AUSTIN, Texas -- Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe saw the recent headlines about turmoil within the Democratic National Committee and had a visceral reaction: Quit complaining and get to work.
McAuliffe, a former chairman of the DNC, called on Democrats to focus on their opportunities for winning back power in the November election at a time when President Trump has struggled with soft approval ratings and Republicans are clinging to their narrow majorities in Congress.
"Enough of the hand-wringing. Enough of the lemon-sucking. We are in the best political position we have been in a decade," McAuliffe said in an interview, a message he delivered in a speech to the DNC's summer meeting Saturday.
Emerging from the "DSA summer" dominated by headlines about hard-left insurgents, Democrats are trying to present a laser focus on coming midterm elections and a big-tent approach as the primary season comes to a close. Races across the nation exposed divisions between progressives and Democratic socialists who have energized primary voters, and center-left establishment Democrats who are wary of their left-wing proposals.
Republicans have pointed to the wins by candidates who identify with the Democratic Socialists of America, including in races in New York, Colorado, Michigan and elsewhere, as evidence the party is too radical to be trusted in power.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has warned that voters would need to choose between common sense or the "dangerous, deadly road of communism."
Democratic Party officials were gathered in Texas this week to complete their election schedule for the 2028 presidential primaries, which passed Saturday on a voice vote. That effort has been overshadowed by months of worries about the DNC's financial outlook and debt level, questions about DNC Chair Ken Martin's willingness to work with party donors and to make media appearances.
Martin's decision to release an incomplete internal "autopsy" of the 2024 elections in May called into question his leadership among national Democrats, and the chairman faced more questions in July when media reports described tensions with the DNC's headquarters, including a New York Times report of Martin throwing a phone at a DNC aide's desk, prompting a human-resources complaint.
Martin, in an interview with MS Now along the meeting's sidelines, denied the accounts.
"At the end of the day, what we are focused on right now is drowning all that noise and actually focus on the elections in 80 days," he said.
Martin, during one appearance before members, recalled his disillusionment with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, his political mentor, when Wellstone supported the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage federally as only between a man and a woman.
Martin, who rose through the ranks in political positions in Kansas and Minnesota, said that one-time disappointment with Wellstone was instructive.
"We don't tell people they can't belong because they have a different opinion. We don't push people out because they don't accept the norms," Martin said. "Yes, it means it's messy. I don't agree with everyone in the party all the time."
McAuliffe said in his address that he often hears plenty of talk about labels -- DSA, liberal, moderate, progressive, centrist. "I want to hear the word 'Democrat.' That's who you are."
Some DNC members suggested that winning would solve many of the party's woes at the end of Trump's second term.
"Voters don't care about internal squabbles," said Reyna Walters-Morgan, a DNC vice chair. "What they care about is how are we going to get rid of this administration?"
There were signs of friction along the sidelines of the meeting. Members of the DNC's Black Caucus pressed Martin to devote money to fund get-out-the-vote efforts in addition to the regular payments to state parties. "Mr. Chairman, the money must match the message," said Charlie Staten, the panel's vice chairman, after Martin wrapped up his remarks to the group.
DNC officials say they have made historic investments into reaching Black and Latino voters, including through programs that strengthen voter infrastructure in southern states, help register voters and increase organizing of voters around the country.
Martin received a show of support among the members, which includes state party chairs and other allies, who noted that the DNC has raised more money in recent months than it had raised during the same period in the 2017-18 cycle, when Democrats were out of power during the start of Trump's first term.
"We've worked harder to convert cash into political assets earlier than ever, rather than hoarding that cash in D.C., so we can win up and down the ballot all across the country in 2026," said Chris Lowe, the DNC's finance co-chair.
Still, the DNC ended June with more than $18 million in debt and more than $16 million in cash on hand, according to the most recent data available, and has been outraised by Republicans, who have the benefit of holding the White House. The Republican National Committee ended June with $128 million and no debt, according to federal filings.
Martin said he would be "bringing in more reinforcements" to help with fundraising ahead of the November elections. He didn't elaborate.
During Saturday's meeting, the DNC ratified an overhauled presidential calendar of early primaries in 2028, which will be kicked off by South Carolina on Jan. 22, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1, New Hampshire on Feb. 8, New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22 and Virginia on Feb. 29.
The calendar was approved over the objection of DNC members from Iowa, which held a leadoff role in the party's nomination process for decades but saw its status diminished following a botched Democratic vote-counting effort in 2020.
Rita Hart, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said the "calendar fundamentally misses the mark." The Midwest, she noted, wouldn't hold a contest within the first four states.
But advocates for the revamped schedule, the most significant change in two decades, said the plan would elevate Black and Latino voters and force candidates to appeal to voters across the nation.