DNC Chair Takes Aim at Vice Chair David Hogg's Push for Primary Challengers

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg rankled some in the party when he announced last week that he intends to support primary challenges to "asleep-at-the-wheel" Democrats in safe-blue seats—and now DNC Chair Ken Martin has rebuked Hogg and is poised to offer him what amounts to an ultimatum.

According to Martin, Hogg's effort could threaten the perceived neutrality of the DNC.

"You can't be both the player and the referee. Our job is clear cut: let voters vote, and once they've made their choice, to fight like hell to get that Democrat elected to office," wrote Martin in a column forTime published on Thursday.

Martin also invoked an episode from DNC history, when revelations like leaked emails cast doubt on the DNC's neutrality in the 2016 primary race between then-presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, in favor of Clinton.

"The controversy alienated even our party's most loyal supporters who felt that party bosses, not Democratic primary voters, were deciding which candidate would emerge in the general election as the Democratic nominee," Martin wrote of that moment.

Martin also said that in the coming days, he plans to introduce reforms that will codify "principles of neutrality and fairness in our official party rules," including requiring party officers to stay neutral in Democratic primaries.

The outlet NOTUS was first to report Wednesday that Martin was planning to unveil this requirement, citing an unnamed senior official. Currently officers must remain neutral in presidential races.

Politico framed the move as an ultimatum, and wrote that "if passed by DNC members at their August meeting, [it] would effectively force Hogg to choose between remaining a party vice chair or stepping back from the group he co-founded, Leaders We Deserve."

Hogg, a gun reform activist and survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, intends to support primary bids through Leaders We Deserve. The political action committee has pledged to spend $20 million to support challengers.

According to The Washington Post, Hogg has already identified some of the incumbents he would like to see gone and is recruiting people to mount bids against them.

"There are some effective people in our party; there are certainly some who are failing to meet the moment and know it's time for them not to seek reelection. Whether that's because they're too old, for example, or if that's just because they aren’t able to meet it," Hogg told Colby Itkowitz on "Post Reports," the newspaper's podcast. "Because frankly, unfortunately, sucking is something that is not limited to age."

Hogg said he would not support challenges to Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.)—but did not name the incumbents he had in mind to challenge.

On Wednesday, the progressive group Our Revolution announced results from a survey which showed that there's support among progressive and Democratic-leaning voters for primarying establishment Democrats who "lack grassroots energy or urgency."

"Our Revolution polling shows Hogg's sentiment is shared by a large majority of engaged progressive voters," the group said.