Democratic Nationwide Conference Chair Ken Martin on Saturday doubled down on his ultimatum for rogue Vice Chair David Hogg: Take a neutrality pledge or step down.
“Party officers have one job: to be fair stewards of a process that invites every Democrat to the table — regardless of personal views or allegiances,” Martin mentioned.
After weeks of infighting about how the hobbled social gathering ought to transfer ahead, Martin laid out his longstanding imaginative and prescient on Saturday in a submit on X and known as out Hogg, who brought on an uproar final month after he instructed POLITICO that he would fund Democratic primaries for “ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.
Following Hogg’s feedback, Martin made it clear that as a celebration officer, you will need to stay impartial in Democratic primaries — and recommended Hogg ought to step down from his position if he can’t get on board.
The assertion comes hours after it was reported by POLITICO that Hogg privately pitched a compromise to his social gathering in latest days. He proposed a so-called inside firewall during which he would keep on as vice chair however be barred from accessing inside committee details about races so long as he was supporting challengers.
“Some critics have wrongly framed this as an effort to shut people out of the party or to discourage contested primaries,” Martin wrote. “Let me be unequivocally clear: That’s not only false, it’s the opposite of what I stand for.”
Martin, as many social gathering officers previously have argued, mentioned that the pledge permits for a fairer course of with out interference from social gathering management.
Within the prolonged thread, Martin talked about Hogg by identify, saying he respects the 25-year-old activist-turned DNC vice chair.
“When I ran for DNC Chair, I ran on a platform of democratizing the party,” he wrote. “Those reforms weren’t about any one person, and they certainly aren’t about me versus David Hogg. … Long before David was ever involved in politics, I was pushing reforms within our Democratic Party.”
Martin added that if you lead the establishment that calls “balls and strikes, you don’t get to also swing the bat.”
“I am more committed than ever to introduce the slate of structural reforms that enshrine these values into the official rules of the Democratic Party,” Martin mentioned. “These reforms will require all party officers — including myself — to remain neutral in primaries.”
