DNC chair rebukes David Hogg - primarying incumbents

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Democratic party leaders Thursday morning admonished officers not to take sides in primaries, addressing a situation involving activist David Hogg, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

"Let me be unequivocal: No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger," DNC Chair Ken Martin said on a media call. "Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open and trusted process, not to tilt the scales."'

As of now, however, the DNC does not have the power to remove Hogg if he refuses to stand down on funding primary challenges through a separate PAC — unless the body changes its rules, a senior DNC official told NBC News.

“Under the present bylaws, there is no action that can be taken against David Hogg without changing the bylaws to extend that policy of neutrality to all primaries," DNC Finance Chair Chris Korge said. "There is no codified, legal way to remove an officer for doing what David Hogg has done because it only extends to the presidential race. "

Korge said that, as of now, the situation will be addressed at a future meeting, most likely in August.

Korge said he believed it was imperative for the body to formally change its bylaws because the party division the Hogg situation has caused harks back to an old ghost Democrats don't want to revisit.

“It smells like 2016, when progressives said the DNC had it in the bag for Hillary Clinton," Korge said, referring to angst in the party that the DNC had its thumb on the scale to block Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., from the presidential nomination. "No party official, no officer of the DNC, should do anything that would result in the division that was created by the perception that existed back in 2016."

Martin said Thursday that he had spoken to Hogg about what he perceived as a conflict, but he didn't expound on whether he gave him an ultimatum.

"I understand what he's trying to do," Martin said on the call. "As 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 a neutral arbiter. We can't be both the referee and also the player at the same time. You have to make a decision.'"

In pushing back Thursday, Hogg cited Trump's power clashes with institutions in saying the party needed to take more aggressive actions. He added that he hadn't violated any DNC bylaws.

"They’re trying to change the rules because I'm not currently breaking them. As we’re seeing law firms, tech companies, and so many others bowing to Trump, we all must use whatever position of power we have to fight back. And that’s exactly what I'm doing," Hogg said in a statement.

"The role of the DNC is to set the Presidential primary calendar, set the Presidential debate schedule, to help strengthen our state parties, play a key role in building our data infrastructure for the party, and to be the campaign in waiting for whoever the next Democratic nominee is. Nothing I'm doing is at odds with any of that," he added.

Hogg set off a firestorm among Democrats last week when he said his political action committee would fund a $20 million effort to challenge “ineffective” incumbents in primaries.

Hogg is a vice chair of the DNC, and his comments reverberated through party circles, prompting a throng of angered Democrats to complain — including to DNC officials — that he shouldn’t put his thumb on the scale as an officer of the committee.

Since last week, Hogg has appeared on just about every cable news show and digital outlet, advocating for a party reset of sorts — not just because it lost the White House to Donald Trump, but also because, he said, it lost faith among voters.

David Hogg won't run again to be a DNC vice chair after his and Malcolm Kenyatta's elections were both vacated, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.