California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman has been accused of sexually assaulting or harassing staff members by Vice Chairman Daraka Larimore-Hall, the party’s third-in-command.

In an email sent Saturday to the party’s executive board, Larimore-Hall said he has filed a complaint with the party’s human resources department, calling for Bauman to be removed as chairman in light of what Larimore-Hall called “credible, corroborated and utterly heart-breaking allegations.”

“I take seriously any allegation brought forward by anyone who believes they have been caused pain,” Bauman, the state party’s first openly gay chairman, said in a statement Saturday evening. He said an independent investigation of the allegations had been undertaken by a “respected outside investigator” to ensure that staffers making the charges are “free from any concerns of retaliation.”

“Procedures are in place to handle these matters, and independent counsel will ensure that they are followed. I look forward to putting these allegations behind us and moving forward as unified Democrats.”

Larimore-Hall did not respond to requests for comment, but in the email to the executive board he said that he had been recently approached by “a number of party staff” who said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by Bauman at party functions.

“I will forever be inspired by the bravery of these young political professionals, many of whom are at the very beginnings of their careers,” Larimore-Hall wrote.

Larimore-Hall included no details about the alleged incidents or the staff members who reportedly were assaulted. In his email, he said that he would allow the victims to decide whether to come forward.

“Obviously, it is completely unacceptable for Chairman Bauman to remain in office” given the allegations, he said.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, called the allegations “shocking” on Twitter Friday evening and suggested Bauman be replaced by Michele Dauber, a law professor at Stanford who spearheaded the effort to recall Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky. The judge sparked national outrage after he sentenced a Stanford athlete to six months in jail for sexually assaulting and attempting to rape an unconscious woman.

The allegations of sexual assault that @DarakaKenric is filing against @EricBauman are shocking. CalDems should replace him with @mldauber who is one of the nation’s foremost scholars on sexual harassment & led the Persky recall campaign. We need a bold feminist to lead for 2020. — Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 24, 2018

“We need a bold feminist to lead for 2020,” Khanna said. He also said he’d also support Kimberly Ellis of Richmond, whom Bauman bested in the contentious race for the party’s top job by just 62 votes last year at the state party convention.

That race exposed deep fault lines within the state’s Democratic Party. Bauman, a longtime party insider, was seen by the party’s more left-leaning faction as insufficiently progressive, too cozy with business interests and willing to disregard the demands of the party’s grassroots members.

Hene Kelly, an executive board member and regional director for the party in the Bay Area, said the allegations ought to be investigated but worried that they would sap some of the momentum built up in the wake of state Democrat’s resounding victories during the midterms.

“I’m absolutely torn up about this, because this is not what we need right now,” she said.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa