DNC vice chair working on initiative to unseat some incumbent House Democrats
A vice chair of the Democratic National Committee is defending his newly announced multi-million dollar effort to unseat what he calls "ineffective" incumbent House Democrats. Political strategists Ammar Moussa and Kevin Sheridan join "America Decides" with analysis.
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34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hogg forgoes reelection for DNC vice chair
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg announced Wednesday that he would be forgoing reelection for his spot in the committee after DNC members voted to redo the vice chair election of Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. '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 a statement shared through his Leaders We Deserve group. '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,' he added. Earlier on Wednesday, DNC members voted 294 to 99 to redo the election of both vice chairs after Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free challenged the way the election was conducted in February, alleging in a letter that it unfairly gave the male candidates an advantage over the female vice chair candidates. The challenge was issued far before Hogg announced his group would be getting involved in primarying safe Democratic incumbents. But the two began to run in tandem as Hogg's decision to wade into Democratic contests drew the ire and disapproval from members of the party, including DNC Chair Ken Martin, who believed he shouldn't be doing so as an officer of the national party. Tensions between DNC leadership and Hogg came to a head earlier this week when audio was leaked of a Zoom call with DNC officers that happened last month and was published over the weekend, indicating Martin was frustrated with Hogg. Some members indicated that they were reconsidering how they would vote over whether the DNC should redo its vice chair election in light of the leaked reporting. Martin responded to Hogg's announcement in a statement saying, '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. I appreciate his service as an officer, his hard work, and his dedication to the party,' Martin added. The DNC is set to hold its vice chair elections this week and next week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
David Hogg exits DNC
David Hogg ended his 130-day tenure at the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday, opting not to run again for vice chair after DNC members voted to hold a re-vote for the job. 'I have decided to not run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters,' Hogg wrote in a letter announcing his decision. The news that Hogg would not seek the role again was first reported by Semafor. Hogg's decision ended a months-long saga that began with a botched Feb. 1 election, continued with a challenge by one of the Democrats who lost to him, and turned into a widely-covered argument about the future of the party. The 25-year-old Democrat, who frustrated some in the party when he told The New York Times that his political PAC would intervene in Democratic primaries, clashed with DNC Chair Ken Martin over a plan to bar that sort of politicking by committee members. 'I commend David for his years of activism, organizing, and fighting for his generation,' Martin said in a statement. '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. I appreciate his service as an officer, his hard work, and his dedication to the party.'Last month, the DNC's rules and bylaws committee recommended that the full party vote to hold new elections, siding with Democratic activist Kalyn Free, who'd lost the Feb. 1 election for vice chair. On Wednesday afternoon, the DNC announced that the party had voted to approve Free's challenge by a 294-99 margin, and would hold new elections on the grounds that the Feb. 1 vote had violated its rules. In the new election, under the party's gender parity rules, one vice chair slot would be reserved for a male candidate, and one slot could go to a candidate of any gender. Malcolm Kenyatta, who was elected to the male vice chair slot on Feb. 1, had won more votes than Hogg that day; Hogg won the second slot over Free and two other female candidates. The re-vote loomed as much more difficult for Hogg. On Thursday, California DNC members held a call about their plans for this week's votes. Most did not favor holding a new election. But if one was held, several members who had supported Hogg before intended to support someone else, with several favoring Washington state Democratic chair Shasti Conrad, the runner-up to Hogg in February. 'I appreciate that DNC members wanted to rectify the issues with balloting in the previous election,' Conrad told Semafor. 'I'm looking forward to putting this all behind us, and getting back to the work of electing Democrats.' On Sunday, Politico published audio of a May 15 meeting between DNC officers, including Hogg, where Martin said that the vice chair had 'essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to' at a crucial time for the party. Hogg denied being the source of the leak, but that weakened his position with party members further, with several saying on the record, and on social media, that Hogg could not be trusted. That led to Wednesday's lopsided online vote for a new election. Candidates who had competed for the roles in February were allowed to run again, and to submit one-minute videos making their cases. According to several DNC members, Hogg was the only potential candidate who did not submit a video. The online election for the male vice chair role will be held as scheduled, ending on Saturday. Kenyatta will be the only candidate on the ballot, and the election for the other vice chair role will be held between Sunday and all that? Hogg's win on Feb. 1 came at the end of a long day when DNC members agreed to rush their final vote and get it over with. No one in the room expected this to happen next. Hogg had been clear that he co-led The Future We Deserve, a PAC that spent money to elect Democratic candidates. Free had filed her challenge to the vote weeks later. But not until April 15, when Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times reported that the PAC could spend money on primary challengers, did this explode into a