By The Democratic National Committee is doing everything it can to cancel an intraparty civil war being launched by its newly-elected vice chairman, David Hogg. Party leaders are set to deliver an ultimatum to the leftwing activist, demanding he halt efforts to unseat sitting Democratic members of Congress or forfeit his position as DNC vice chair.
DNC chairman Ken Martin is expected to propose a rule Thursday mandating neutrality from all party officials in Democratic primaries, according to a source familiar with internal discussions who talked to Politico. The proposal comes in response to Hogg’s recent pledge to back a $20 million campaign supporting progressive challengers to incumbent Democrats in deep-blue districts—lawmakers he has derided as “ineffective” and “asleep at the wheel.”
The proposal, if passed at the DNC’s August meeting, would effectively force Hogg to decide whether to step away from his DNC vice chair position or wall himself off from the group he co-founded, Leaders We Deserve, which has pledged to spend $20 million on challenging Democratic incumbents in safe blue seats.
It’s an escalation in the fight between Hogg and other DNC leaders and House Democrats, many of whom were enraged by Hogg’s announcement. Hogg, who rose to national prominence as a gun safety activist after he survived a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., said last week that he planned to back candidates who would challenge “ineffective” safe-seat Democrats. But House members and Democratic leaders vented that he was touching off a “circular firing squad” inside the party.
Martin’s announcement on Thursday is expected to include other reforms aimed at transparency inside the party. NOTUS first reported news of the proposal to expand the party’s neutrality rules.
“This isn’t about David,” said Jane Kleeb, president of the Association of State Democratic Parties. “This is about a bigger reform package that will be presented to DNC members that Ken ran on and that we’ve been pushing inside the DNC for a decade,” Kleeb added.
If adopted at the DNC’s national meeting in August, the rule would require Hogg to step down or cut ties with Leaders We Deserve, the group he co-founded in 2023 to promote young, progressive primary challengers and one of his chief moneymaking efforts.
The Democratic vice chair told Politico last week that he intends to “fight to remain in this position,” but he has privately told at least two Democratic colleagues that he’s prepared to lose his position if it comes to that. He has the dispute a “strategic disagreement.”
Hogg won his election to the DNC in February with the backing of Tim Walz. Even then, however, some centrist Democrats expressed concern to the outlet “about his history of far-left rhetoric. Now, his decision to take on members of his own party has drawn outrage from all corners.”
The controversy underscores growing tensions within the Democratic Party, as leadership struggles to contain rising grassroots frustration amid low approval ratings and internal divisions. A recent CNN poll found that nearly one-third of Democrats couldn’t name a figure who best embodies the party’s values. Those who could were split across ideological lines.
A survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, Hogg has become a prominent—if polarizing—voice on the left. Critics in both parties have taken issue with his outspoken stances, including calls to abolish ICE, defund police, and reduce the political power of straight white men.
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