Democrats Seek To Void Elections Of DNC Vice Chairs David Hogg And Malcolm Kenyatta

David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta, two rising stars within the Democratic Party who were appointed as vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee earlier this year, are facing challenges to their leadership positions. The party has moved closer to nullifying the election that put them in their positions on procedural grounds, even as Hogg has notably clashed with other Democrats over the direction of the party.

DNC subcommittee recommends new elections for vice chair positions

On Monday evening, the DNC Credentials Committee, a subcommittee of the DNC, voted to uphold a challenge against the February election of Hogg and Kenyatta as DNC vice chairs. The decision now leaves it up to the full DNC to decide whether to void the election, which would lead to new elections that could lead to Hogg and/or Kenyatta losing their positions. Hogg, a 25-year-old political activist, rose to prominence as a gun control advocate after surviving the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Kenyatta, 34, meanwhile, has served as a Pennsylvania state representative since 2019, and both men have been seen as rising young leaders in the Democratic Party.

According to NBC News, the challenge was brought by Oklahoma Democratic Committeewoman Kalyn Free, who lost to Hogg and Kenyatta in the DNC election for vice chair. Free filed a challenge seeking to nullify the election on procedural grounds relating to the DNC’s gender parity rules. Specifically, Free noted that, per the DNC gender balance rules, at least one of the final two vice-chair positions had to be filled by a man. Because of that, she argued, combining the election for the final two positions gave an unfair advantage to Hogg and Kenyatta since voters knew that they had to pick at least one man; separating the two elections would have been more fair, Free argued, a position that the Credentials Committee agreed with on Monday.

The clash between Hogg and Democratic leaders colors the vice-chair debate

The challenge to Hogg and Kenyatta’s election comes as Hogg has clashed with other Democrats over the direction of the party, The New York Times reported. Specifically, Hogg has stirred controversy among Democrats by announcing that his organization, Leaders We Deserve, would spend millions of dollars to support primary challenges against incumbent Democrats, a position that DNC Chair Ken Martin has publicly denounced. Hogg also publicly criticized South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, one of the most influential Democrats in the House of Representatives, after Clyburn defended the choices of himself and other older Democrats to remain in Congress rather than pass on their seats to a younger generation, according to ABC News 4. Hogg said in a statement that, while acknowledging the Credentials Committee ruled on procedural grounds, “it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party, which loomed large over this vote.”

In a series of tweets, Kenyatta expressed his frustration with the narrative of a clash between the DNC and Hogg, driving the conversation over the DNC vice-chair vote and the potential nullification of his election and pointing out that he won by a significantly larger margin than Hogg and the challenge pre-dates the disagreements between Hogg and the DNC.

“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,” Kenyatta tweeted, adding, “I’m frustrated, but I’ll be ok.”

It now falls to the full DNC to decide whether to nullify the February vice-chair vote and to hold new elections for those positions later this year. Hogg and Kenyatta would be eligible to run again, but one or both of them could lose their roles to challengers in a new election. The entire process highlights divisions within the party.