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Hogg announced his retreat hours after the DNC removed him and
another officer, Pennsylvania state lawmaker Malcolm Kenyatta,
from their vice chair roles, saying the February elections they
won did not follow the party's rules. Hogg said he will not run
in the redo elections to be held over the weekend.
With dejected Democrats looking for a path back to relevance
after a disastrous 2024 election, Hogg said earlier this year
that he plans to raise millions of dollars through a political
action committee unaffiliated with the DNC called Leaders We
Deserve to support young progressives against party stalwarts.
He says the party needs a shake-up to bring in leaders who will
more aggressively confront Trump and connect with younger voters
and offer an inspiring new vision for a party voters are
rejecting. The push rankled many Democrats, who said DNC
officers should be focused on defeating Republicans, not sowing
division among Democrats.
Hogg on Wednesday decried “a serious lack of vision from
Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel,”
noting three Democratic House members have died this year after
being reelected in November, leaving the party shorthanded in
Washington.
The culture on Capitol Hill rewards seniority and protects
complacency, he said in a statement announcing his decision to
walk away from his DNC role.
“If there is anything activism or history teaches us it's that
comfortable people, especially comfortable people with power, do
not change,” Hogg said. “In this moment of crisis, comfort is
not an option.”
In April, DNC Chair Ken Martin proposed bylaw changes to require
party officers to remain neutral in all Democratic primaries.
Party neutrality is crucial to maintaining the confidence of
voters, he argued, pointing to the bitter feud that emerged
after supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign believed
he was stymied by party insiders putting their thumb on the
scale in favor of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won the nomination
but went on to lose the general election to Donald Trump.
Hogg rose to prominence as a gun-control advocate after
surviving the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
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