Latest news with #DavidHogg
Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Meet the Gen Z Democrat funding an insurgent takeover
When Zohran Mamdani triumphed in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York, the political establishment was in shock. Senior Democrats and donors had rallied behind Andrew Cuomo, the former governor and the favourite in early polling. For some in the party, however, a left-wing outsider becoming the presumptive mayor of America's biggest city did not come as a surprise. Instead it fit into a wider insurgency movement that, if successful, could change the Democrats for decades to come. Its leader is David Hogg, a 25-year-old gun control activist and former vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). On seeing Mamdani's victory, Hogg tweeted: 'It's going to be a fun next couple years.' The reason? 'We're going to shake things up,' he tells The Times, predicting a generational shift in the party. To make that happen, Hogg's grassroots outfit, Leaders We Deserve, is putting money behind select candidates, including Mamdani. 'We spent $300,000 to support him. I believe we were his biggest contributor,' Hogg says. 'We knew that he was being outspent pretty massively by his opponents and we wanted to do everything we could to get behind him when the political establishment was writing him off.' Hogg is hoping to use Mamdani's success as a blueprint to propel younger candidates into seats occupied by the old guard. • Hot Girls for Mamdani: 'What makes you hot is the fact you're voting for him' This month Barack Obama urged the Democratic Party to 'toughen up … stop looking for the quick fix … stop looking for the messiah' and back the 'great candidates running races right now'. However, newly free from his role on the DNC, Hogg is imagining something a little more transformative. He sees parallels between the end of the Soviet Union and the Democratic Party in its present form. 'If you look at the end of the Soviet Union you have leader after leader after leader dying because they all just kept waiting for that next person to move on. 'So it's obviously not as extreme as that but there is some element of that because the boomer population [Americans born from 1946 to 1964] is so big that they have been waiting to come into power for a long time and they stayed there for a long time. 'A lot of them are either about to retire or may not, unfortunately, live much longer.' This year Hogg announced a plan to use $20 million of funding for Leaders We Deserve to back primary challenges against Democratic candidates who are 'asleep at the wheel'. This led to a backlash. Hillary Scholten, a congresswoman from a swing district in Michigan, said: 'I can think of a million better things to do with $20 million right now.' Hogg has since left his role on the committee. While he left on a technicality — fresh elections were called on the grounds it needed more women in senior positions — he says he was given an ultimatum that he could stay only if he agreed to drop his activities with Leaders We Deserve. He chose freedom. Having entered activism initially on gun crime as a survivor of the Parkland school shooting in 2018, he is looking to fund insurgent candidates that will shake up the status quo. Not every candidate backed by the group has been as successful as Mamdani. Hogg backed Irene Shin in the special Democratic primary for Virginia's 11th congressional district and the Generation Z influencer Deja Foxx in Arizona's 7th. Neither made it, though Foxx won more than 20 per cent of the vote after coming essentially from nowhere. 'With our organisation we want to have a very select number of people that we invest in that we believe are truly the best of our generation and that we massively invest in spending several hundred of thousands of dollars, sometimes a million-plus dollars, to support them and get them across the finish line,' he says. How will they find the leaders of tomorrow? It comes down to a 'combination of methods', Hogg says. 'Sometimes people will go to our website and fill out our run for office form to let us know that they're running for office. Other times it's our recruitment director who directly reaches out to people and says, 'hey, there's this seat that's opening up' or 'there's a race that we think you'd be good to run in, would you be interested?' 