliest investments the group made in its history. 

In Pennsylvania, voters will determine the balance of power for the commonwealth's Supreme Court. Democrats currently hold a 5-2 majority, but three Democrats are up for re-election, giving Republicans the opportunity to take control of the high court in one of the most consequential battleground states.

Democrats feel they are in a strong position to win important races up and down the ballot this fall, as President Donald Trump’s tax and spending agenda that congressional Republicans approved this summer remains unpopular with voters in public polls.

"Republicans on the ballot this year are forced to defend Trump's economic meltdown making everything unaffordable,” reasoned Martin. “Last week, we learned that job growth under Republicans has slowed to a crawl — and that in June, the economy actually lost jobs, which is the first time this has happened since the last time Donald Trump was President.” 

“The American people are pissed off and struggling to make ends meet in Trump’s economy. That’s the state of play right now. Momentum is on our side. We have our foot on the gas pedal." 

The effort by Martin to excite Democrats for the November election comes after a summer plagued with internal fighting within the organization, and with voters demanding change from the party.

In June, the committee voted to redo its vice chair election following a procedural challenge to the February contest. Actvist and fundraiser David Hogg, who had been elected to one of the positions earlier this year, announced he would not seek the seat again after his plan to use his political action committee to support primary challenges to some incumbent Democratic lawmakers drew criticism from both Martin and other leading members of the party. 

The DNC has also drawn criticism for agreeing to pay off the debts of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign following her loss in November 2024 to give her time to raise money to cover the outstanding costs.

Morale among Democrats is not just low within the DNC, but among party members across the country, according to a July poll conducted by the Associated Press. A majority of those surveyed described the Democratic party as “weak” and “ineffective.”

Despite the rocky summer, sources familiar with the DNC’s strategy believe that Democrats are in a strong position to activate voters this fall. Under Martin’s tenure, the DNC has announced initiatives to “organize everywhere” and invest more heavily in state races as the 2026 midterm elections come into view.

During what was branded as “Organizing Summer,” the DNC hosted 150 events in 47 states, signed up over 15,000 volunteers, and made contact with over 1.6 million voters through organizing events, which they see as Martin delivering on his promise to get the party out of Washington and into communities across the country.

"As the only national committee with [a] permanent organizing infrastructure, our organizing team is uniquely positioned to support organizing efforts at this moment,” one DNC staffer familiar with the strategy told Spectrum News. “Our national organizing program is able to rapidly activate trained volunteers across the country, direct them to where their help is needed most, quickly scale voter outreach across platforms, and coordinate across states, campaigns, and grassroots organizations.”

The DNC has also set a goal to register thousands of new voters to shape the electorate ahead of 2026. 

“Democrats have overperformed or won in 41 out of 42 key elections so far this year, including our third double digit overperformance in Iowa just days ago,” said Martin. “The DNC is committed to building infrastructure and power across the country and that starts with these critical November elections.”