Progressive activist David Hogg said he won’t seek to continue as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee after the DNC called for a redo of the February election that elevated him to the post.
Shortly after the DNC announced it would hold new elections Thursday for two vice chair positions held by Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as a result of a procedural challenge, Hogg announced he wouldn’t be a candidate.
The decision comes amid a public spat with the DNC and its chairman, Ken Martin, over Hogg’s decision to support primary challenges to Democratic incumbents, a spat that loomed over the vote even though it wasn’t directly related to the challenge that ultimately led the party to call for a new election.
Hogg made the announcement in a lengthy statement that criticized the Democratic Party for a lack of vision and a refusal to pass the torch to the next generation. But his discussion about the DNC and the vice chairmanship specifically was more muted.
“I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our party needs. It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair — and it’s okay to have disagreements. What isn’t okay is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on,” he said in the statement.
“Ultimately, I have decided to not run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters. I need to do this work with Leaders We Deserve, and it is going to remain my number one mission to build the strongest party possible.”
Martin praised Hogg’s for the party in a brief statement, saying, “I appreciate his service as an officer, his hard work, and his dedication to the party.”
“I commend David for his years of activism, organizing, and fighting for his generation, and while I continue to believe he is a powerful voice for this party, I respect his decision to step back from his post as Vice Chair. I have no doubt that he will remain an important advocate for Democrats across the map,” Martin said.
Follow live politics coverage here
The DNC had voted hours earlier to accept a recommendation from its Credentials Committee that the party hold two new vice chair elections because it found the DNC mistakenly created an advantage for the two male candidates, Hogg and Kenyatta, as it managed the internal elections at the end of a marathon February party meeting in Washington.
On Wednesday evening, the DNC announced that 75% of the votes its members cast in a virtual election were in favor of the recommendation, a vote of 294-99. It said 89% of its members participated in the virtual election.
Because DNC rules require equal gender representation on its executive committee, not including the party chair, the results of elections in February meant the DNC had to elect at least one man to its final two vice chair slots. But instead of holding individual votes for each position, one to be filled by a man and one by a candidate of any gender, the party decided to hold one vote to decide who took the final two slots.
Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman Kalyn Free, who unsuccessfully ran against Hogg and Kenyatta in February, petitioned the DNC for a redo, claiming the decision to combine the ballots unfairly benefited Hogg and Kenyatta over the female candidates who were eligible for the final vice chair slot.
Though Free’s challenge was filed well before Hogg’s public spat with Martin, Hogg framed the decision last month as proof that the party was trying to strip him of his title over his support for primary challenges to Democratic incumbents. Martin and Kenyatta vehemently disagreed with his framing: Martin blamed a “procedural error” from “before I became chair” for the episode, and Kenyatta criticized Hogg for distracting from the party’s work by arguing the vote amounted to personal retribution.
After the new election was called, Kenyatta said in a statement that “now we can almost bring this chapter to a close,” adding that he looked forward to “making my case to DNC members and our party as a whole” in the snap election.
“We need a strong Democratic Party and I hope we come out of this stronger and focused on the work ahead,” he said.
With Hogg’s decision to step aside, Kenyatta is assured of winning his vice chair position back by the end of the week. The party will effectively be replacing Hogg with the winner of a subsequent vice chair election among the three candidates who were on the final ballot in February.
Tensions between Hogg and the party have been brewing for months, since he telegraphed his decision to back Democratic primary challenges through a political group he started, Leaders We Deserve. Hogg, who rose to prominence as a political activist after he was one of the victims of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, argued in his statement Wednesday night that his mission to push the Democratic Party toward “a new vision for the future and leaders to bring us there” was most important to him, as he accused Democrats of thinking too small.
“After seeing a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel, and Democrats dying in office that have helped to hand Republicans an expanded majority, it became clear that Leaders We Deserve had to start primarying incumbents and directly challenging the culture of seniority politics that brought our party to this place to help get our party into fighting shape again,” he said.
Ahead of the vote, Politico published a short clip of an internal Democratic Party call on which Martin vented his frustration with Hogg, saying the fight has “essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.”
The leak prompted another round of finger-pointing, with prominent DNC members accusing Hogg or his allies of orchestrating it. Hogg vehemently denied that and published a screenshot that he said showed his text messages with the reporter who published the story.
Even if Hogg had decided to run again and won his seat back, Martin has said he would propose a neutrality pledge for officers that could have forced Hogg to choose between his party role and his role with the outside group he founded.