'Sometimes they're already running for office, like Deja, like Zohran, and we see a really great campaign with real movement in the polls where we feel like we could make a difference.' The support includes day-to-day help on polling, their field campaign and securing local endorsements. There is also an intangible factor tying all of his group's candidates together. 'Charisma cannot be bought. Giving a shit cannot be bought. There is no amount of money that can force that,' he says. 'I think with Zohran what we saw was the use of a new platform to express what was already there and just highlight that … It's not enough just to post a clip if you're boring or you don't really believe in what you're saying because people can tell.' Is he ready for the backlash from old-school Democrats who see his group's work as a destructive path that could harm the party's reputation in the long term? 'Ultimately I am more than happy to take that fight on because the reality is people in DC — for the most part, their biggest weakness is the one that they don't even realise is a weakness, because they've been so brainwashed by this town. Their philosophy has become what raises them the most money and what pisses off the fewest people in the political establishment. 'If you're running for office or your incumbency is being challenged because you don't really stand for anything, it's going to be really easy to shine a light on how you flip-flop on everything by running a younger candidate who has the values that they stick to and don't compromise on.' If Hogg gets his way, Mamdani is only the beginning.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hogg says he would work with DNC in future despite ‘double standard'
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg said on Wednesday that he is willing to work with the committee despite his June departure, which he characterized as a 'double standard.' 'There's obviously disagreements that we have at the end of the day, but I think that we all still have good relationships,' Hogg told The Hill's Julia Manchester at the Hill Nation Summit. 'I still have, you know, enormous respect for all my fellow vice chairs, the other officers of the DNC.' The progressive activist, who called for primary challenges against Democratic incumbents with the help of his leadership PAC Leaders We Deserve, left the DNC in June after deciding not to run after his election was vacated over a procedural rule about gender diversity. On Wednesday, Hogg called this out as a 'double standard that was selectively enforced.' 'I would argue that what I'm doing is not that different from someone having a leadership PAC that gives against an incumbent,' he added, noting he had no access to donor or voter data that would pose a conflict with his PAC. Hogg, in conversation with Manchester, went on to state that the party, in his view, lacks the 'courage to do bold things' and support for 'competition.' 'I think I will be vindicated in four years,' he added about his departure from the DNC. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Hogg says he would work with DNC in future despite ‘double standard'
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg said on Wednesday that he is willing to work with the party despite his June departure, which he characterized as a 'double standard.' 'There's obviously disagreements that we have at the end of the day, but I think that we all still have good relationships,' Hogg told The Hill's Julia Manchester at the Hill Nation Summit. 'I still have, you know, enormous respect for all my fellow vice chairs, the other officers of the DNC.' The progressive activist, who called for primarying Democratic incumbents with the help of his leadership PAC 'Leaders We Deserve,' left the DNC in June after deciding not to run after his election was vacated over a procedural rule about gender diversity. On Wednesday, Hogg called this as a 'double standard that was selectively enforced.' 'I would argue that what I'm doing is not that different from someone having a leadership PAC that gives against an incumbent,' he added, noting he had no access to donor or voter data that would pose a conflict with his PAC. Hogg, in conversation with Manchester, went on to state that that party, in his view, lacks the 'courage to do bold things' and support for 'competition.'
