Latest news with #DNCCredentialsCommittee
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DNC votes to redo vice chair elections of Hogg, Kenyatta
Members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have voted to redo its vice chair election, teeing up two separate votes for the positions held by David Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. The vote to redo the elections was 294-99. Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free, who ran for a vice chair position and lost, filed a challenge in late February over the way the vice chair election was conducted, alleging in her letter that it unfairly gave the male candidates an advantage over the female vice chair candidates. The DNC Credentials Committee determined last month it would move forward with the challenge and put the matter to a vote for the entire committee to see whether a majority of members believed the vice chair election should be conducted again. Now, the DNC will hold two separate virtual votes, one running between June 12 and June 14 for a male vice chair ballot and another running June 15 to June 17 for a vice chair ballot in which any gender candidate can run. Free's complaint over the February vice chair election is separate from a firestorm Hogg has ignited within the party over whether he should be involved in primarying members of the party while serving as a DNC officer. Those tensions came to a head earlier this week when leaked audio of a Zoom call with DNC officers showed Chair Ken Martin expressing frustration with Hogg, telling the gun control activist in part: 'I don't think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to, so it's really frustrating.' While Hogg has sought to distance himself from the leaked audio, the ordeal has contributed to bubbling tensions between Hogg and DNC leadership. The controversy also prompted some members to rethink the way they were going to vote over the DNC vice chair election redo. Even if Hogg survives the challenge and is reelected as vice chair, his position within the DNC is far from certain if he continues to stay involved in primaries against incumbents as an DNC officer. Kenyatta quickly offered a statement saying he looked forward to making his case. 'I respect the vote of the DNC, and now we can almost bring this chapter to a close,' he said in a statement. 'I look forward to making my case to DNC members and our party as a whole on how we make life better and refocusing on Trump's attacks on our Constitution and working families.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Committee Resolves to Redo Vote for 2 DNC Vice Chair Positions
A Democratic National Committee (DNC) panel that resolves delegate disputes has voted in favor of a resolution to redo voting for two vice chair positions that were filled in a February vote. The procedural change of filling two positions with just one vote was challenged by one of the candidates in the race. The panel, known as the DNC Credentials Committee, The Feb. 1 vote saw candidates Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania legislator representing Philadelphia, and David Hogg, an activist from Florida, elected as vice chairs. The credential committee's decision means it will now be up to the full 400-plus member DNC to vote on whether to proceed with a reelection for the vice chair positions held by Hogg, 25, and Kenyatta, 34. Christine Pelosi, a member of the DNC Credentials Committee and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi's daughter, said in a post on social media platform X that after reviewing the challenge, the committee 'found both sides of the arguments compelling.' Related Stories 5/11/2025 4/25/2025 'Ultimately, the Credentials Committee voted on a resolution that recommends that the DNC complete the Vice Chair election, and administer new ballots for the final two Vice Chair positions,' she A vote could be called anytime before or during the next DNC meeting scheduled for August. In the meantime, Hogg and Kenyatta will remain as vice chairs. 'The Credentials Committee has issued their recommendation, and I trust that the DNC Members will carefully review the Committee's resolution and resolve this matter fairly,' newly-elected DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement, in response to the resolution. 'I thank all of our officers for their service, including Vice Chairs Kenyatta and Hogg, and look forward to continuing to work with them in their officer posts as this matter is resolved.' Procedural Challenge The challenge was raised by vice chair candidate and Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman and attorney Kalyn Free, who was among three candidates alongside Hogg and Kenyatta in the race for the last two vice chair positions. Three vice chair positions were to be Candidate Blanco's position and that of Jane Kleeb, who was elected vice chair by virtue of her Feb. 1 election as president of the Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC) per party rules, are not affected by the challenge. Reyna Walters-Morgan, who was elected to the separate position of vice chair for civic engagement and voter participation, is also unaffected. This resulted in the committee deciding to fill the remaining two seats with one vote, after Kenyatta came out with a clear majority. In the vote, Kenyatta He expressed his respect for the ruling, even though he disagreed with it because of his 'dominating win in this race.' 'It is unfortunate as I believe we both won fairly & there is no charge that we acted improperly,' he said. 'The credentials committee believed, as they stated, that they are remedying a procedural flaw. But doing so the way they did, is a slap in my face. I'm frustrated, but I'll be ok.' Kenyatta also criticized the media's coverage of the DNC. 'The press has been breathless in covering the main character they've chosen—David Hogg. They are rushing to do it again,' he said. He said the narrative they've built around Hogg is that 'David fights the party,' which he said was 'nonsense,' as he believes he is also making efforts to 'change this party.' 