Malcolm Kenyatta wants to be DNC vice chair after losing his race in November

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta is running to be vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, a role that would make him a key player in the party’s internal conversations as it reckons with November’s losses.

The party’s three at-large vice chairs will work with the DNC’s next chair and its executive committee in charting a new course for the party.

More than a dozen people are running for the vice chair roles, the most since at least 2017 and a signal of the interest Democrats have in revamping the party.

“The message of the Democratic Party is not locked in the brain of some high-priced consultant,” Kenyatta said. “It’s locked in the brain of working-class people, and we need to listen to and prioritize what they’re telling us.”

The current at-large vice chairs — a volunteer position elected by DNC members — are Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, and Henry R. Muñoz III, a designer and party activist.

Kenyatta, the only candidate from Pennsylvania, has represented North Philadelphia since 2019. He ran unsuccessfully for auditor general last year, losing the office by 5 points to incumbent Republican Tim DeFoor.

He campaigned for President Joe Biden in 2020 and for Biden and later Vice President Kamala Harris when she became the nominee last year. The first openly LGBTQ person of color elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Kenyatta had a role in the virtual 2020 convention and spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

He has also been an active surrogate for candidates running down-ballot in Pennsylvania and said he would take a local approach to the messaging and issues the party prioritizes.

“As someone who’s run down-ballot,” he said, “the further down-ballot, the less you feel like there’s anybody at the DNC who gives a damn about what’s happening in your race.”

Kenyatta said he would focus on launching the largest partisan voter-registration campaign in history and rebranding the national image of the party.

“We cannot as a party spend the next four years being a foil to somebody else. I’m not a Democrat because I hate Republicans, I’m a Democrat because the Democratic Party, when it’s at its best, is delivering for the people I love best in the world.”

Virginia McGregor, a longtime Democratic donor and Biden supporter from Scranton, is the current treasurer of the DNC and is running to retain the volunteer position. Other executive positions up for election include a vice chair for civic engagement and participation, national finance chair, and secretary.

These races are taking place amid a competitive race for DNC chair. The top candidates are Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler; Minnesota Democratic chair Ken Martin; Martin O’Malley, a former governor of Maryland who ran for president in 2016; and James Skoufis, a New York state senator, according to the New York Times.

Martin, who also serves as a DNC vice chair elected by other state party chairs, has called for a third-party audit of the DNC’s infrastructure in the wake of the 2024 election, according to NBC.

Kenyatta did not say whom he is backing for chair.

Candidates for chair and vice chair positions will debate in a series of virtual and in-person forums in coming weeks, and then the roughly 400 members of the Democratic National Committee elect new members on Feb. 1 in Baltimore.

Here are the other people running to be vice chair at-large of the DNC: