Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin publicly rebuked DNC vice chair David Hogg Thursday over his plans to dump $20 million into backing insurgent primary candidates despite being a leader of the party apparatus.
“Let me be clear. No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election on behalf of an incumbent or challenger,” Martin, 51, told DNC members during a call.
“If you want to challenge incumbents, you can do that. Just not as an officer of the DNC.”
Hogg, 25, announced plans last week to unleash his war chest on incumbent House Democrats in safe districts to steer the party in a more combative direction, causing outrage among party loyalists.
The survivor of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., high school shooting, who gained prominence as a gun control activist, was elected one of three DNC vice chairs back in February.
Soon after Hogg’s election, he used the DNC contact lists to solicit donations to his Leaders We Deserve political action committee. Now, he’s planning to turn his machine against incumbent lawmakers.
Traditionally, both the DNC and the Republican National Committee are expected to be neutral during the primary process and simply build up the party’s resources for candidates to win general elections.
Former RNC boss Reince Priebus bluntly told Hogg on ABC News’ “This Week” April 20 that Preibus would have had Hoff “removed from the party” if the neophyte tried something like that under his watch.
“Our job is to be neutral arbiters,” Martin stressed in the call. “We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time.”
“As I’ve said to [Hogg], if you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that, but just not as an officer of the DNC,” he added. “This is not about shielding incumbents or boosting challengers. It’s about voters’ trust in the party.”
Last month, DNC officials reportedly circulated a “neutrality policy” calling on leadership to refrain from activity that would “call into question their impartiality and evenhandedness.”
Hogg did not sign on.
Martin also unveiled a proposal tweaking party rules so that DNC officers are required to stay neutral in primaries. The DNC is expected to vote on that measure in August, which would force Hogg to make a decision about his future.
“They’re trying to change the rules because I’m not currently breaking them,” Hogg told The Post in response to Martin. “We all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.
“The role of the DNC is to set the Presidential primary calendar, set the Presidential debate schedule, to help strengthen our state parties, play a key role in building our data infrastructure for the party, and to be the campaign in waiting for whoever the next Democratic nominee is. Nothing I’m doing is at odds with any of that.
“Everyone in our party says they want to start winning again, and they do — but that simply will not be possible with our current set of leaders, too many of which are asleep at the wheel, out-of-touch, and ineffective,” Hogg wrote on X last week about his plan to engage in primaries.
Hogg has not revealed which incumbents he intends to challenge.
