The Democratic National Committee's Eligibility Committee voted Monday to override the outcome of an internal party vote in which David Hogg became the party's vice-chairman and determine that the election had not followed the appropriate Congressional procedures.
The decision that came after about three hours of internal debate and one Thai vote puts the issue before everyone on the Democratic National Committee. It will need to decide whether Hogg and his second vice-chairman Malcolm Kenyatta will run again in another election later this year.
Hogg, 25, an outspoken survivor of the 2018 school shoot in Parkland, Florida, urged a fierce backlash against another organisation he led, a plan to spend up to $20 million through our worthy leaders in a major campaign against the incumbent Democrats. Party chair Ken Martin said it was inappropriate for Hogg to intervene in primary elections while serving as a party employee, and encouraged him to change the party's bylaws and sign the pledge of neutrality.
The ruling by the Eligibility Committee on Monday was technically unrelated to Hogg's plans to engage in the primary. Instead, it was the result of a complaint from Kalyn Free, one of the candidates who lost in the vice-chairman's race. Free said the party accidentally combined two separate questions into one vote, putting the party at a disadvantage against female candidates due to the party's gender characteristics rules.
In a statement, Hogg admitted that the decision was made for procedural reasons, but said that “it is also impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party that has been on a massive scale over this vote.”
“The DNC has committed to eliminating me. This vote provided a way to quickly track that effort,” he added.
In a statement, Martin said: “I am disappointed to learn that there were procedural errors in the February vice-chairman election before becoming chairman. The Eligibility Committee has issued a recommendation and I believe that DNC ​​members will carefully consider the committee's resolutions and resolve this issue fairly.”
Hogg's intention to engage in the primary was not the subject of discussion Monday. This brought forward a decision by a partisan official to combine votes from the last two vice-chairman slots into one vote.
Mr. Hogg and Mr. Kenyatta were elected at the same time. Kenyatta, 34, is a state legislator in Pennsylvania, and their election is their election as the assistant chair injected two younger voices into party leaders.
“This is about fairness and ensuring that the three women and DNC voting members are not disenfranchised,” Free said in a statement before the meeting, during which she enlisted to sue her case with Congress experts.
The Eligibility Committee seemed torn apart as to what to do, leading up to the vote. The first resolution from Christine Pelosi, daughter of former speaker Nancy Pelosi, was voting for Thailand as it attempted to dismiss the complaint. A second resolution calling for a new election with the same candidate who took part in February was finally approved.
