Walls Close In On David Hogg At DNC

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will vote on whether to nullify the election of David Hogg, 25, as vice chair of the DNC this week after a rival alleged the original ballot violated a rule mandating “gender parity.”

Democratic officials say the redo is needed to fix “the exclusion of women of color,” but Lex Politica attorney Nicole Kelly argues the party is weaponizing procedure to muzzle Hogg, seen as a rabble-rousing insurgent who plans to pour $20 million into primaries against “asleep-at-the-wheel” incumbents. The three-day virtual meeting, taking place Monday through Wednesday, could force Hogg to run again on a split ballot — all but ensuring a different male will take his seat. (RELATED: Even David Hogg Secretly Believes Biden Wasn’t Running The White House)

“They don’t like the results and they’re looking to redo the election in their favor,” Kelly told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Hogg won one of five vice chair seats in February alongside Malcolm Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania state representative, after an hours-long voting marathon. But the validity of his election is being called into question, the DNC says, because of a “gender parity” rule in the DNC Charter.

The Charter says the five vice chairs must be “as equally divided as practicable” by gender — meaning either three men or two women, or vice versa. Hogg’s win helped produce a male edge. Kalyn Free, a losing female candidate, argues this happened because all candidates — men and women — were placed on a single combined ballot, allowing both top slots to be won by men (Hogg and Kenyatta). Her complaint says this structure let men compete for both seats, while women had no ballot designated for them. The Credentials Committee ultimately agreed.

The new plan would split the election into two rounds: one male-only ballot, followed by an “any gender” ballot. While technically open, practice the second round would likely heavily favor a female candidate, since a second male winner would call the necessity of the redo into question.

But while the party debates ballot mechanics, tensions with the Parkland school shooting survivor have escalated. In a May 15 Zoom meeting with party officers, DNC Chairman Ken Martin launched into a trembling monologue about leadership and loyalty while confronting Hogg directly — audibly shaken and pausing between what sounded like sobs in an audio snippet obtained by Politico.

“For the first time in my 100 days on this job — and Jessica knows this,” Martin said, pausing for six seconds. “The other night I said to myself for the first time: I don’t know if I want to do this anymore … you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.”

Hogg denied having leaked the recording in an X post Sunday.

A lot of people are accusing me of leaking this recording. These are the messages from the reporter who wrote the story. pic.twitter.com/TMggS9UDt6

— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) June 8, 2025

The relationship between party leadership and Hogg frayed after he vowed that his new political action committee, Leaders We Deserve, would spend up to $20 million backing primary challengers against what he called “ineffective” Democrats. He later floated a compromise — an internal “firewall” that would bar him from privileged DNC data while still operating his PAC — but Martin rejected it, Politico separately reported.

Kelly argues the timing of this procedural challenge is no coincidence, coming weeks after Hogg announced his primary threat.

“The DNC followed its own rules when it elected him the first time,” she explained. “Now they’re giving essentially leeway for a complaint that’s politically timed conveniently.”

The proposed ballot restructuring would separate male candidates into their own pool while creating a second “any gender” category — a move Kelly says would pit males against each other and likely benefit Kenyatta, who has avoided sparring with party leadership.

They’re trying to change the rules because I’m not currently breaking them. As we’re seeing law firms, tech companies, and so many others bowing to Trump, we all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) April 24, 2025

“By holding and separating the ballots, as they’re choosing to do here, that then essentially puts males against each other,” Kelly said. “The way that they’re using the procedure of their own party would put Malcolm back in, conveniently.”

As a private political organization, the DNC can legally implement gender parity rules for its internal governance, Kelly said. But she characterized the entire episode as “classic Democrat moves” — using procedural complaints to punish members who refuse to fall in line with party elite preferences.

If the majority votes to hold new elections, the restructured ballot would make Hogg’s path significantly more difficult. Kelly predicts the outcome will reflect broader Democratic resistance to insurgent challenges from within.

“They’re using political procedure as a tool to fight against one of their own who hasn’t fallen in line with their agenda,” she said.

The DCNF reached out to Hogg, Martin, Kenyatta, Free and the DNC for comment but did not hear back by publication.

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