Skoufis launches campaign to become DNC chair

In the days following last month’s elections, as Democrats across the state and across the country began analyzing what went wrong for the party as it lost the presidency and both houses of Congress, state Sen. James Skoufis spoke up. He posted an eight-part thread on X laying out his takeaways from his own reelection in a purple district won by Donald Trump. “It’s not rocket science,” Skoufis wrote, before offering points including “show up everywhere,” “spread a populist message,” and “stop engaging in woke politics.”

It turns out Skoufis was previewing his national platform for the party. On Saturday, he announced a run for chair of the Democratic National Committee, promising to bring the lessons he’s learned winning in a purple district to the Democratic Party writ large. He called his home of Orange County – which includes urban, exurban, suburban and rural portions – “a microcosm, where most Democrats aren’t winning anymore, or struggle to eke it out.” By contrast, Skoufis touted in his campaign launch, he “won on tough Trump turf – three times.” 

On Election Day, Skoufis won reelection by over 13 percentage points. That’s a stark improvement from 2022, when his Republican challenger came within two percentage points of defeating him. This time around, Skoufis was aided by the presence of a Conservative third-party candidate, who appeared to siphon some votes away from his Republican challenger. Skoufis ran over 23 points ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the district by double digits.

Despite his impressive electoral history, Skoufis doesn’t hold any party leadership positions in Orange County, let alone with his chamber’s campaign arm or the New York Democratic Committee. His own attempts at playing kingmaker in the Hudson Valley haven’t amounted to much. He endorsed former staffer Gabi Madden, who challenged democratic socialist Assembly Member Saraha Shrestha in a nearby district and was soundly defeated. Part of his sales pitch also lies in his electoral prowess in swing districts. 

Skoufis’ comfortable reelection victory was not unique but part of a larger string of Democratic victories across New York state. While Democrats faced tough losses across the country, they performed fairly well in the state, flipping three seats and holding onto two other swing districts. Skoufis’ state Senate district overlaps entirely with the 18th Congressional District, represented by Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, who also held onto his seat in a tough district where he comfortably overperformed Harris. Ryan offered his own election postmortem, which had similarities to Skoufis’ takeaways, but struck a different tone. “First and foremost, if you're using the words ‘moderate’ or ‘progressive,’ you're missing the whole f***ing point,” Ryan wrote in his own thread on X.

Scott Minkoff, associate professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz, told City & State that Skoufis’ bid to lead the national Democratic party faces steep odds. “He won a swing district, not even in a very high-salience election or a state election or something like that, right? Like a good governor or congressional race or something? So I don't know, it's weird.”

But political consultant Alec Lewis, who has worked with Skoufis during previous reelection campaigns, said that while he’s entering the DNC chair race as an outsider, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible he’ll win. “I think what's exciting about this is that he genuinely feels that he has nothing to lose and only everything to gain,” he said. And for Skoufis, his lack of party leadership credentials is a bonus, not a potential detriment. “We’ve tried the operative approach and machine approach, yet here we are,” Skoufis told City & State. “There’s an enormous appetite to try something new… All we should care about as a party is getting back to winning.”

Skoufis has painted himself as an outsider for the DNC position, which is certainly true when it comes to Beltway politics. The state legislator is virtually unknown in D.C. “His views and that of his district should certainly be represented in the Party’s leadership,” said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party. “The biggest hurdle is the amount of ground to cover getting to know DNC members who vote in the process.” Skoufis told City & State that he has already made around 100 calls to voting members so far, and that the response has been “exceptionally positive.”

The Cornwall Democrat is no Albany outsider. He has held a position in the state Legislature for a decade, first in the Assembly and now in the state Senate. Considered particularly ambitious by political insiders, Skoufis has long been rumored to be eyeing a seat in Congress. But he denied that his DNC chair run is a preview for a congressional campaign against neighboring Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is publicly exploring a run for governor. 

Some in the Hudson Valley view the move as nothing more than an exercise in profile building, ahead of an eventual run for higher office. If that’s the case, it seems to be working. His run for DNC chair has already netted him a Newsnation appearance and a splashy write-up in The New York Times – the first time he’s been featured in the paper since his wedding announcement in 2017.

Skoufis said if he wins the election to be DNC chair, he will give up his seat in the state Senate next year after the budget passes. That means that his hard fought, purple seat will become open, to be determined in a special election with candidates chosen by the very machine politics that he decries. But he’s confident that the district will remain blue even if he leaves. “I’m fully committed to keeping the seat in Democratic hands and believe a special election is eminently winnable with a strong, independent-minded Democrat,” he said.