Saturday’s Democratic National Convention Chairman Ken Martin doubled his ultimatum for Vice-Chairman Rogue David Hogg: a pledge of neutrality or step down.
“Participant has one job: he is a fair custodian of the process of inviting all Democrats to the table, regardless of their personal views or loyalty,” Martin said.
After several weeks of looming about how the disrupted party should move forward, Martin laid out his longtime vision in a post on X on Saturday, causing a stir last month after he said he would fund a Democrat primary for “inefficient, sleepy” Democrats.
Following Hogg’s comments, Martin has made it clear that you must remain neutral in the democratic primary.
The statement comes hours after Politico reported that Hogg had recently personally pitched a compromise to his party. He proposed what is called an internal firewall. There, he is prohibited from accessing information from the Internal Commission on Race, as long as he serves as the vice-chairman, as he supports the challenger.
“Some critics misframed this as an effort to erroneously keep it out of the party or as an effort to discourage the contested primary,” writes Martin. “Let’s be clear and clear. It’s not only wrong, it’s the opposite of what I stand for.”
Martin said the pledge, as argued by many past party officials, would allow for a fair process without interference from party leaders.
In a long thread, Martin mentioned Hogg by name and said he respected the 25-year-old activist-turned-activist Vice-Chairman.
“When I ran to the DNC chair, I ran on a platform that democratized the party,” he wrote. “These reforms aren’t about one person, certainly not about me and David Hogg. … Long before David was involved in politics, I was pushing for reform within the Democrats.”
Martin added: “If you lead a facility that calls for balls and strikes, you can’t even swing a bat.”
“I am more committed than ever to introducing a structural reform slate that will disgrace these values to the official Democratic rules,” Martin said. “These reforms will require that all party officials, including myself, remain neutral in the primary.”
