Four candidates are vying for two vice chair spots on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after a majority of members voted earlier this week to redo the election of David Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.
Oklahoma DNC committee member Kalyn Free, who lost a bid for vice chair, filed a challenge in February over the way the election was conducted, alleging it unfairly advantaged the male candidates running.
DNC members voted 294-99 this week to redo its elections following Free’s challenge; Hogg decided to forgo a run for his spot amid swirling controversy over his decision to get involved in Democratic primaries.
The DNC is holding two separate votes for vice chair positions: one for a male ballot spot and another ballot in which any gender candidate can run. Kenyatta won the spot on the male ballot on Saturday.
Three candidates are vying for a spot on the all-gender ballot this week.
Here’s what to know about the four candidates running for DNC vice chair:
Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta
Kenyatta was elected as one of the DNC’s vice chairs in February and is running for a second time following Free’s challenge. He successfully won reelection on the male ballot spot on Saturday.
Kenyatta was initially supposed to compete against Hogg under the male ballot slot, but Hogg withdrew.
The Pennsylvania lawmaker was first elected to the Pennsylvania state House in 2018 and represents part of Philadelphia County. He ran in the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary in 2022, losing to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.); more recently, he ran against Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim DeFoor (R), losing to him by single digits.
Kenyatta’s website touts his barrier-breaking record, including being the first openly LGBTQ candidate of color to be voted into the Pennsylvania Legislature.
Kenyatta told The Hill he’s traveled to nine states and Germany since being elected vice chair following the initial February election. He noted the DNC has been investing in local races like the Omaha, Neb., mayoral race and building out Democratic infrastructure in states across the country, including red states.
“No candidate when they get into the general election should have to build anything from scratch as it relates to their organizing, their voter outreach, and even some of the media infrastructure,” Kenyatta said.
Washington state party Chair Shasti Conrad
Shasti Conrad is running again to be a DNC vice chair after she lost a bid for one of the spots during the February election.
Conrad was named a DNC associate chair by national committee Chair Ken Martin in March, and she also currently heads the Washington State Democratic Party. Her bio touts that she’s worked with three Nobel Peace Prize winners; she’s also a campaign alum of former President Obama and and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Of particular importance to Conrad is focusing on Democratic caucuses and councils.
“I would really love to see, you know, more engagement, more connectivity with our caucuses and our councils, both at the national level” and among the state parties, she told The Hill.
She noted that not all state parties have an Asian American and Pacific Islander caucus, adding she’d support seeing them “officially organized and regularly meeting and doing the outreach work that we really need to do, you know, with our communities that don’t always feel that they can trust the party.”
Oklahoma DNC member Kalyn Free
Free is getting another shot at a DNC vice chair slot after successfully challenging the way the national party conducted its vice chair election in February.
Free is a member of the Choctaw Nation and serves as a DNC committee member in Oklahoma. She’s previously held elected office as a district attorney for the Haskell and Pittsburg counties in the late 1990s.
She previously ran for Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District but was unsuccessful.
Free noted a lack of Indigenous representation within DNC leadership, telling The Hill that “Indian country is critically important, obviously, to me, but it should be important to DNC leadership,” noting lawmakers and politicians have acknowledged that they wouldn’t have won their races without the support of Indigenous voters.
She also said she’s worked on more than 300 campaigns and raised tens of millions of dollars. She said her commitment to the cause was evident in her husband’s wedding vows, which she said she wrote.
“My husband vowed to never give aid, comfort, solace, or financial support to any Republican ever running for office. That’s how serious I take my Democratic values and how serious I am about building this party.”
Kansas state party Chair Jeanna Repass
Jeanna Repass also unsuccessfully sought a vice chair spot the first time around. She currently helms the Kansas Democratic Party and is a former secretary of state candidate in 2022. Repass is both the first Black and Latina woman to lead the Kansas state party, according to the Kansas Democratic Party.
During her first run for vice chair, she noted her familiarity with engaging with voters in red states.
“My experience as the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party gives me a unique perspective for how our national party can not only make inroads with voters in red states but also win in these tough elections,” Repass said, according to The Community Voice.
Prior to leading the state party, Repass worked in sales and marketing for several radio stations and was a director of urban mission outreach at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
In an interview with State Affairs in March, she also noted a particular focus on rural communities in the state.
