The Democratic National Committee opened its annual summer meeting in Minneapolis on Monday with a blunt assessment of the party’s political health and a fiery call to action from newly elected chair Ken Martin. Speaking to more than 400 state and territorial party officials, Martin said he was “sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight” and urged members to “grow a spine and get in this fight” against President Donald Trump and Republicans. Martin’s appeal comes as Democrats confront a convergence of setbacks. National surveys put the party’s favorability at its lowest level in three decades, with one July Wall Street Journal poll showing support at just 19 percent. New voter-registration data reported by the New York Times indicate Democrats have shed more than two million registrants across 30 states since 2021, while Republican sign-ups rose by about 2.4 million. Financial pressures compound the electoral slide. Federal filings show the DNC trailing the GOP by roughly $70 million in cash on hand, reflecting donor frustration after the party’s 2024 losses of the White House, Senate and additional House seats. Martin acknowledged the gap but argued that adversity offers “only one direction to go, and that’s up.” Delegates opened the meeting with a land acknowledgment and later heard presentations on messaging, including whether to emphasize being “tough on crime” or “serious about safety.” Party leaders also debated how aggressively to confront the Trump administration’s policies and mid-decade redistricting drive. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Senator Amy Klobuchar urged unity, with Klobuchar warning against excessive intra-party criticism. While the DNC pointed to recent special-election wins and high-profile 2026 Senate recruits as evidence the party can rebound, officials left Minneapolis under no illusion about the scale of the challenge. Martin’s mandate, several strategists said, is to translate Monday’s combative rhetoric into a credible plan to rebuild the coalition—and the balance sheet—before next year’s midterms.