controversy. Martin, who himself had once endorsed candidates as the chair of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, was dead set on a rule banning party members from doing that in the future. This was, in part, a legacy of the 2016 presidential primary, where Hillary Clinton's early support from party members infuriated supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who called the primary rigged — even though Clinton would end up with more votes and more delegates elected in the primaries and caucuses. Ahead of the 2020 primary, Democrats changed their rules to prevent 'superdelegates' (DNC members not elected in primaries) from voting on the first ballot at a national nominating convention. And before the 2024 primary, the DNC voted to endorse Joe Biden as its nominee — a decision that complicated things for any potential Biden challenger, and the three who did run. A few states opted not to hold primaries altogether, pledging their delegates to Biden — who, of course, ended up bowing out before the convention, after the most damaging debate in the history of presidential elections. When will Democrats get past the party's internal struggles, all of them distractions from the work of opposing the Trump administration and beating Republicans? Today, they hope. The Hogg drama really didn't have any effect on Democrats' ability to win elections this year, like Wisconsin's state supreme court race and an Iowa state Senate election that flipped back a GOP-held seat. As Martin said on the call, obtained by Politico's Holly Otterbein, the story made Democrats look bad, distracted from their work, and made life easier for Republicans. But Hogg made his point, one that a lot of Democrats do agree with: There are a great many elderly incumbents who aren't doing much for the party, and they create problems for the people they want to serve when they die in office instead of letting new talent rise the Times, Goldmacher has more on Hogg's decision. 'It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair — and it's OK to have disagreements. What isn't OK is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on.' In Fast Company, before the vote, Devin Gordon talked to Hogg about what might happen with his challenge to the party.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Democrat accuses Trump of unleashing ‘campaign of terror' on illegals as LA riots rage
As anti-ICE riots rage across Los Angeles, congressional Democrats marked the 13th anniversary of DACA with a press conference during which Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., accused President Donald Trump of unleashing a "campaign of terror" on illegal immigrants. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a U.S. immigration policy that defers deportation for eligible immigrants who arrived in the country as children. Speaking just outside the Capitol building Wednesday, Ramirez accused Trump, border czar Tom Homan, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller and the entire administration of targeting anyone they consider "undesirable." She also pushed a conspiracy theory that the president will target U.S. citizens the same way he has deported criminal migrants. "Trump, Homan, Miller and this whole regime has waged a campaign of terror against our neighbors, against our families, our loved ones, as they advance their fascist agenda and try to cast immigrants as a public enemy," Ramirez said. Senator Launches Investigation Into Democratic Org Over Potential Support For La Rioters "Let us say it, and I'm going to say it unapologetically," she added. "We don't need bans, We don't need walls. We don't need raids. We don't need kidnappings. We don't need masked agents terrorizing our communities. We don't need military attacking our neighbors. We have to demand an end to the terror tactics." Read On The Fox News App Newsom Says Los Angeles Rioters Will Be Prosecuted, Slams Trump For 'Traumatizing Our Communities' Los Angeles has been rocked by fiery riots and clashes with police and federal authorities since Friday. The rioting began Friday in response to immigration enforcement operations by ICE throughout the city. In response, Trump deployed federalized National Guard troops and several hundred Marines to assist in restoring order. This move has been heavily criticized by Democrats, who have accused Trump of intentionally provoking rioters. "The unlawful actions used against immigrants today will be used tomorrow on anyone who this regime deems undesirable because fascism always demands a public enemy," Ramirez claimed. "It is why we must stand with DACA recipients, and we must also stand with their parents. "We must also stand with their uncles and their sisters and their tias and our small businesses and our teachers and our LGBTQ and every single person this regime is attacking." Despite Ramirez's characterization of the Trump administration targeting innocent "tias," federal immigration authorities have detailed criminal charges against the illegals arrested by ICE. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Gavin Newsom 'Insane' For Rejecting Federal Assistance During Los Angeles Unrest This week, ICE published information on charges against illegals arrested in Los Angeles during the ongoing riots. On Wednesday, ICE said it had arrested Jesus Romero-Retana, a Mexican national who the agency said had been convicted of battery and threatening with intent to terrorize. ICE also said it arrested a Cambodian illegal named Mab Khleb in Los Angeles Tuesday. The agency said he had been sentenced for lewd acts with a child, battery and multiple drug offenses. ICE said it arrested the criminal illegal "despite the best efforts of anti-ICE protestors in the city." A source familiar with the operations shared with Fox News Digital a listing of some of the arrests made by ICE in the last week. These arrests included a Salvadoran national arrested in Los Angeles for sodomy of a child, a Mexican national arrested in Chicago for criminal sexual assault of a child, a Mexican national arrested in Houston for indecent sexual contact with a child, a Honduran national arrested in El Paso for possession of child pornography and a Laotian national arrested for murder and attempted article source: Democrat accuses Trump of unleashing 'campaign of terror' on illegals as LA riots rage
