A Democratic National Committee vote next week could be the first step to removing its vice chairman, David Hogg, who has sparked a generational divide within the Democratic Party.
Hogg, 25, surprised colleagues when he launched an effort to fund primary challenges to incumbent Democrats, arguing the party needs fresh leaders to win back voters. The DNC and its chairman, Ken Martin, denounced the plan, claiming that working against sitting Democratic lawmakers runs counter to the party’s mission of pushing back against President Donald Trump.
DNC members will have their say next week by casting an electronic vote from Monday to Wednesday to decide whether to void the February elections of Hogg and another vice chairman on technical grounds. If so, Hogg would have to run again for the leadership position that Martin argues should require neutrality in primary races.
“The DNC has pledged to remove me, and this vote has provided an avenue to fast-track that effort,” Hogg told the New York Times.
As Hogg calls for a political shake-up, many congressional Democrats and party leaders have pushed for unity.
The Washington Examiner spoke with many Democratic members of Congress, who all said they did not know enough to speak on the vote being held next week. However, each expressed their support for incumbent Democrats as the best shot to flip the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
“I’m always encouraging of young, new faces getting engaged, running for office,” Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) told the Washington Examiner. “Everyone has a right to run for office. I do not feel that it is constructive for an officer of the DNC to be actively supporting primary candidates.”
“I mean, I support incumbents,” Generation Z Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) told the Washington Examiner.
The House Democrats said beating Republicans to take back the House in 2026 should be the main focus of the party, not turning on each other.
“I do think our party should be focused on winning the next election, electing a Democratic majority in the House, and making sure that we’re flipping red districts blue, and I think that that’s what the focus of our officers should be, rather than Dem-on-Dem action,” Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) told the Washington Examiner.
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman, said his caucus defends its members.
“We focus on helping progressives win open seats, we don’t get involved in incumbent primaries,” Casar told the Washington Examiner. “In fact, we make sure we defend our progressive caucus members who are doing progressive work no matter what generation they’re from.”
Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, has been a prominent voice of the Democratic Party, starting as a co-founder of the youth activism group March for Our Lives before turning to Democratic leadership. Many Democrats believe his skills were better used in advocacy, allowing him to speak freely against the establishment.
“With this upcoming vote coming up, I wish he was promoting more unity and not making this election all about himself, because I don’t think it’s about him,” a Senate Democratic staffer told the Washington Examiner.
“If he wanted to be a disrupter, then he shouldn’t have run for something in the establishment,” the staffer continued.
“I think this discourse is important, and this conversation needs to be had,” the staffer added about Hogg’s efforts. “However, I think jeopardizing any chance for Dems to take back the House or potentially take back the Senate are just unproductive uses of time, and I think we should be spreading a message of Dem unity and Dem strength versus infighting.”
Hogg contends that he is not working against the Democratic Party, just trying to make it better by calling out senior Democrats who “are asleep at the wheel while Trump creates new crises every day that jeopardize our way of life.”
“We can’t fix a 27% approval rating by just changing our words,” Hogg wrote in a thread on X, after the DNC denounced his plan to primary incumbents. “We need to change who we are.”
The GOP has enjoyed the fighting that has broken out within the Democratic Party, elevating Hogg as the face of opposition. With the DNC vote looming, Republicans have labeled it “The Hogg Rebellion,” as the GOP fights to keep the House during a cycle that is historically unkind to the party in power.
“The Hogg Rebellion gets bloodier by the day, and the wildest part? The ones losing their jobs aren’t even close to moderates; they’re just not radical enough for the mob,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella wrote in a statement.
As the midterm elections approach, Democrats have been in search of messaging that sticks after their sweeping losses in 2024, when the GOP secured a trifecta in Washington for the next two years. The DNC vote could hold great weight in how the party moves forward.
The vote itself was generated by a technical complaint filed by Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free, who was a losing candidate in the vice chair race earlier this year. Free said the party violated its own gender-parity rules by combining two separate questions into a one vote, making it harder for a woman to be elected to the position.
Hogg is not the only vice chairman who could be removed. Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, whose position is also at stake, said on X he is “pissed that this challenge was successful.”
“The credentials committee believed, as they stated, that they are remedying a procedural flaw,” Kenyatta wrote. “But doing so the way they did, is a slap in my face. I’m frustrated, but I’ll be ok.”
If DNC members vote to void the two vice chairmen’s elections, they will vote again on party leadership. The election for a new male vice chairman would be June 12-14, with a second vote for a second vice chair of any gender from June 15-17.
Even if the two men are not ousted and remain, Martin has called for party leadership to sign a neutrality pledge. Hogg, despite this threat, announced his first endorsement last month.
First endorsement coming tomorrow!
— David Hogg
(@davidhogg111) May 15, 2025
DAVID HOGG SAYS DNC IN PROCESS OF REMOVING HIM AS VICE CHAIRMAN
With or without Hogg in leadership, many young Democrats have launched primary challenges to incumbents, demanding more be done to stop Trump.
Earlier this week, Georgia Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Clark launched her campaign against Rep. David Scott (D-GA), who will turn 80 this month. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the longest-serving Democrat, also faces a primary challenge from Harry Jarin, a 35-year-old small business owner and volunteer firefighter.
STENY HOYER, 85, GETS A PRIMARY CHALLENGE FROM MILLENNIAL MAKING AGE AN ISSUE
Influencer and former progressive watchdog group staffer Kat Abughazaleh announced her candidacy against Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) before the incumbent announced her retirement. Jake Rakov launched a primary against his former boss, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA).
Elijah Manley, a 26-year-old Florida substitute history teacher, announced a primary challenge against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL). Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is facing a primary from Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Ocasio-Cortez has been known to back campaigns to primary fellow Democrats.
