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By Alex J. Rouhandeh
National Political Correspondent
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The Democratic National Committee will make a seven-figure investment in voter registration efforts, DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a Tuesday morning press call attended by Newsweek.
Launching in the electoral battleground states of Arizona and Nevada before rolling out nationally, the effort—called “When We Count"—seeks to reduce the Democratic Party’s reliance on allied 501(c)(3) nonprofits to register voters, Martin said. Nonprofits are barred from campaigning, which inhibits them from touting the party’s platform.
Martin said the left has seceded ground to Republicans in the registration fight for years. The new initiative represents the DNC’s largest investment to counter GOP registration gains, and it comes as a critical time as the 2026 midterm elections near and the party aims to break President Donald Trump's grip on Washington.
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“We've been getting our butts kicked for years now by the Republicans on voter registration,” Martin said during the call. “What the significance of this launch is, is that we are getting the party committees and hard side actors—candidate campaigns, elected officials, state parties, local party committees and national party committees—back into the voter registration game.”
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The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2022 altered election fundraising rules, which resulted in then-DNC leaders making the decision to outsource registration efforts, so Martin said a generation of party leaders “really don't have any muscle memory” on how to register voters.
Central to the “When We Count” effort is a paid fellowship program aimed at training young supporters on how to register voters. Supplementing the fellowship will also be four “National Voter Registration Weeks of Action” in the spring, summer and fall that will try to rally fellows, state parties, coordinated campaigns, college and high school Democrats and volunteers to register new voters.
The DNC believes the initiative is “historic” and reflects the organization’s commitment to growing its state infrastructure. However, not all Democrats are behind the effort.
According to the Congress-focused outlet Punchbowl News, vulnerable House Democrats were critical of Martin’s approach in a December meeting. They argued that the DNC should focus on funding the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which finances their campaigns, instead of doling out dollars to state parties that conduct registration efforts. Those qualms come on the heels of Martin taking out a $15 million loan last November as the DNC faces cash flow issues, which Republicans said reflected his poor leadership.
“Ken Martin has driven the DNC into debt, overseen anemic fundraising, and can't even get his own staff to come into the office five days a week,” RNC Communications Director Zach Parkinson said in a statement provided to Newsweek. “Today, we found out that vulnerable House Democrats think he's doing a terrible job and has no plan for the midterms. We at the RNC think he's the perfect person to oversee Democrats’ voter registration efforts.”
Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, Nevada Representative Steven Horsford, Arizona Democratic Party Chair Charlene Fernandez and Nevada Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno joined Martin in making the announcement.
Gallego said the effort would make a difference in states like his own. In his 2024 campaign, Gallego said Republicans had a roughly 200,000-voter registration advantage at the start of the race and extended that to more than 300,000 by the end of the race, which meant he needed to rely on Trump voters to secure his victory. By curbing reliance on independents and ticket-splitters, Gallego believes Democrats can achieve greater success this year.
“There a is time and essence and importance that we do this right now because elections are going to be decided by how many people are registered to vote,” he said. “So please get out there and support this effort.”
Update 1/13/26, 2 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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