Democratic National Convention 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 said.
After weeks of infighting about how the hobbled party should move forward, Martin laid out his longstanding vision on Saturday in a post on X and called out Hogg, who caused an uproar last month after he told POLITICO that he would fund Democratic primaries for “ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.
Following Hogg’s comments, Martin made it clear that as a party officer, you must remain neutral in Democratic primaries — and suggested Hogg should step down from his role if he can’t get on board.
The statement comes hours after it was reported by POLITICO that Hogg privately pitched a compromise to his party in recent days. He proposed a so-called internal firewall in which he would stay on as vice chair but be barred from accessing internal committee information about races as 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 party officers in the past have argued, said that the pledge allows for a fairer process without interference from party leadership.
In the lengthy thread, Martin mentioned Hogg by name, 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 when you lead the institution 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 said. “These reforms will require all party officers — including myself — to remain neutral in primaries.”
