David Hogg to Step Down as DNC Vice Chair Amid Intra-Party Turmoil

Andrew Roth/Sipa USA via AP Images

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg announced on Wednesday that he would step down from his position amid “a crisis of competence and complacency” in the party.

“I’m not running for the new DNC Vice Chair election,” announced Hogg in a statement after the DNC called a redo of the February election that resulted in Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta becoming vice chairs of the committee.

Criticizing “a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel,” and “the culture of seniority” which has resulted in “Democrats dying in office that have helped to hand Republicans an expanded majority,” Hogg warned, “If we don’t show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose.”

He continued:

There are lots of great older people who we need, there’s lots of terrible younger people we don’t. But it’s clear this culture of staying in power until you die or simply fail to do a good job but don’t need to worry about a challenge because you are in a safe seat has become an existential threat to the future of this party and nation that must be addressed.

This crisis of competence and complacency has already cost us an election and millions of Americans their rights. Let’s not let it cost us the country.

Hogg declared, “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 okay to have disagreements. What isn’t okay is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on.”

He concluded, “Ultimately, I have decided to not run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters.”