Allegheny County Democratic chair Eileen Kelly responds to calls for her resignation
Allegheny County Democratic Committee chair Eileen Kelly spoke to Pittsburgh's Action News 4 after calls for her resignation. Multiple elected officials are calling on her to resign, including U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle.
Action News Investigates spoke to Kelly. Watch the interview in the video player above.
Emily Kinkead, a Democratic candidate for state representative in District 20, is the latest to assail Kelly's leadership.
"(Kelly) displays a stunning lack of leadership ability," Kinkead said. "She demonstrated a refusal to understand the seriousness of the ACDC endorsing a Trump supporter. She denied the reality and the magnitude of permitting those who actively oppose Democratic values and the Democratic presidential nominee to serve on committee."
Mayor Bill Peduto shares similar sentiments.
"Instead of the leadership of the committee being strict and saying it is not permitted, they're allowing them and giving them a pass," he said.
Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reporter Sheldon Ingram spoke to Kelly on Friday:
On her resignation: "No, I’m not going to resign. I have 2,200 committee members who elected me to serve as chair and that’s what I’m going to do."
On U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle asking her to resign: "The elected officials are not the ones who run the committee."
On social media behavior of committee members voicing support for Donald Trump and wearing MAGA hats:
“I don’t read Facebook and Twitter. I don’t know what they do, if they made a joke or what.”
Will Kelly investigate their social media activity?
"I have 2,200 people that I facilitate. They are by no means are Republicans. They are elected Democratic voters in each of their districts in Allegheny County."
Tensions erupted Sunday after Allegheny County Democratic Committee members endorsed Heather Kass, who blasted Obamacare and recovering addicts while openly expressing support for President Donald Trump.
Party leaders say there is a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party locally.
"What you're seeing is a tip of an iceberg of a party trying to identify who it is, and you're seeing different factions coming out and, unfortunately, pitting against each other," Mayor Bill Peduto said Thursday.
Bethany Hallam, a county council member and Democratic committee member, says a darker side to the division is focused on several party members who don't hold true loyalty, functioning as closet Republicans or outright Trump supporters while holding positions as committee members and ward chairs.
"There have been ward chairs in the city, there have been suburban committee members, committee members all over the county who have been public with their support for Donald Trump himself as Democrats," Hallam said.
Jim Burn, a former chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, says current leadership must exercise a zero tolerance stance against members openly violating loyalty to the party.
"The people who are elected to endorse and vote and nominate and put Democrats in office are running around with MAGA hats and playing patty cake with the worst president we've ever had," Burn said.
"You wear a MAGA hat for that president, or you're supporting anyone but our candidates, you need to think about doing something else," he said.