Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin sat down with Spectrum News for a wide-ranging interview Tuesday evening ahead of Election Day to talk about next month's congressional redistricting special election in California, the New York City mayor's race and other consequential campaigns across the country.

Here are some of the major takeaways from the conversation:

California redistricting is ‘critical for our democracy,’ Martin says

Proposition 50 is the only issue on the ballot this November for California voters, asking whether the state should suspend the current congressional maps through 2030 for ones that favor Democrats in direct response to partisan maps drawn up in Texas and other Republican-controlled states.

“It’s critical for our democracy,” said Martin. “What we're seeing from the Republican Party is an unconstitutional power grab. In a moment where they know they're headed towards certain loss in 2026, they're trying to change the rules midstream and rig the maps.

“The Republicans wanted a showdown in Texas. We’ve given them a showdown.”

Martin is heading to Los Angeles on Thursday to stump for Prop 50 on the ground, with plans to attend a bilingual phone bank to try to drum up votes. While Prop 50 is the first attempt by Democrats to redistrict mid-decade, Martin promises it won’t be the last if Republicans continue down this path.

“If they do this in Ohio or Indiana or Missouri or Florida or some of the other states that they're trying to do in it, we'll find other Democratic states to counter as well,” promised Martin.

More on Martin’s conversation with Spectrum News on Prop 50 can be found here.

Martin says the party will support primary winners, including Mamdani

On Wednesday night, New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a state Assembly member and democratic socialist, will participate in the final debate of that campaign — hosted by and airing on Spectrum News NY1 — with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo, who served as New York’s Democratic governor for a decade, is running as an independent after losing in the primary to Mamdani.

While Republicans have accused Mamdani of being a communist, Martin argued that he doesn’t “think there’s anything communist or socialist about” focusing on affordability.

“He's focused on affordability in a very authentic way," Martin said. "He's talked about the struggles that most New Yorkers are facing with high rent costs and high transportation costs. And for many folks, just the affordability of not being able to put groceries on that table, and just the high cost of living in New York City.”

While the top Democrats in Congress — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — both hail from New York City, neither have endorsed Mamdani. Meanwhile, Martin has given him a full endorsement.

“I believe the role of the party is to honor the will of Democratic primary voters, and then once they send us a nominee, whoever that nominee is, our job is to fight like hell to make sure they win their respective elections," he said. "And that's true in New York City. That's true all over the country. This Democratic Party, under my leadership, is not going to be putting its thumb on the scale. I can't speak for any member of Congress or any other elected official. That's their prerogative on whether or not they're going to support or not, but I can tell you, our Democratic Party is going to be fair.”

Elections for the next governors of New Jersey and Virginia

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will also head to the ballot box in November to cast their vote for their next governor.

“We have fantastic candidates who are running terrific campaigns that are resonating with the voters on the ground. They're running on the issues that Virginians and New Jerseyans care about right now,” said Martin of Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is running in New Jersey, and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia.

“I feel very bullish about our chances,” Martin said of maintaining New Jersey and flipping Virginia blue, though he added he takes nothing for granted. “What I'm focused on is what we need to do to get both of them across the finish line. And I feel very positive we're going to do that.”