A number of party leaders are frustrated that Hogg, who has a leadership position in the party, is pushing primaries against some incumbents in deep-blue seats.
Democratic party leaders Thursday morning admonished officers to not take sides in primaries, addressing a situation involving activist and Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg.
“Let me be unequivocal. No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a press call. “Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open and trusted process, not to tilt the scales.”’
As of now, however, the DNC does not have the power to remove Hogg if he refuses to stand down on funding primary challenges through a separate PAC — unless the body changes its rules, a senior DNC official told NBC News.
“Under the present bylaws, there is no action that can be taken against David Hogg without changing to the bylaws to extend that policy of neutrality to all primaries," DNC Finance Chair Chris Korge told NBC News. "There is no codified, legal way to remove an officer for doing what David Hogg has done because it only extends to the presidential race. "
Korge said that, as of now, the situation is to be addressed at a future meeting, likely in August.
Korge said he believed it was imperative for the body to formally change its bylaws because the party division the Hogg situation has caused harkens to an old ghost Democrats don’t want to revisit.
“It smells like 2016, when progressives said the DNC had it in the bag for Hillary Clinton," Korge said, referencing angst in the party that the DNC had its thumb on the scale to block Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., from the presidential nomination. “No party official, no officer of the DNC, should do anything that would result in the division that was created by the perception that existed back in 2016.”
On Thursday, Martin went on to say he had spoken to Hogg about what he perceived as a conflict but he did not expound on whether he gave him an ultimatum.
“I understand what he’s trying to do,” Martin continued in the press call. “As I’ve said to him, ‘If you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that. But just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be a neutral arbiter. We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time. You have to make a decision.’”
In pushing back on Thursday, Hogg cited Trump’s power clashes with institutions in saying the party needed to take more aggressive actions. He added that he had not violated any DNC bylaws.
“They’re trying to change the rules because I’m not currently breaking them. As we’re seeing law firms, tech companies, and so many others bowing to Trump, we all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hogg said in a statement.
such bullsh!t - Hogg sees they aren’t doing their jobs, they aren’t fighting and they need to go. Good for him.
This is the problem, these establishment Democrats aren’t supporting the people who are willing to fight, they want to write strongly worded letters and consider legislation… those days are gone.
Jefferies needs to be thrown out, Schumer needs to step back or walk away.
I really thought Martin would be good for the party but I’m not seeing it
How dare he rock the boat when the current bunch are doing so well.
Hey man, we gotta be patient, the old guard is really busy doing absolutely nothing
That’s exactly the plan. Schumer has said out loud that the plan is to just let the republicans off the leash, let them sink their own poll numbers and hope they teach the voters a lesson.
That lesson, of course, being that you can put a Democrat in office to do nothing, or you can put a Republican in office and the democrats will still do nothing. These fossilized assholes need a solid kick in the pants. I would like to wish Schumer and his ilk a very merry get fucking lost.
Note that the text OP posted above is NOT the whole article!!
IDK why that isn’t made clear?
Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.
David Hogg is right IMO, the party needs a reset, and the platform needs a reset. For one: Calling themselves the Democratic party, they really should work more to improve democracy in USA! As it is they are not really democrats any more than people calling themselves pro life when in fact they aren’t at all pro life. What they are is against abortion rights.
Likewise the Democrats have helped maintain the status quo, in a dysfunctional flawed democratic system.
i agree with hogg that the party needs a reset, but the vice chair of the party should not be the one making that comment because it gives all appearances that the party will be picking and choosing the primary candidates and throwing their weight behind their preferred candidate. that’s going to lead to party fractures and a lot of hard feelings. you want to ensure more republicans winning easier than they should on the local level? have the party pick the candidate instead of the people in the district.
that’s why i am very glad the chair has pretty much laid down the law. the party leadership (save one) is committed to electing democrats wherever they are whoever they are. one person in leadership is committed to electing specific democrats to office.
which if you think about it is a colossal failure. he’s down in florida. he’s had ample opportunity to elect his chosen democrats in florida with his pac. how successful were his candidates? and you’ve got people who see that (lack of) success he had in florida and say, “yeah, let’s take that plan and apply it nationwide, even if the better democrat for an area isn’t someone that hogg prefers.”
i agree with hogg that the party needs a reset, but the vice chair of the party should not be the one making that comment because it gives all appearances that the party will be picking and choosing the primary candidates and throwing their weight behind their preferred candidate.
It’s neat how this hasn’t been a concern until just now.
Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership.
Tell that to Sanders, Clinton, and Harris… That’s just recent memory…
🙄 🤡 🤦♀️
They straight up told us who the nominee would be against Trump. What a fucking joke. "Democracy is in peril so we have to suspend democracy.
In this past election, it’s kind of a non-issue. Both parties have always had it in their rules that if the nominee drops out after the primaries, the party can select a new nominee without holding another primary. And to be honest, it’s an understandable rule, at least within the scope of an overall shitty system. People generally aren’t going to show out for primaries, then watch a nominee drop out, then show out for yet another round of primaries, and then show out for a general election. It’s hard enough just to get people to vote once.
Prior to 2024 though, the DNC and DCCC putting their fingers on the scale to fuck Sanders and elevate Clinton is unforgivable.
The outrage is telling. Hogg is making an effort to introduce fresh faces and ideas at the primary level. This gives Democrats a chance to choose which ideas they want to go into play in congress. That is all.
If those voters are happy with what they currently have, the incumbent is safe. If not, those new ideas go up against opposing ideas. If a plurality like those ideas, they get to see them play out in congress. The only risk here is that they lose the seat.
Since at the moment, he’s doing this in reliably blue districts, the risk is lower than elsewhere. This is a recipe for real change in the Democratic party for the better.
The only reason to fight against it so hard (that I see) is the protection of individuals’ comfort at the expense of the welfare of our nation. It’s evidence of moral rot in the the party that is threatened by true representation of the citizens’ needs.
I support Hogg’s efforts - as long as he does not have the morality of “boss Hogg”. (For the kids out there who have no idea of what i mean, find and watch a season of The Dukes Of Hazzard.)
The democratic party is very big on hierarchy and pecking order from what I’ve seen. They believe that being a long time party member should count for much more than being an actually effective politician or persuasive speaker. To suggest that the ancient corpocentrists should be even remotely threatened is tantamount to heresy. That’s why they were so horrified when Obama “stole” 08 from Hillary.
