The Democratic National Committee announced Tuesday it will spend millions of dollars to shift control of voter registration efforts from nonprofit advocacy groups to the party itself, starting in Arizona and Nevada with at least $2 million for training organizers ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
The initiative marks a departure from Democrats’ decades-long reliance on outside civic groups to sign up voters, as party leaders move toward the more explicitly partisan registration model Republicans have long used, targeting demographics that shifted toward the GOP in the 2024 presidential race.
“It’s a crisis. And for our party to actually win elections, we have to actually create more Democrats,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in an interview with the Associated Press.
Martin added that “we need all hands on deck, not just the outside groups,” as Democrats aim to win back control of Congress and break Republicans’ unified control in Washington.
Democrats have long depended on civic and advocacy organizations to register voters, but those groups are generally required by law to operate in a nonpartisan manner. Party leaders said they want a more explicitly partisan approach, like the one Republicans have relied upon to register and mobilize their base.
Martin said allied nonprofits are “really important partners” that have “done amazing work to actually get people engaging in their democracy,” but said the current political landscape demands more.
“But in this moment right now, given the significant disadvantage that we have and the advantage the Republicans have, we actually have to do more,” he said.
The initiative aims to recruit organizers from backgrounds party strategists say have been overlooked in past Democratic grassroots efforts, including gig economy workers and young parents. Democrats hope those organizers can help the party reconnect with blue-collar Americans who, they said, have grown disaffected with politics.
Santiago Mayer, founder of Voters for Tomorrow, a progressive political youth group collaborating with the DNC, said the investment addresses a clear gap from the last election cycle. “I think it’s incredible that Democrats are actually investing in reaching Democratic voters who have been left behind,” Mayer said. “We got killed on persuasion in 2024, and I think this is a really important step, fixing it and ensuring that we do not have a repeat of that in 2026.”
The White House dismissed the initiative. “This is fake. They are broke. In debt. Been losing voter registration in every state in the union since 2024. We call this ‘PR,’” James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff and former political director for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, wrote on X.
The program will kick off with dozens of videos from lawmakers, activists, and party leaders across the country, with interstate party competitions planned throughout the year, according to the AP.
Martin said the investment is intended to build infrastructure that extends well beyond the fall midterms. “This is a critical piece of the infrastructure that we’re building to actually not only win the moment in ‘26 but to win the future,” he said.