New York’s Democratic Party has a leadership fight on its hands as election season heats up, with longtime state party Chair Jay Jacobs facing a challenge from Otsego County Democratic Party Chair Caitlin Ogden.

Both Ogden and Jacobs spoke with Capital Tonight on Monday.

Ogden stressed that the party under Jacobs lacks a unified vision for what it should look like in the Trump era, and how it should address the concerns voters have about Democrats.

While the wind may appear to be at the party’s back heading into a midterm in which conventional wisdom suggests the environment is tilting in their favor, Democrats have struggled in recent years with identity issues and a national reckoning over messaging and outreach in the aftermath of the 2024 election.

“I have been waiting to see someone step up to lead our committee that actually has a vision for delivering for what voters are asking for,” Ogden said.

In a challenge she said largely centers on fine-tuning statewide fundraising and campaigning efforts, Ogden points to Democratic struggles in New York in 2022 and argues that, despite improvements in 2024 under a heavy push by Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the party still needs a stronger year-round statewide operation.

“Increase the boots-on-the-ground efforts to get Democrats to run for office, get them to win when they run for office. Get them to win when they run for office and rebuild the brand of the party in huge swaths of upstate New York as well as downstate and Staten Island,” Ogden said.

Jacobs has served two stints as party chair, from 2009 to 2012 and since 2019, and has survived efforts to oust him including after the 2022 election. Jacobs said Monday he is taking the challenge “seriously,” but expressed confidence he will be reelected Oct. 1.

“I’m as excited as I’ve been, and especially in this political environment I’m excited to engage in this election,” Jacobs said.

Over the weekend, Hochul gave Jacobs her backing in her capacity as state party chair leader, but he has faced criticism from Ogden and others for his efforts to avoid primary challenges to incumbents and, in some cases, for not supporting Democratic candidates after they win.

“We have to hold up every corner of the big tent if we want to be successful,” Ogden said.

That criticism has especially centered on Jacobs’ decision not to endorse Zohran Mamdani after Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor in 2025. Jacobs cited disagreements with Mamdani’s views on Israel and his affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America.

“I stand on principle, and I’m going to stand on what I did before,” Jacobs said when asked about that decision.

Jacobs, meanwhile, countered that Ogden and others who oppose his leadership lack an understanding of the complexities of the state and what it takes to win in difficult and sometimes Republican-leaning areas. Associated with the state Democrats’ more moderate wing and critical of DSA influence, he has accused some within the party of pushing progressive policies that are not in line with large swaths of New York.

“You have other people in the party who want to have everybody stick to a much more far-left position and that won’t work everywhere. My job is to elect Democrats in the districts that they’re in,” Jacobs said.

The showdown comes amid the gubernatorial campaign between Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. At a campaign rally this weekend, Hochul pointed to the party’s performance in New York’s 2024 congressional battlegrounds as evidence of the statewide operation’s success.

“We opened up 42 field offices; we hired 100 people, all with the money I raised in the state party because I said I want to unleash this, and we won five out of seven battleground races; it was extraordinary,” Hochul said. “This year we run up the score. We keep the ones we won, we have more pickups all the way from Blake in the North Country to Cait Conley.”

But Ogden argued that under that approach and Jacobs’ leadership, Democrats are missing key opportunities to make promises to voters and then deliver on them.

“We need to speak to those voters with real achievable ideas and then when we get elected on them— we have to deliver,” Ogden said.

Members of the state Democratic committee will vote on the party chair on Oct. 1. The winner will serve a two-year term.