NY State Sen. James Skoufis Launches Bid for DNC Chair

State Sen. James Skoufis speaks during a news conference in New Windsor, N.Y., on Feb. 22, 2023. Cara Ding/The Epoch Times

New York state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat who has carried Republican-leaning Hudson Valley districts for seven consecutive terms, said he knows how to get his party back to its working-class roots, to its “big tent” tradition, and to winning.

He tossed his hat into the open race for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair on Nov. 30 in a video announcement on social media platform X.

Jaime Harrison, the current DNC chair, is not seeking reelection following the party’s loss of the presidency and Congress in November.

“The strongest skill set that I bring to the DNC and to the party is knowing how to win,” Skoufis told The Epoch Times in an interview on Dec. 2.

“We need to build a big, broad coalition such that the Democratic Party can dominate again in American electoral politics. That means doing well not just in blue areas, not even just in purple areas, but doing a lot better in red areas too.”

Twelve years ago, at 25, Skoufis entered state politics by flipping a longtime Republican Assembly seat and being elected as the youngest lawmaker in the lower chamber.

After successfully carrying the seat for three two-year terms, he eyed a longtime Republican state Senate seat in the fall of 2018 and became part of the blue wave that flipped the upper chamber to Democratic control for the first time in a decade.

As a state senator, Skoufis has made working- and middle-class families a priority in his legislative work, including expanding pre-kindergarten slots in public schools to reduce child care costs and having examined business tax incentive programs for potential taxpayer savings, according to a previous interview with The Epoch Times.

“Both my mom and dad worked very hard to earn their way into the middle class,” said Skoufis, who spent the first several years of his life in a public housing complex in New York City before moving with his parents to suburban Orange County.

“I am always interested in what I can do to provide the same opportunities to bring one’s family up, and importantly, once families are there, to ensure that they remain in the middle class, which is becoming more and more difficult for a lot of people.”

In November, Skoufis defended his Senate seat for the fourth time with a significantly increased margin of victory, in part by picking up new votes in deep-red precincts.

His district, which covers most of Orange County, went for President-elect Donald Trump by about 10 percentage points, whereas Skoufis carried it by 14 percentage points against his Republican challenger.

In a post-election analysis on X, Skoufis said his winning strategy includes listening and responding to the concerns of ordinary people, reaching out to every corner of his constituency regardless of party affiliations, and shunning identity and “woke” politics.

“For the past 12 years, in a very Trump district, I am able to talk to all types of voters, and as DNC chair, I would do so too,” he told The Epoch Times.

“The next DNC chair must go out to every corner of this country, like I’ve gone out to every corner of our constituency, to rebuild those bridges, rebuild that trust, and start winning again.”

Largely unknown outside of New York politics, Skoufis entered the race with no existing relationships with party stakeholders beyond the Empire State—an underdog position that he said he is fully aware of and ready to play to his advantage.

Skoufis said he reached out to about 100 DNC members within days of entering the race, and said he plans to visit key states in the coming weeks.

“What I have found is that DNC members understand that we have to try something new and that there is an enormous appetite for this type of outsider bid,” he told the publication.

By press time, four other candidates had joined the DNC chair race. They are Ken Martin, DNC vice chair and chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party; Martin O'Malley, Social Security Administration commissioner and former Maryland governor; former U.S. Senate candidate Robert Houton; and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler.

Acknowledging that his bid for DNC chair has become almost a full-time job, Skoufis said he will still find ways to deliver district priorities in the state budget negotiations that start in January.

“I am going to be working around the clock, likely working 100 hours a week for some time,” he told The Epoch Times.

On Feb. 1, a total of 448 DNC members will gather at the National Harbor in Maryland for their annual winter meeting and cast votes for their next chair, according to the DNC.

Should Skoufis be elected, he said he would see to the entire state budget negotiations, which typically end in April, before resigning from the state Senate to run the party full time.

The DNC will host four candidate forums in January, and qualified candidates likely need signatures from at least 40 DNC members, as was observed in the past election cycle. More details on forum eligibility will be released by the DNC in coming weeks.