The Democratic Party is running on fumes: fundraising shortfalls, internal brawling, and a leader who looks rattled while Republicans sit on huge war chests.

The party that controlled the White House is now scrambling to explain how a billion-dollar collapse happened after 2024. Donors are skittish, state parties are underinvested, and national leaders are making decisions that outsiders see as tone-deaf. From finance gaps to management meltdowns, the picture looks alarming for Democrats heading into 2026.

Reports show Democratic fundraising lagging badly, and that gap is real money that impacts campaigns, messaging, and ground games. Republicans are benefiting from stronger donor confidence and massive outside resources that let them plan and spend early. When you can’t afford basic operations and you ask vendors to bill after the midterms, that’s a problem with consequences.

At the national level, the DNC is digging itself into excuses while rivals stockpile cash. A $400 million super PAC controlled by Mr. Trump and roughly $130 million at the RNC give Republicans an enormous tactical advantage. By contrast, the DNC has been reported as being in debt and scrambling to keep state party infrastructure alive.

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Ken Martin, the DNC chair, now figures as central to the story, and not in a flattering way. Accounts describe him as isolated, suspicious of leaks, and prone to public blunders that undermine confidence in his leadership. Those human dynamics matter; donors and activists pay attention to who projects command and stability.

One incident that leaked internally—an alleged phone-throwing episode—added fuel to the narrative that party management is strained and fracturing. Staff morale matters in any organization, and accusations of instability only accelerate the hemorrhaging of support. When top officials are spending time on internal HR complaints instead of organizing and fundraising, voters notice.

At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.

Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.

The fallout from the phone-throwing episode was described by half a dozen people familiar with the incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal party matters. None of them witnessed the encounter, and there was some dispute over how aggressively the phone was tossed. Mr. Martin was said to have thrown the phone at the desk, rather than at the aide.

Mr. Martin later met with D.N.C. human resources officials about his behavior, according to three of the people.

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… the Democratic Party and its allies are far behind Republicans when it comes to money. Mr. Trump controls a $400 million super PAC, and the Republican National Committee is sitting on nearly $130 million. Mr. Martin’s D.N.C. is $2 million in debt.

The committee’s role is not just to help Democrats win back power in the midterms, but also to lead the party into the 2028 presidential race, including by overseeing a new primary calendar while organizing debates and a national convention.

Even supporters acknowledge Mr. Martin’s growing sense of paranoia. He confronted the party’s finance director this spring over what he thought was a budding coup. And before he met with the top congressional Democrats, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in mid-July, assurances were given to an ally of Mr. Martin’s that the two party leaders did not plan to use the gathering to call for the chairman’s resignation.

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In public, Mr. Martin has all but disappeared as a face of the party on television ever since a fumbling April appearance on the liberal podcast Pod Save America, when he faced questions about why he had not released the autopsy. His lone television interview in recent months was on local news in Erie, Pa.

Now, Mr. Martin is both paralyzed by the idea of leaks and surrounded by them. During a May meeting with the full staff of the D.N.C. days after the draft autopsy’s release, he admitted that times were tough and chided the team for revealing to reporters what was happening inside party headquarters.

“It pisses me off when I see leaks out of this building,” Mr. Martin said, according to four people who heard the remarks, adding, “No more.”

There’s also frustration over strategic choices, like pouring money into territories and contests that don’t move the needle on control of Congress. Reports that roughly $840,000 was allocated to territories for contests with no impact on congressional control fuel questions about priorities. When resources are scarce, every dollar should support winnable fights and state party rebuilding where it counts.

The long-delayed autopsy into the 2024 defeat has become another sore point, and the reluctance to publish it only fed suspicion that the report was incomplete. Critics point out that it skirted sensitive topics voters raised in 2024, like the president’s age and fitness. If the goal was clarity and course-correction, a half-finished document and a shrug won’t cut it with donors or voters.

State parties, which should be a core strength for Democrats in down-ballot fights, remain fragile in many places after years of neglect. Rebuilding infrastructure takes sustained investment and competent national coordination, neither of which looks secure right now. That weakness gives Republicans an opening to expand and lock in gains in key states.

The upshot politically is simple: when your party appears chaotic, donors flee, activists get demoralized, and opponents lean into the gap. Republicans have a clear message advantage when the other side is fighting itself and running out of money. For now, the DNC’s troubles are a real-world liability that will be hard to paper over before 2026.