Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told party leaders in a recent private conversation that he’s unsure about his ability to lead the party because of infighting created by Vice Chair David Hogg.
“I’ll be very honest with you, for the first time in my 100 days on this job … the other night I said to myself for the first time, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore,” he said in a May 15 Zoom meeting of DNC officers, according to a recording obtained by POLITICO.
In the recording, an emotional Martin describes being deeply frustrated by the fallout over Hogg, who has ignited a firestorm in the party by vowing to spend $20 million in safe-blue primaries to oust incumbent Democrats he believes are ineffective. Martin paused twice while appearing to choke up.
The intraparty feud, Martin said on the recording, is making it more difficult for the party to do its work — and had ruined his ability to demonstrate leadership.
“No one knows who the hell I am, right? I’m trying to get my sea legs underneath of me and actually develop any amount of credibility so I can go out there and raise the money and do the job I need to to put ourselves in a position to win,” Martin said, addressing Hogg. “And again, 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.”
It was an extraordinary admission from the chair of the Democratic Party, just a few months after being elected to lead the party through its post-2024 crisis. The nearly two-minute clip does not include the entire conversation, including how Hogg and others may have responded to Martin.
Asked for an interview, Martin, 51, sent a statement through a spokesperson. In it, he said, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I took this job to fight Republicans, not Democrats,” he added. “As I said when I was elected, our fight is not within the Democratic Party, our fight is and has to be solely focused on Donald Trump and the disastrous Republican agenda. That’s the work that I will continue to do every day.”
Hogg, 25, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Zoom meeting took place a few days after a DNC panel recommended holding new elections for the seats held by Hogg and another vice chair, Malcolm Kenyatta, on procedural grounds. DNC members will decide whether to do so in a vote set to begin on Monday.
Roughly 10 people attended the May 15 Zoom meeting, including DNC officers and staff, according to two people familiar with the call who were granted anonymity to describe the private conversation.
Asked for comment, party leaders rallied behind Martin, expressing confidence in his leadership.
In a statement, DNC Associate Chair Shasti Conrad, who attended the Zoom meeting and was briefly mentioned on it, said Martin “showed vulnerability in a private conversation” and “stood up” for the Democratic Party.
“He shows up with authenticity. Always,” she said. “That’s what you’ll hear on the tape.”
Jane Kleeb, president of the Association of State Democratic Committees, was on the call and said she was “proud of” Martin and the work the party is doing. Kenyatta, who was also at the meeting, similarly stood by Martin: “Breaking news: a human being had a frustrating day at work. That’s all Ken expressed on that call.”
After POLITICO reached out to Martin and the DNC, three party officers who were on the call but not contacted by POLITICO sent statements of support for Martin: DNC Associate Chair Stuart Appelbaum, DNC Secretary Jason Rae and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a DNC associate chair and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Martin, who won a contested election to be DNC chair in February, formerly led the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party for about 14 years. He was also previously president of the Association of State Democratic Committees. When Martin campaigned for the DNC post, he called for a “massive narrative and branding project” to boost the party’s image. As chair, he has traveled the country for canvassing, fundraisers and other events to rally Democrats, including on Saturday in New Jersey.
But that work has been overshadowed in recent months by the intraparty dispute that Hogg and Martin have been locked in.
Many Democrats said party officers shouldn’t take sides in primaries, and Martin proposed requiring party leaders to remain neutral in them. Hogg had pitched a compromise, suggesting an internal “firewall” that would bar him from access to sensitive information in primaries his group, Leaders We Deserve, were involved with. But Martin rejected that deal.
“Party officers have one job: to be fair stewards of a process that invites every Democrat to the table — regardless of personal views or allegiances,” Martin said, urging Hogg to stay neutral.
As the controversy played out, Hogg’s position in the party was separately challenged by Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free, who filed a complaint in February that Hogg’s and Kenyatta’s election in February didn’t follow DNC rules and made it harder for a woman to be elected vice chair. After the DNC panel’s vote in support of another election, Hogg said in a statement that it is “impossible to ignore the broader context of my work to reform the party which loomed large over this vote” and that the “DNC has pledged to remove me, and this vote has provided an avenue to fast-track that effort.”
The tension within the DNC comes as Democrats grapple with the best way to regroup after devastating electoral losses in November. Hogg, a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, frames his efforts as a way to reinvigorate the party.
Hogg previously told POLITICO “we have a culture of seniority politics that has created a litmus test of who deserves to be here” and “we need people, regardless of their age, that are here to fight.” He has won some influential supporters, including longtime Democratic strategist James Carville and radio host Charlamagne tha God.
But an intense backlash from other Democrats has accused Hogg of hurting, not helping, the party. Several of the Democratic Party officers leveled that criticism at Hogg in their statements supporting Martin.
“Instead of helping to rebuild the party he’s supposed to serve, he’s attacking it for personal gain,” said Kleeb. “That might boost his PAC’s fundraising, but it erodes trust in the very institution we’re trying to reform and strengthen.”
Others emphasized that Hogg is an outlier among party officials, and both Appelbaum and Beatty used the word “distraction” in their statements.
“The stakes are so high right now that we can’t afford distractions like the ones that David is creating,” Appelbaum said.
In the Zoom meeting, Martin appeared to acknowledge complaints some had with how the party had operated, but told Hogg the “fight” was getting in the way.
“It has plenty of warts, and we’re all trying to change those, for sure, but the longer we continue this fight, the harder it is for us to actually do what we all want to do, which is make a difference in this country again,” he said in the recording. “I deeply respect you, David. I, too, was looking forward to working with you, but this has created a situation.”