Newton attorney and political strategist Jason Paul announced his campaign for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday.
As DNC chair, Paul would overhaul the national Democratic Party’s approach to elections, according to the announcement posted to his Substack.
“What we’re doing now simply isn’t working,” Paul said. “We have lost three of the last five national elections; we can’t continue the same approach and expect a better result.”
Paul said the party should focus on reducing fundraising text messages, a strategy that he sees as a disservice to Democratic supporters.
“We need to stop the damn texts,” Paul said. “If you had a friend who asked you ten times a day for money, how long would that person remain your friend? The Democratic Party needs to stop treating its most loyal supporters as ATM machines and start treating them like the partners they should be.”
His decision to run comes in light of the results of the 2024 election, explained Paul in an earlier announcement, where he expressed fear for the next four years under Donald Trump.
“My hope is that by entering this race I will be able to push the conversation forward on the idea that we need systemic rather than slight changes at the DNC,” Paul said. “These changes are much more in the direction of how we communicate rather than what we communicate.”
Paul, 38, has worked on several political campaigns across much of New England, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. He served as a field organizer for Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s 2021 campaign.
Paul has a bachelor’s degree in politics from Brandeis University and a law degree from the University of Connecticut. He has also written a book, Trench Warfare Politics in the Tinder Era, discussing the past 20 years of American political history.
Serving as an executive member of the Newton Democratic City Committee since April 2016, Paul lives and works in Newton.
Paul said he intends to spend the next several months sharing his ideas with the public, many of which rethink how the Democratic Party operates.
“I’m asking DNC members, and my fellow Democrats, to expand their understanding of what’s possible,” Paul said. “We must switch from tweaking the status quo to a moonshot mindset—what is it going to take to build a durable Democratic majority in this country? And then we need to do that.”
