The DNC voted to redo its vice chair election, removing formerly elected vice chairs Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and David Hogg.
On Wednesday, DNC members voted to redo its vice chair election. The 294-99 vote discarded previous election results that placed Pennsylvania State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta and activist David Hogg in the role.
In February, Kalyn Free of the DNC’s Oklahoma delegation, filed a challenge after losing the election. She alleged that the election was conducted unfairly in a manner that gave male candidates an advantage.
Following Wednesday’s vote to throw out the original election results, the DNC will hold two separate virtual votes to fill the vice chair positions.
An election will be held between June 12th and 14th for a male vice chair, and another will be held between June 15th and 17th for a candidate of any gender.
The DNC’s rules require equal gender representation on its executive committee, not including the party chair.
Representative Kenyatta issued a statement, saying, “I respect the vote of the DNC, and now we can almost bring this chapter to a close. I look forward to making my case to DNC members and our party as a whole on how we can make life better and refocusing on Trump’s attacks on our Constitution and working families. In just a few months, I’ve travelled over 20,000 miles, visited nine states including Germany, talking to Democrats at dozens of events. We need a strong Democratic Party, and I hope we come out of this stronger and focused on the work ahead.”
After the DNC voted to hold a new election, David Hogg announced he will not be running for vice chair again.
His short tenure as vice chair was met with sharp criticism and backlash from Democrats.
As vice chair, Hogg made plans to intervene in primary races against sitting Democratic lawmakers. The plan included millions of dollars being spent through Leaders We Deserve, another group Hogg leads.
The party chairman, Ken Martin, attempted to stop Hogg from engaging in primaries.
Hogg announced his decision not to run again, saying, “I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our party needs. It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair – and it’s OK to have disagreements. What isn’t OK is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on. Ultimately, I have decided not to run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters.”
