Here are the candidates running for DNC chair

The Democratic Party is turning its sights to electing the next Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair after a terrible Election Day saw the party lose the White House and the Senate majority and fail to flip the House.

The DNC will be charged with picking up the pieces, and several candidates have kicked off their bids to succeed DNC Chair Jaime Harrison.

Here are some of the candidates running for the position.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley

The Old Line State governor from 2007-15, O'Malley launched his bid Monday. He most recently served as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

The former Baltimore mayor ran for the party’s presidential nomination in 2016 after leading the Democratic Governors Association.

“We must connect our Party with the most important place in America — the kitchen table of every family’s home,” O'Malley wrote Monday in a post on the social platform X.

“Jobs, Opportunity, and Economic Security for all. Getting things done. Hope. A 50 state strategy. Now.”

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin

Ken Martin launched his candidacy to be the next DNC chair Tuesday morning, touting his state party’s election results in Minnesota.

"We've won every single statewide election; 22 in a row. And we are the last of the 'blue wall' states still standing,” Martin said in a video announcing his bid.

“When I took over @MinnesotaDFL, we were in debt and disarray. But we brought people together, built a winning coalition, and delivered results,” Martin wrote on X. “I’m ready to get to work to rebuild our party.”

He is the DNC vice chair and leader of the Association of State Democratic Committees.

Rahm Emanuel

The U.S. ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel has expressed interest in running for the position, multiple outlets have reported.

The former mayor of Chicago has received calls from other Democrats who have encouraged him to throw his hat into the ring, according to Axios.

Emanuel has the backing of Obama’s former senior advisor, David Axelrod, who said on his podcast "Hacks on Tap” that he would “bring him back from Japan and I would appoint him chairman of the Democratic National Committee.”

“There may be others but he is kind of sui genesis: Dude knows how to fight and win,” Axelrod wrote last week on X.

Emanuel is a former Illinois congressman who served as Obama's first White House chief of staff. In that role, he oversaw Obama's campaign to win passage of the Affordable Care Act and major stimulus legislation.

But he has also rubbed some Democrats the wrong way by taking centrist political positions on some issues, such as immigration.

Ben Wikler

Some Democrats have been calling Ben Wikler, chair of Wisconsin Democrats, to encourage him to run, Politico reported a week ago, citing people familiar with his thinking.

Wikler has served as the state party’s chair since 2019. He has received national recognition for helping President Biden secure Wisconsin in the 2020 general election and Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) 2022 reelection, along with being a strong fundraiser.