Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin, aiming to quell a raging firestorm in the party, is making it crystal clear the DNC will stay neutral in intra-party primaries.
“No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger,” the recently elected national party chair said during a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
Martin’s comments were directed at DNC vice chair David Hogg, who last week pledged to shell out $20 million through his outside political group, Leaders We Deserve, to primary-challenge some older Democrats in blue districts.
Hogg’s effort is aimed at helping to elect younger Democrats and includes supporting primary challengers to House Democrats in safe seats who Hogg argues “are asleep at the wheel.”
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DNC Chair Ken Martin (right) gave vice chair David Hogg an ultimatum to stay out of primary politics or remain neutral if he wants to keep his job. (Getty/AP)
David Hogg, the 25-year-old survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, drew sharp attention by spending money against fellow Democrats—a move a DNC official called unprecedented. The action has deepened internal party tensions that have simmered since President Donald Trump’s decisive election last November.
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“I have great respect for David Hogg. I think he’s an amazing young leader who’s done so much already to help move our movement forward,” Martin said.
But the DNC chair added that while he understands what Hogg is trying to do, “I’ve said to him, if you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that, but just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be neutral arbiters. We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time.”
“It’s important for us to maintain the trust that we have built with Democratic voters and to keep our thumb off the scale as party officers,” Martin added.
Jane Kleeb, the president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs (ASDC) who joined Martin on the call, noted, “I, too, have a deep relationship with David. I was just talking with him this morning. We hope that he realizes that he got elected to be an officer of the DNC, which means that we remain neutral.”
Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg speaks to Michigan State University students as they gathered to protest gun violence a week after a mass shooting at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, Feb. 20, 2023. Hogg is now vice chair of the DNC. (Reuters/Emily Elconin)
The move by Hogg comes as the party’s base is angry and energized in fighting back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves since returning to the White House three months ago. That anger is directed not only at Trump and Republicans, but also at Democrats. Many in the party’s base feel they haven’t been effective or vocal enough in pushing back against the president.
The energy has been evident at town halls this past winter and early spring held by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. And progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York have drawn large crowds to their “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies across the country over the past six weeks.
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Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and other politicians who are leading the fight against Trump — including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut — have seen a surge in their fundraising over the past three months.
Another leader on the left who has been among those vocal in their resistance to the Trump administration, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, said in a Fox News Digital interview that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that, new leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.”
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California is interviewed by Fox News Digital at Yale University, on April 15, 2025, in New Haven, Connecticut. Khanna expressed his support for DNC vice chair Hogg’s primary strategy. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
In a social media post, Khanna said last week he supports Hogg’s primary plan and urged Democrats to “embrace a new generation of leadership & competition!”
But while Democrats are increasingly energized to resist Trump, a slew of national polls this year indicated the favorability ratings of the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows.
Martin’s comments on DNC neutrality in primaries came as he and Kleeb announced a $1 million investment in Democratic state parties.
The chair called the investment “historic” and said that it “will remake how we do business and how we achieve sustained political power in the Democratic Party.”
“I ran for this job to get the DNC out of the D.C. . . . I don’t think it benefits Democrats to sit in Washington and gaze at the problem and expect solutions to present themselves. Everyone here just wants to win the argument. I want to win elections, and you win elections in the States. So, that’s where the DNC will invest our resources,” Martin said.
Minnesota Democratic Party chair Ken Martin speaks with Fox News on Dec. 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Martin was elected DNC chair on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. He has committed to maintaining neutral in intra-party primaries. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Kleeb said that “the reform package that Ken Martin is bringing forward, that he will be discussing over the next several months that he ran on as chair is not a reaction to David, but is a step in the right direction of reforms that we’ve been fighting for, for 15 years. So I just wanted to make sure that that was clear.”
Former DNC Chair Howard Dean, who instituted a previous 50-state strategy when he steered the national party committee two decades ago, praised the new plan, saying “this is a really critical move that’s being made here.”
“The DNC’s job has got to shift outside of Washington. We cannot be a Washington-centric party and expect to win,” Dean added.
Democratic politicians and pundits have criticized Hogg’s brutal strategy, alongside his political organization, Leaders We Deserve, to spend millions of dollars to primary-challenge older Democrats in blue districts.
James Carville (left) criticized DNC vice chair David Hogg’s plan to primary incumbent Democrats. ((Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCAD)(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images))
During an interview with CNN last week, longtime Democratic strategist James Carville ripped Hogg for challenging those within his own party when he could be investing those same funds to “take on a Republican.”
“The most insane thing I ever heard is the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee is spending $20 million running against other Democrats. Aren’t we supposed to run against Republicans?” Carville asked.
Carville said Hogg’s job is to challenge Republicans, not Democrats, and suggested Hogg’s investment breached his “fiduciary duty” to the Democratic Party. Other strategists have joined Carville in calling out Hogg’s “insane behavior.”
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“When @davidhogg111 became Vice-Chair, I was quoted worrying he would not make the switch from activist to his new role. And he didn’t. This is insane behavior from a DNC official, especially as Trump takes a chainsaw to our democracy,” Democratic strategist Matt Bennett said on X.
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