What Are Political Parties For?

The DNC is thoroughly incompetent. https://t.co/fpeTDRVnxo

— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) July 26, 2026

This is not sustainable.
Anyone who cares about the Democratic Party—including Ken Martin—would say “Enough”.
The DNC is flat broke.
This must change now. https://t.co/Zse52CO2nO

— Joe Scarborough (@ScarboroughNow) July 26, 2026

So, the DNC is a mess.

“The Democrats should be well positioned to make gains in this year’s midterms. But inside party headquarters, every week brings paranoia, worries about money and, on occasion, emotional eruptions.” https://t.co/ZCmR9O4MNy

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 26, 2026

(The voters decide who makes the gains, not the DNC.) How bad is it?, you ask.

NYT: “The Democratic Party is so short on cash that leaders at its headquarters have undertaken a new gambit to mask the severity of the problems: asking vendors not to send bills until after the midterm elections” https://t.co/EDZv6cWHbH

— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) July 26, 2026

No; worse than that:

The DNC put its physical headquarters up for collateral last year in order to obtain a $15 million line of credit to help invest in off-year elections, according to D.C. deed records not previously reported. https://t.co/K5xePilSKF

— NOTUS (@NOTUSreports) July 26, 2026

NEW: It's gone from bad, to worse, to perilous at the DNC. Money problems, paranoia, phone slamming, bad morale, and no way out.

“Who is going to give money to a Ken Martin–led DNC?”

via @Lauren_V_Egan https://t.co/dmlgZDwT3E

— Sam Stein (@samstein) July 26, 2026

The DNC is $2 million in debt, while the RNC has $128 million cash-on-hand.

Ken Martin also recently faced a DNC HR complaint for chucking his phone at a junior staffer.

But other than that, things are going great.https://t.co/OJklDK9qwL

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 26, 2026

NYT. NOTUS. The Bulwark. Sounds like a three alarm fire. And yes, the GOP has a huge money advantage. Except donors in Texas don’t want to back Paxton. And so far all he’s come up with is “Talafreako” (which Talarico turned into a t-shirt); “Low-T Talarico” (Talarico said that’s something old guys worry about); and running away from reporters. While Talarico’s so far ahead of Paxton in fundraising the distance can be measured in terms of the moon’s distance from the earth.

Had I not read these tweets, I wouldn’t know the DNC was in trouble. Then again, the RNC cash isn’t buying the GOP a shot at holding Congress. The DNC may be in serious financial trouble by November. But the GOP is done for after 2028, and everybody knows it. No Trump, no MAGA. Period. And the GOP is all MAGA, all the time.

So, the question is: what are political parties for?

Aside from political reporters, does anyone care that the DNC is broke? Does anyone think it fundamentally shifts the predictions for November? Seems unlikely, as the disaster outlined in the articles has been going on for awhile, but nobody seems to have noticed until now. Apparently Ken Martin is bad at his job. But you know what? So is Donald Trump. Which failure do I think is more consequential?

I mean, the DNC has been low on funds long enough to mortgage its building for a line of credit, and yet no one reading the polls thinks Democrats are going to lose because of it. 

Or maybe they will after this story percolates. But, you know, narratives are fickle that way. Especially the ones that disappear on Election Night, never to be heard from again. Really, the very worst part about election year politics is the stupidity narratives that won’t die; until election night, and then it’s like they never were. Political parties persist; but more and more, nobody can explain why.

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