D.N.C. Takes Step to Void Election of Hogg and Kenyatta as Vice Chairs

New York Times

12-05-2025

The credentials committee of the Democratic National Committee voted on Monday to void the results of the internal party vote that made David Hogg a party vice chair, ruling that the election had not followed proper parliamentary procedures.
The decision — which came after roughly three hours of internal debate and one tie vote — will put the issue before the full body of the Democratic National Committee. It must decide whether to force Mr. Hogg and a second vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, to run again in another election later this year.
Mr. Hogg, 25, an outspoken survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., has prompted a fierce backlash over his plans to spend up to $20 million through another organization he heads, Leaders We Deserve, on primary campaigns against incumbent Democrats. Ken Martin, the party chairman, has said it is inappropriate for Mr. Hogg to meddle in primaries while serving as a party official, and has recommended changing the party's bylaws to force him to sign a neutrality pledge.
The ruling by the credentials committee on Monday was not technically related to Mr. Hogg's decision to engage in primaries. Instead, it was the result of a complaint from one of the losing candidates in that vice chair race, Kalyn Free. Ms. Free said the party had wrongly combined two separate questions into a single vote, putting at a disadvantage the female candidates because of the party's gender-parity rules.
Mr. Hogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Mr. Martin said, 'I am disappointed to learn that before I became chair, there was a procedural error in the February vice chair elections. The credentials committee has issued their recommendation, and I trust that the D.N.C. members will carefully review the committee's resolution and resolve this matter fairly.'
Mr. Hogg's decision to engage in primaries was not the subject of the discussion on Monday, which turned on arcane parliamentary procedures and the decision of party officials to combine votes for the last two vice chair slots into a single vote.
Mr. Hogg and Mr. Kenyatta were both elected at the same time. Mr. Kenyatta, 34, is a state lawmaker in Pennsylvania, and their elections as vice chairs had injected two younger voices into the party's leadership.
'This is about fairness and making sure that three women and the voting members of the D.N.C. are not disenfranchised,' Ms. Free said in a statement before the meeting, during which she had enlisted a parliamentary expert to plead her case.
The credentials committee had appeared torn on what to do. An initial resolution to dismiss the complaint by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, resulted in a tie vote. A second resolution calling for a new election with the same candidates who participated in February was eventually approved.