Democrats' vice chair gets ultimatum: stay neutral in primaries or step down from party leadership

"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.

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."

"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."

Hours later, Hogg responded in a series of social media posts.

"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," Hogg argued.

And he charged that the DNC is "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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

Martin was expected to detail the new investments for the state parties, along with a strengthened neutrality pledge for DNC officials, in a call later Thursday with national party committee members.

Some Democratic politicians and pundits have criticized Hogg's strategy.

"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."

But a DNC voting member who was granted anonymity to speak more freely was more diplomatic, telling Fox News Digital that "because we are so close to winning the [House] majority, having that money spent picking up seats to win the majority is probably a better use of the funds."

And a Democratic Party operative who works on campaigns and who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that "this is unusual, but we do need some better Democrats in office and there's been a push to have a new generation come in and replace the 70- and-80-year-olds who have been in elective positions and shown that they're not up to the fight."