The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is facing mounting turmoil as it moves forward with efforts to remove gun control activist and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg from his role as vice chair, sparking concerns of internal “chaos.”
According to The Hill, officials within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have reportedly become embroiled in a dispute following the DNC Credentials Committee’s 13-2 vote to void the February election results that named gun control activist David Hogg and Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D) as co-vice chairmen. The decision has sparked a “war of words” within the party, as members clash over the underlying issues driving the move to overturn the election outcome.
In a statement issued, Hogg noted that while the vote was “based on how the DNC conducted its officers’ elections,” it was “impossible to ignore the broader context” of his work to spend roughly $20 million to “primary ineffective members of Congress.”
“Today, the DNC took its first steps to remove me from my position as Vice Chair At-Large,” Hogg said. “While this vote was based on how the DNC conducted its officers’ elections, which I had nothing to do with, it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party which loomed large over this vote.”
He added:
Our country is in crisis, and too many leaders in the Democratic Party are asleep at the wheel. Trump is on a mission to crash our economy, disappear people without due process, and participate in flagrant public corruption – and voters still trust him more than Democrats. That is a massive indictment of our party.
Last month, my organization announced that it would primary ineffective members of Congress who are not meeting the moment. In response, the DNC made it clear they were going to remove me, due to the necessity of “neutrality” for the party. This is despite the fact that the DCCC, DSCC, and other party committees regularly get involved in primaries. Just this month, the Democratic Lt. Governor’s Association pledged a 7 figure ad spend to elect a candidate in a primary in Illinois. Past DNC Vice Chairs have endorsed candidates in primaries as well, without any issue.
“I hate to be the party of chaos when the GOP is doing such a good job of it,” one Democrat consultant, Marj Halperin, told the outlet. “This isn’t the priority voters want the DNC to be focused on.”