The Democratic National Committee on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new voter registration initiative aimed at reversing years of Democratic losses in party enrollment. It includes the launch of a seven-figure pilot program in Arizona and Nevada as part of a broader national strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin said the program, dubbed “When We Count,” will train hundreds of paid fellows to register tens of thousands of new Democratic voters, marking the party’s largest-ever investment in partisan voter registration. The effort will initially focus on fast-growing Sun Belt states with tight congressional margins before expanding nationwide.
“For too long, Democrats have ceded ground to Republicans on registering voters,” Martin said during a press call. He pointed to a net loss of 2.1 million registered Democrats nationally between 2020 and 2024, while Republicans added roughly 2.4 million voters during the same period.
The initiative represents a strategic shift away from Democrats’ long-standing reliance on nonpartisan nonprofit groups to conduct voter registration. Martin argued that legal restrictions on those organizations limit their ability to engage voters around party values and candidates, contributing to the growth of unaffiliated voters rather than registered Democrats.
Under the new program, fellows will conduct traditional voter registration while also targeting younger voters outside four-year college campuses, including working-class and non-college voters ages 18 to 29. The DNC plans to work with all 57 state and territorial Democratic parties to build similar efforts nationwide, tailored to each state’s election laws.
Arizona and Nevada were selected as the first pilot states because of widening registration gaps and razor-thin election margins. Martin said Arizona lost nearly 186,000 registered Democrats between 2020 and 2024, while Republicans expanded their registration advantage by nearly 4 percentage points. In Nevada, Democrats’ statewide registration edge has narrowed to just a few thousand voters, while roughly 160,000 Latino voters remain unregistered.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said the growing registration gap in Arizona forced Democrats to rely heavily on independents and crossover Republican voters in recent elections, an approach he warned is not sustainable.
“That’s not the way you want to win every time,” Gallego said, adding that registering voters as Democrats triggers ongoing engagement that unaffiliated voters often do not receive.
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), who represents a competitive Nevada district, said the effort lays the foundation for winning close races. “We don’t win without the investment,” Horsford said, emphasizing the need for sustained organizing in both urban and rural communities.
Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno and Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Charlene Fernandez highlighted early voter registration efforts already underway, including outreach at community colleges, farmers’ markets, and in rural areas.
The rollout comes as Martin faces mounting pressure from House Democrats in competitive districts over the party’s midterm election strategy. In a closed-door December meeting, vulnerable incumbents confronted Martin over what they described as weak DNC fundraising and an approach that prioritizes state party building over direct financial support for House campaigns, according to reporting from Punchbowl News.
Lawmakers urged Martin to send more money directly to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, while others pushed back on his messaging guidance.
The exchange underscored a widening divide between incumbents focused on reclaiming the House in 2026 and a party chairman betting on long-term infrastructure and voter registration to rebuild Democratic strength.
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Martin acknowledged the urgency of the midterm election cycle but defended the strategy, arguing that closing registration gaps is essential to winning close races and sustaining Democratic power beyond a single election.
“We refuse to be reactive,” Martin said. “How we win matters, and one of the ways we win is by creating more Democrats.”