'This story is complex and I'm frustrated—but it's not about @davidhogg111. Even though he clearly wants it to be,' the post reads. Hogg Says Decision Is DNC's Attempt to Remove Him After news of the resolution broke, Hogg said in a post on X, 'The DNC took its first steps to remove me from my position as Vice Chair At-Large.' He blamed the decision on it being 'impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party, which loomed large over this vote.' Hogg launched the progressive PAC 'Leaders We Deserve' in 2023, which has been focused on age-based reforms through getting young progressive candidates under 35 elected. As president, he recently declared that the PAC will primary members of Congress they see as being 'asleep at the wheel,' warning that voters are able to trust President Donald Trump more than Democrats. Currently, only Hogg and Kenyatta serving in the DNC leadership are under the age of 35. They are both associated with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which is more popular among Meanwhile, Martin, since he was elected chairman 100 days ago, has been pushing for 'neutrality' reforms that will 'require all party officers—including myself—to remain neutral in primaries.' This has caused tensions with Hogg's involvement with his PAC amid its $20 million push to support primary challenges against incumbent Democrats. Hogg also criticized the DNC for the lack of neutrality throughout the organization. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and 'other party committees regularly get involved in primaries,' he said in a '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,' he said. Hogg also 'I want to focus on whoever's just best at the job at this point. That's my own view,' he said. Martin's proposal would only apply to active party officers. 'A neutrality pledge isn't about silencing anyone. It's about protecting everyone,' he Kleeb 'This is not about David Hogg. It was about our rules that were violated,' she said. 'This challenge was filed by a strong Native American woman weeks before Hogg announced he would violate the neutrality pledge of officers not engaging in D on D primaries.' However, Hogg's campaign to support primary challenges could impact his standing in the revote. 'There have been a few members that have come out and that have said, 'Well, you know, if I retire, my life is effectively over.' And what I would say is, get over yourself,' he told Maher. 'This isn't about you. This is about our country, and it's about your constituents. Nobody is entitled. 'That's all we're trying to do with 'Leaders We Deserve' is give people the option to vote for somebody that isn't necessarily the same person that's been there forever.' The Epoch Times contacted Kenyatta and Hogg for comment but received no response by publication time.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DNC panel recommends redo of vote that elevated David Hogg to vice chair after procedural concerns
A Democratic National Committee subcommittee on Monday recommended that the organization invalidate one of its February vice-chair votes over claims that it unfairly disadvantaged female candidates. The move, which won't be official unless the entire DNC votes to approve it, could open up new races for the positions held by David Hogg, a Florida activist, and Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania state legislator. The challenge by Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman Kalyn Free, who unsuccessfully ran against Hogg and Kenyatta in the February race for vice chair, is not related to the ongoing tension between Hogg and the national party over his push to support primary challenges against incumbent Democrats. Instead, it was based off Free's claim that the handling of the vice-chair vote gave the two men an unfair advantage amid the national party's requirements that its executive committee achieve gender balance. Nevertheless, the Monday evening vote by the DNC Credentials Committee sets up a high-profile decision for the national party in the coming weeks as it will now be up to the full body to vote on whether to call for a new election for the vice-chair positions held by Hogg and Kenyatta. This is all happening as DNC Chairman Ken Martin has been separately pushing a reform that would 'require all party officers — including myself — to remain neutral in primaries" as Hogg has been signaling he's planning to take sides. DNC rules require that the national party's executive committee "shall be as equally divided as practicable" along gender lines. (If the committee includes members who identify as non-binary, they don't count for the purposes of gender division.) As DNC members met earlier this year for the multi-hour process of voting in a new slate of officers, the vote for the three vice chairs being the last position to be filled, it became clear that the party needed to elect at least one man to the final two vice chair spots to maintain the required gender equity on the seven-person executive committee. The party then decided to hold a single vote to decide the final two slots instead of holding separate votes for each position. Free claimed that the combined ballot unfairly benefited Hogg and Kenyatta, the only two men left in the race, because members had to vote for at least one man on the combined ballot. She argued it's possible they could have voted differently if the ballots were separated. Follow live politics coverage here Representatives for Hogg and Kenyatta disagreed with the challenge, arguing that the party was well within its discretionary right to make a move to shorten the lengthy voting process in real time. The challenge to the DNC election dates from late February, well before the disagreement between Hogg and the party went public. But now, the 400-plus member DNC will have to vote on whether to call for a new election that could cost Hogg his position against this backdrop. In a statement Monday night, Hogg noted that the issue was over how the national party handled the election, not any accusation he nor Kenyatta did anything wrong. And he added that "it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party which loomed large over this vote." "I ran to be DNC Vice Chair to help make the Democratic Party better, not to defend an indefensible status quo that has caused voters in almost every demographic group to move away from us," he said, adding that he views the vote as a way for the party to "fast-track" an attempt to remove him from his position. But Martin, in a statement of his own issued after the vote, framed