New DNC Chair Promotes From Within Despite Dems’ Brutal 2024 Losses

Newly-elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin is promoting DNC officials to pad out the organization’s senior ranks despite Democrats’ brutal 2024 election cycle.

Martin is looking internally to staff up some of the most senior positions for the DNC: former DNC deputy director Roger Lau will take over as executive director, ex-DNC chief of staff Libby Schneider will be the DNC’s deputy executive director and Stuart Appelbaum — who has been the head of the DNC’s labor council — will be an associate chair for the DNC going forward, the DNC announced Monday. The DNC is opting to promote from within instead of searching for fresh blood after Democrats lost the House, Senate and White House in the 2024 election cycle as previously-reliable voting blocs shifted away from the party. (RELATED: ‘Level Of Jackassery’: James Carville Outraged At Dems Over 2 ‘Stunningly Stupid’ Moves)

Lau cut his teeth in Democratic politics as a staffer or campaign aide for politicians like failed 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate Hilary Clinton before working for Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for nearly a decade, ending up as the campaign manager for Warren’s ill-fated 2020 presidential bid, according to his LinkedIn profile. More recently, Lau was a senior advisor to the Harris Victory Fund during the 2024 election cycle.

Before beginning to work for the DNC in 2019, Schneider made her bones early in her career as a Capitol Hill staffer and Democratic campaign aide, her LinkedIn shows. Just before jumping over to the DNC, Schneider worked for former Democratic North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in her office and as her campaign manager for Heitkamp’s failed 2018 reelection bid.

Applebaum, meanwhile, is the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and a vice president of the National American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in addition to chairing the DNC’s Labor Council, according to the DNC. He will be taking on a new role as an associate DNC chair after President Donald Trump made significant inroads with rank-and-file union voters in the 2024 election despite the Biden administration’s immense efforts to advantage organized labor with its policies.

The DNC will look to regroup and make gains in the 2026 midterm elections to stymie the Trump administration’s legislative agenda under Martin’s leadership. However, it is unclear whether Democrats will be able to successfully and convincingly abandon unpopular positions on issues like lax immigration enforcement and permitting biological boys to be in girls’ locker rooms.

The DNC did not respond to a request for comment.

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