MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. —The Democratic National Committee‘s Rules and Bylaws Committee passed an amendment Tuesday evening prohibiting officers and staff from meddling in Democratic primary elections.
The vote was previously meant to rebuke and block David Hogg, a former DNC vice chairman, from endorsing younger candidates against elder incumbents. But before the DNC summer gathering this week, Hogg declined to seek reelection when it became increasingly clear he would lose.
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“This is a very simple amendment, but it’s very profound. It’s saying that no party officer, none of the DNC officers, none of the DNC staff, can in fact put their thumb on the scale,” Chairman Ken Martin said. “We have to create a fair and competitive process that allows everyone to compete. And then once the primary voters make their decision, then we fight like hell.”
Martin claimed that the only exception to this rule is for DNC officers who are candidates running for office.
“But beyond that, that is the only exception,” Martin explained. “It means you stay out of every office at every level, and it also means you can’t help your friends who are running,” said Martin.
After winning the election as vice chairman earlier this year, Hogg divided party members when he announced that his organization, Leaders We Deserve, would invest $20 million to help support younger Democrats who are primarying senior members. Some Democrats accused Hogg of distracting from the fight against President Donald Trump’s second administration.
“This culture simply will not change by only focusing on open seats or just throwing half a billion dollars into 30 competitive House seats. We must change the culture of our party that has brought us here,” Hogg wrote in a statement announcing his intention not to seek a leadership position in June.
Martin was adamant at that time that DNC officers had no business wading into primaries. “No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election,” Martin said back in April.
Shasti Conrad, a current DNC vice chairwoman who replaced Hogg, championed the neutrality pledge in her remarks during the committee meeting.
“For far too long, I think many people, progressives, people of color, young people, have felt like at times, institutions like these have put thumbs on the scale, have made it harder for people to be able to feel that they have a fair chance to be able to run for office, to be able to participate in this work,” said Conrad. “And this neutrality pledge allows us to make sure that we’re creating as much equity in this work as possible and we’re giving people a chance to be a part of it.”
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Donna Brazile, the DNC’s former interim chairwoman, also urged the committee to consider broadening the neutrality pledge to outside consultants.
“I don’t want to add anything to it, but I’m going to just speak from my experience, some of our consultants that we have, they have multiple contracts,” Brazile said. “And we need to be aware of what we’re doing when we also hire vendors and consultants. I think we just need to be as transparent as possible.”