MSNBC Live To Co-Host and Stream Final DNC Leadership Forum (Updated)

Live from Washington, D.C., it’s the latest edition of MSNBC Live. The cable network’s in-person event division is co-hosting the fourth and final Democratic National Committee leadership forum alongside Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service on Jan. 30.

This is the last forum before the Feb. 1 elections that will determine the DNC’s future leadership. And you don’t have to be in the nation’s capital to hear from the candidates competing for open roles. MSNBC will livestream the event in its entirety on the network’s official YouTube channel starting Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

“As the Trump White House issues executive orders at an aggressive pace, the Democratic Party is still very much honing in on what it will look like as an opposition party,” Luke Russert, MSNBC Live’s creative director, tells TVNewser.

“What’s their messaging strategy in the current media environment? What will they do to win back the voters they lost? What’s the future of political organizing and getting out the vote? The forum will help answer these important questions and provide valuable insight into the inner workings of the DNC at a time when the party is undergoing a substantive transformation.”

The DNC leadership forum follows a bruising election cycle for the Democrats that saw control of the White House, as well as both Congressional bodies, revert to Republican control. Current DNC chair Jamie Harrison has already said he won’t be seeking a second term, and the eight candidates vying to replace him include Quintessa Hathaway, Ken Martin, Martin O’Malley, Jason Paul, James Skoufis, Nate Snyder, Ben Wikler, Marianne Williamson.

On Tuesday, Martin—the chairman of the Minnesota Democrats—indicated that he had the support of 200 party members, putting him within striking distance of the DNC chair position. Other strong candidates include Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democrats, and O’Malley, the current governor of Maryland.

Representing MSNBC Live on the ground for the final forum are hosts Jonathan Capehart, Jen Psaki, and Symone Sanders-Townsend. They’ll take part in a series of moderated discussions with candidates alongside Russert and Mo Elleithee, the institute’s executive director.

“What the future of the Democratic Party looks like is one of the great questions in politics today, so hosting this forum and giving our students the chance to hear from—and directly question—those who seek to lead the DNC was a no-brainer,” Elleithee said in a statement. “We are thrilled to once again co-host with MSNBC to take this conversation to a broader audience.”

MSNBC Live is coming off of a busy 2024 that saw it expand its offerings from an invite-only Washington, D.C. event last March to a Comic-Con like takeover over of the Brooklyn Academy of Music in September. TVNewser was in the house for the afternoon portion of the latter event—officially titled MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024—and watched 4,000 of the network’s most devoted fans cheer, applaud, and snap selfies with their favorite hosts, including Joy Reid and Alex Wagner.

Democracy 2024 notably wasn’t livestreamed on YouTube, although portions of the event were compiled into a two-hour recap program that aired on the network on Sept. 14. Using that platform to as its hub for the DNC forum indicates how MSNBC is expanding its digital footprint as part of the news industry’s larger shift away from linear programming.

MSNBC estimates that it attracted 3.1 billion viewers to its YouTube channel in 2024, making it the year’s most-watched news outlet on the platform. The network also reports six billion video views across its various social media accounts, including Instagram, the nearly-imperiled TikTok, and X, formerly Twitter. Year-to-year, MSNBC estimates a +32% spike in its YouTube audience, and a +109% rise in its social video views.

That digital performance—and the growth of the MSNBC Live brand—balances MSNBC’s recent linear ratings struggles following Donald Trump‘s victory in the presidential election and return to the Oval Office. This year, the network also faces the departure of its popular president, Rashida Jones, and an impending split from the NBCUniversal News Group to join SpinCo alongside many of NBCUniversal’s other cable assets, including CNBC.

But MSNBC is also counting on its audience to tune back in as the new administration starts generating headlines. To that end, star anchor Rachel Maddow is returning to a Monday thru Friday schedule for Trump’s first 100 days, and new podcasts and other offerings are in the works. Don’t be surprised to hear about additional MSNBC Live events as well.

“We already know that we have an incredibly engaged and loyal audience and we know that there is also an appetite for people to gather in person,” Lauren Peikoff, MSNBC’s executive producer of events, told TVNewser last year. “We hope that it provides the audience with a new way to meet us and to consume the content that they love already.”

—This post has been updated to include Russert’s comments and new details about the race for DNC chair