DNC Launches 'People's Cabinet,' Moves Beyond Mere Fundraising
Recently-elected Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has wasted no time elevating the DNC to something more than a mere fundraising machine for Democratic Party candidates. Last Friday, Martin launched the DNC’s first ever “People’s Cabinet,” a new project that “will leverage a deep bench of qualified policy experts, national and local leaders, as well as community voices who will cut through the lies and speak directly to the American people about the reality of the Trump administration’s reckless and dangerous agenda.”
It’s a refreshing turn of events from a party apparatus that has historically been limited to fundraising. In fact, when the funder of this Substack met with Martin’s predecessor about helping the DNC construct a winning platform, he was told that platforms are left to the eventual presidential nominees and that the DNC was merely about providing financial and material support. For an out-party that will not elect a national leader until the 2028 presidential primaries, that’s a long time to go without a unifying voice from the national Democratic Party.
MSNBC’s Hayes Brown favorably compared the People’s Cabinet idea to the U.K.’s Shadow Cabinet, where the leader of the “runner-up” party serves as the shadow prime minister and appoints a shadow cabinet. As the actual prime minister and their cabinet govern, the shadow cabinet is offering its own set of policy solutions to the country’s problems. In this way, the electorate is constantly getting an idea of how the out-party would govern.
Thus far, the People’s Cabinet is not naming any shadow cabinet secretaries. But initial programming does include former Labor Secretary Robert Reich critiquing Trump’s reckless economic agenda and attacks on labor; former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley detailing the devastating impact of DOGE cuts to Social Security for millions of Americans; and more grassroots voices like farmer, rural advocate, and co-founder of The Back Forty Will Westmoreland talking about how Trump’s economic agenda is negatively impacting farmers and rural communities.
Historically, outside of fundraising, the DNC’s main function has been producing the quadrennial Democratic National Convention. If Ken Martin can build the People’s Cabinet into a viable platform, then the DNC can have impact for more than just one week out of every four years.