the debate as strictly about a failure of parliamentary procedure and one he's looking to party members to decide. "During my campaign for Chair, I pledged to run the DNC with integrity, openness, and fairness. I am disappointed to learn that before I became Chair, there was a procedural error in the February Vice Chair elections," he said. "The Credentials Committee has issued their recommendation, and I trust that the DNC Members will carefully review the Committee's resolution and resolve this matter fairly," he added. The decision came after a three-hour virtual meeting, livestreamed on the party's YouTube page, that stretched even longer because the 18-member committee tied on its first ballot, which triggered another round of debate. The committee membership has been held over from the appointments by the previous national party chairman, Jaime Harrison, not new appointees by the new chairman. Eventually, the side that supported the recommendation for a new election won over key opponents, and approved a resolution with the support of 13 members declaring the election to the vice chair seats held by Hogg and Kenyatta "incomplete." It recommends the DNC hold new elections for both seats "as soon as practicable," with only the candidates eligible at the party's final ballot. Hogg and Kenyatta would be allowed to run again, but it's not a given they'd win the seats. Mark Mallory, a credentials committee member and former mayor of Cincinnati, said during the meeting that he supported the decision because while "our former chairman did not do anything to intentionally disenfranchise any of the candidates running for vice-chair. However, the result has been just that." Mallory compared the process to when a patient with a broken leg has to go get the bone reset at the hospital. "That process is painful too, but it is a part of the recovery of the initial incident," he said. "We have, I believe, a responsibility to act." This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
DNC panel recommends redo of vote that elevated David Hogg to vice chair after procedural concerns
A Democratic National Committee subcommittee on Monday recommended that the organization invalidate one of its February vice-chair votes over claims that it unfairly disadvantaged female candidates. The move, which won't be official unless the entire DNC votes to approve it, could open up new races for the positions held by David Hogg, a Florida activist, and Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania state legislator. The challenge by Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman Kalyn Free, who unsuccessfully ran against Hogg and Kenyatta in the February race for vice chair, is not related to the ongoing tension between Hogg and the national party over his push to support primary challenges against incumbent Democrats. Instead, it was based off Free's claim that the handling of the vice-chair vote gave the two men an unfair advantage amid the national party's requirements that its executive committee achieve gender balance. Nevertheless, the Monday evening vote by the DNC Credentials Committee sets up a high-profile decision for the national party in the coming weeks as it will now be up to the full body to vote on whether to call for a new election for the vice-chair positions held by Hogg and Kenyatta. This is all happening as DNC Chairman Ken Martin has been separately pushing a reform that would ' require all party officers — including myself — to remain neutral in primaries" as Hogg has been signaling he's planning to take sides. DNC rules require that the national party's executive committee "shall be as equally divided as practicable" along gender lines. (If the committee includes members who identify as non-binary, they don't count for the purposes of gender division.) As DNC members met earlier this year for the multi-hour process of voting in a new slate of officers, the vote for the three vice chairs being the last position to be filled, it became clear that the party needed to elect at least one man to the final two vice chair spots to maintain the required gender equity on the seven-person executive committee. The party then decided to hold a single vote to decide the final two slots instead of holding separate votes for each position. Free claimed that the combined ballot unfairly benefited Hogg and Kenyatta, the only two men left in the race, because members had to vote for at least one man on the combined ballot. She argued it's possible they could have voted differently if the ballots were separated. Representatives for Hogg and Kenyatta disagreed with the challenge, arguing that the party was well within its discretionary right to make a move to shorten the lengthy voting process in real time. The challenge to the DNC election date s from late February, well before the disagreement between Hogg and the party went public. But now, the 400-plus member DNC will have to vote on whether to call for a new election that could cost Hogg his position against this backdrop. The decision came after a three-hour virtual meeting, livestreamed on the party's YouTube page, that stretched even longer because the 18-member committee tied on its first ballot, which triggered another round of debate. The committee membership has been held over from the appointments by the previous national party chairman, Jaime Harrison, not new appointees by the new chairman. Eventually, the side that supported the recommendation for a new election won over key opponents, and approved a resolution with the support of 13 members declaring the election to the vice chair seats held by Hogg and Kenyatta "incomplete." It recommends the DNC hold new elections for both seats "as soon as practicable," with only the candidates eligible at the party's final ballot. Mark Mallory, a credentials committee member and former mayor of Cincinnati, said during the meeting that he supported the decision because while "our former chairman did not do anything to intentionally disenfranchise any of the candidates running for vice-chair. However, the result has been just that." Mallory compared the process to when a patient with a broken leg has to go get the bone reset at the hospital. "That process is painful too, but it is a part of the recovery of the initial incident," he said. "We have, I believe, a responsibility to act."
