Why Democrats Can't Wait for the DNC to Fix the Infrastructure Problem

Published: June 24th, 2026

Table of contents

1. The DNC's Infrastructure Problem Isn't New

2. Winning Elections Is Not the Same as Building Power

3. What the DNC Was Actually Built For

4. What Democrats Keep Ignoring About Republicans’ Strategy

5. The Democratic Innovation Fund: A New Vision for Party Infrastructure

6. The Democratic Innovation Fund: A New Vision for Party Infrastructure

7. NDTC Is Already Proving It Works

NDTC Founder and CEO Kelly Dietrich published an op-ed in The Hill in June 2026 with a message Democrats need to hear: the DNC cannot fix the party's infrastructure problem, and expecting it to is the mistake that keeps setting us back.

Read the full piece at The Hill: The DNC can't fix Democrats' infrastructure problem.

Here's a breakdown of what Kelly argues and why it matters for every Democrat working to build long-term power.

The DNC's Infrastructure Problem Isn't New

The DNC's "After Action" report on the 2024 cycle delivers the same diagnosis Democrats have been repeating for a decade: we need a stronger staff pipeline, more support for down-ballot campaigns, and a real 50-state strategy.

"Yet here we are in 2026, still without durable party infrastructure and missing something fundamentally important,” Kelly argues in The Hill.

The problem isn't just that the report is late or that its recommendations are stale. It's that Democrats keep treating the DNC as the organization responsible for solving a problem it was never designed to fix.

Winning Elections Is Not the Same as Building Power

The DNC's chronic leadership turnover, its focus on presidential cycles, and its structural limitations mean that real, durable infrastructure that organizes year-round, develops staff over multiple cycles, and invests in down-ballot races even when nobody is watching can't realistically be built from inside the DNC.

The core of Kelly’s argument lay here: "Winning elections is not the same thing as building power. Democrats need to start doing both." This is a truth that every Democrat who cares about the long game needs to sit with.

A wave year gets candidates elected. Infrastructure keeps them there, builds the bench behind them, and sets up the cycles that follow.

What the DNC Was Actually Built For

Kelly isn’t criticizing the DNC for doing its job badly; he’s recognizing that the party has been assigning the DNC a job it was never designed to do.

As Jen Psaki recently said, the DNC chair's role is to raise money and take on the opposition. That’s an important job, but distinct from a role that builds the kind of permanent, year-round infrastructure that develops field organizers, trains finance directors, and supports competitive campaigns in every state, every cycle.

Kelly adds, "The DNC has a revolving door of leadership, whether it is the party chair or senior staff. Their job is to win the White House every four years and build a war chest. No one is thinking about the 50-year or 50-state strategy when their job is on the line to deliver in the next election cycle."

What Democrats Keep Ignoring About Republicans’ Strategy

Kelly calls out what Democrats are missing: for decades, Republicans have invested in parallel infrastructure outside the RNC — organizations like the Koch Network and Turning Point USA — built to outlast any single candidate, election cycle, or party chair.

That approach has meant consistent investment in volunteer development, year-round voter contact, and staff training that doesn't evaporate after Election Day. Democrats, by contrast, have treated organizations working on this outside the party structure as peripheral at best, or competition at worst.

Kelly argues that it has to change, writing, "We have a scattered ecosystem of strong-willed pockets of organizing power who have the ability to do this work smarter, faster and cheaper, but no real strategy to bring about whole-scale change."

The Democratic Innovation Fund: A New Vision for Party Infrastructure

Kelly’s proposal in The Hill is clear: the DNC should create a Democratic Innovation Fund with a singular focus on what too often gets ignored. That’s giving down-ballot campaigns the fundamental skills and resources they lack, organizing year-round regardless of whether it's an election year, and building strategy for the long term rather than just the next cycle.

The DNC chair should focus on what the role is actually built for: fundraising and taking on the opposition. The infrastructure building — the work that wins in 2027, 2028, and beyond — needs a dedicated home outside the direct party apparatus, one built to last.

Kelly explains that “A single fund could change that, creating space for collaboration and forward-looking investment, especially as new tools like AI are actively revolutionizing campaigning.” It would create long-term investments that the current fragmented ecosystem can't achieve on its own.

NDTC Is Already Proving It Works

Kelly has been leading this work through NDTC since 2016 — training candidates and staff year-round, across every level of the ballot, in every state, regardless of the political calendar.

This year alone, NDTC saw a surge in sign-ups from Democrats who want to run for office and work on campaigns. We’ve trained more than 1,000 primary winners this year alone, already closing in on our 2024 total for the year. The demand is there. What's missing is the national-level investment to make it scale.

Kelly concludes, "I have seen real momentum on the ground since last year... But we can't keep making the same mistake we always do when Democrats clinch a victory — celebrate and expect to ride the same coattails to the next election."

Read the full op-ed in The Hill: The DNC can't fix Democrats' infrastructure problem

And if you're ready to be part of the solution — whether you're thinking about running for office, building your campaign skills, or joining a campaign staff — NDTC's free trainings are waiting for you.