The Democratic National Committee — the organization that runs the Democratic Party's national operations — started the final 100 days before the November 2026 elections about $2 million in debt. At the same time, the Republican National Committee had about $130 million in cash ready to spend, according to The New York Times.

The gap goes deeper than just the bank account. The DNC used its own Washington, D.C. headquarters building as a guarantee to borrow $15 million, according to deed records reported by Notus and cited by The Guardian. In simple terms, this means the DNC put up its building as a promise to repay the loan. If they cannot pay it back, the lender could claim the property.

Fox News reported that the committee spent over $800,000 on places like the U.S. Virgin Islands — territories whose residents cannot vote in presidential elections — while carrying that debt (Fox News). The New York Times also reported that the DNC asked the companies it works with to hold off on sending their bills until after the November elections. Executive director Roger Lau called these "standard negotiations with vendors over contracts and payment processes" (NYT).

The problems are not only about money. In early July 2026, the DNC's chairman, Ken Martin, threw his phone in the direction of a junior staff member's desk during a heated argument, as first reported by The New York Times on July 26 (NYT). The incident led to a formal complaint to the committee's human resources department and an internal investigation. The New York Times reported that the episode almost cost Martin his job.

HuffPost reported that Martin is also losing allies within the committee (HuffPost). A former DNC official told Fox News that Martin was "weak, ineffective." Labor leaders have resigned from the committee during his time as chair, and the DNC's fundraising continues to trail behind the Republicans' (Fox News).

Martin took over as chairman after the Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election. His first year has been turbulent. In May 2026, the DNC released a report examining what went wrong in that election, partly blaming aides to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for Harris's loss. The New York Times described the report as widely seen as poorly done. The Arab American Institute called it incomplete and said it caused more fighting within the party (AAI). The report had been delayed before it was finally released. Martin said he published it in the name of transparency after months of criticism.

That release led to calls for Martin to resign, including from David Hogg, who had been a DNC vice-chair. Hogg publicly urged Martin to step down over the delayed report. Hogg's own time at the DNC had been difficult: The New York Times reported in June 2025 that he planned to leave after facing pushback over a proposal to get involved in Democratic primary races against sitting lawmakers. He ultimately resigned after what The Guardian described as a philosophical disagreement with Martin that could not be resolved (The Guardian).

Martin defended the committee's finances in a May 2026 message on the DNC's own Blueprint website. He wrote that the DNC made a deliberate choice to spend money on election efforts rather than saving it, and said the committee had increased donations from large donors compared to similar periods in past years (Blueprint).

As of July 2026, the DNC's official website has no statement from Martin or the committee directly addressing the financial scrutiny, the internal turmoil, or the phone-throwing incident. The most recent statements on democrats.org cover unrelated topics, including Supreme Court rulings and commemorative events.

The broader context here is a party committee dealing with three problems at once: a cash shortage, a leader whose credibility is in question, and an election season where the opposing party has about 65 times more money ready to spend. Borrowing $15 million against your own headquarters is not unheard of for a major political party. But combining that with unpaid bills and a bank account in the red suggests a committee that is struggling to keep operating through November. Martin's argument is that the spending was a deliberate investment in winning elections, not a failure of management. That argument will be tested against the results on November 3, 2026, and against whether the party's major donors keep their patience after a year of controversy.

What remains unresolved is whether the investigation into the phone-throwing incident leads to formal consequences before the elections, and whether Martin's shrinking group of supporters holds together long enough for the election results to serve as the judgment his defense implies they will.