Ken Martin has already garnered the endorsement of 83 members of the Democratic National Committee — nearly one-fifth of the body.

The chairman of Minnesota Democrats, he has longstanding connections to many of the Democratic National Committee members who will choose their next leader.

The 50-state strategy is one that former DNC Chair Howard Dean subscribed to during his tenure from 2005 to 2009. The strategy committed money and helped build up party infrastructure in every state, even those that reliably voted Republican in presidential races, to create Democratic victories at all levels of government.