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Shasti Conrad, Washington State Democratic Party Chair, was elected vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday, ending the months-long David Hogg controversy in which the 25-year-old progressive bowed out from party leadership.
The second voting period for the DNC’s “any gender” vice chair election ended Friday night as Free OR Conrad picked up the majority of votes cast by DNC members. Earlier in the week, candidates failed to secure a majority and Jeanna Repass was eliminated during the first round of voting.
Hogg announced his exit from DNC leadership after members voted last week to uphold the Credentials Committee’s resolution proposed by Kalyn Free to host a re-election for two vice-chair positions, which Hogg and DNC vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta won during the Feb. 1 party elections.
Kenyatta told Fox News Digital after Hogg’s exit that the re-election drama has prevented the DNC from being “singularly focused.”
‘DISTRACTION’: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS READY TO LEAVE THEIR DAVID HOGG DRAMA IN THE DUST
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about procedural nonsense within the DNC. I promise you nobody cares about that, and nobody wants to talk about it as little as I do. I want us to get refocused,” Kenyatta said.
DNC CHAIR RIPPED DAVID HOGG OVER PARTY INFIGHTING IN LEAKED MEETING AUDIO: ‘REALLY FRUSTRATING’
Hogg agreed, writing in a lengthy X statement that he was stepping down from the DNC, “so the party can focus on what really matters.”
But Hogg ignited internal Democratic Party divisions this year through his $20 million plan to primary challenge vulnerable incumbent Democrats he said were “asleep at the wheel.” The plan, through his outside political action group, Leaders We Deserve, exposed an apparent rift with DNC Chair Ken Martin, who gave Hogg the ultimatum to either forego his political influence through his PAC or give up his DNC leadership position.
And the young progressive’s departure did little to stall headlines about the Democratic Party’s disarray, as this week DNC officials criticized Martin’s leadership and The New York Times reported officials had considered borrowing money to pay the bills this year.
Earlier this week, The New York Times also first reported that two top union leaders had departed the DNC. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, declined offers to stay on as at-large members of the DNC.
“I appear to be out of step with the leadership you are forging, and I do not want to be the one who keeps questioning why we are not enlarging our tent and actively trying to engage more and more of our communities,” Weingarten, the education leader and longtime voice in Democratic politics, said in a letter Martin that is now circulating on social media.
Hogg’s decision to leave the DNC followed a damning Politico report, which included leaked audio from a Zoom meeting of Martin lamenting over Hogg’s fallout at the DNC, claiming it had made it harder for Democrats to do their jobs and for Martin to demonstrate his ability to lead.
“I don’t think you intended this, but you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to. So, it’s really frustrating,” Martin said.
Free submitted her complaint following the DNC’s Feb. 1 officer elections, in which Hogg and Kenyatta were elected vice chairs. She claimed the DNC’s tabulation method violated the charter’s provision and parliamentary procedure and “discriminated against three women of color candidates.”
“This was never about Malcolm Kenyatta or David Hogg,” Free told Fox News Digital after the Credentials Committee elevated her complaint before the full DNC. “For me, this was about ensuring that the Democratic Party lives up to our ideals as the only political party to believe in and stand up for election integrity and a free and fair democracy.”
The Democratic Party maintained that the vice-chair re-election had nothing to do with the primary controversy Hogg stirred up earlier this year, but Hogg slammed the vote as a “fast-track” effort to remove him from party leadership.
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