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
David Hogg-backed candidate eyes upset in Democratic congressional primary
Print Close By Paul Steinhauser Published July 15, 2025 A 25-year-old social media influencer and progressive activist is hoping to follow in Zohran Mamdani's footsteps by pulling off a stunning, come-from-behind victory in a high-profile Democratic Party congressional primary. Deja Foxx is the youngest of the five candidates running in Tuesday's primary in the race to fill the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, who died in March from complications related to cancer treatment. The winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries will face off on Sept. 23 in a special election to serve the final 15 months of Grijalva's term in Arizona's 7th Congressional District, a heavily blue district that stretches from Tucson to Yuma and includes almost the entire length of the state's southern border with Mexico. REP. RAUL GRIJALVA OF ARIZONA DEAD AT AGE 77 "This moment calls for more than a politician. You deserve a fighter," Foxx said in a social media post. "This is more than a campaign. This is a movement. This is a fight for our future." Foxx, who went viral as a teenager for confronting then-Republican Sen. Jeff Flake over the issue of reproductive rights, enjoys the support of gun-control crusader David Hogg, who recently stepped down from his position as a Democratic National Committee vice chair after upsetting party leaders for his efforts backing primary challenges against what he called "asleep at the wheel" older, longtime incumbents in safe, blue districts. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON DAVID HOGG Hogg, who campaigned with Foxx this past weekend across the district, predicts she will "make history in Southwest Arizona." Additionally, he compared her surging poll numbers in the final days of the primary campaign to that of Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born state lawmaker who topped former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates last month to win the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. Similar to the New York City mayoral primary, the contest in southern Arizona will be viewed by many political pundits as a barometer of where the Democratic Party is headed as the party deals with longstanding divisions between its establishment and outsider, and progressive and moderate wings. The frontrunner in the race appears to be 54-year-old former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, who is the daughter of the late congressman. She enjoys the backing of some of the state's top Democrats, including Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, state Attorney General Kris Mayes and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Grijalva is also supported by two top progressive champions – Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York – who both backed Mamdani in the New York City mayoral primary. Former state Rep. Daniel Hernandez, indigenous activist and scholar Jose Malvido Jr. and former healthcare executive Patrick Harris Sr. are also running for the Democratic nomination in the majority-Hispanic district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a nearly two-to-one margin. More than $2 million has been dished out to run ads in the Democratic primary, with some of the money coming from outside groups. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Contractor and small business owner Daniel Butierez, restaurant owner Jorge Rivas and general contractor and vehicle accessory business owner Jimmy Rodriguez are vying for the Republican congressional nomination in the district. Polls in the district close at 7 p.m. local time, which is 10 p.m. ET, and no results will be released until an hour after the polls close. Print Close URL
The Hill
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
David Hogg is right: Democratic leaders' strategy is obsolete
Democratic leaders aren't failing because they're too old. They're failing because their political strategy is obsolete. The recent Democratic National Committee drama proves the point. Hours after the DNC voted to void David Hogg's vice chair election on procedural grounds, the 26-year-old activist announced he wouldn't compete in the redo election. The DNC's move — forcing new elections over alleged procedural violations — came after leaked audio revealed DNC Chair Ken Martin venting about conflicts with Hogg, saying, 'I don't know if I want to do this anymore' and 'you essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.' The outcome illustrates the problem. The DNC forced Hogg out for challenging party orthodoxy — specifically his plan to raise millions through his 'Leaders We Deserve' PAC to support young progressives against incumbent Democrats in safe seats. Party officials said DNC officers should focus on defeating Republicans, not 'sowing division.' But Hogg's parting shot captured the real issue. He decried 'a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of them asleep at the wheel.' Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here Polling confirms that voters agree with Hogg's diagnosis. A June CNN/SSRS poll found only 16 percent of Americans see Democrats as strong leaders capable of 'getting things done,' compared to 40 percent for Republicans. Meanwhile, 91 percent of Democrats view Trump's return as a threat to democracy, reinforcing the need for assertive progressive leadership. Yet Democratic leaders consistently chooses 'unity' over effectiveness. They suppress confrontational tactics instead of channeling them strategically. They draft thoughtful position papers that get buried while Republicans manufacture outrage that dominates news cycles. They rely on pollster-tested talking points instead of speaking with authentic conviction. And they treat primary challenges as party betrayals, rather than mechanisms for democratic accountability. The irony is that Hogg got ejected for doing exactly what successful politicians do: creating attention-grabbing moments that force conversations about important issues. His strategy for primary challenges mirrors what Republicans have used effectively for years to reshape their party. Tea Party primaries moved the GOP rightward, and pro-Trump primaries completed the transformation. These weren't accidents — they were strategic uses of competitive pressure that generated media coverage and shifted the public debate. But when Democrats attempt similar tactics, leadership panics. Consider Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) approach: When he quietly negotiated bipartisan deals, Republicans got credit for being reasonable, whereas Democrats were blamed for lacking principles. When progressives demand accountability through primaries, party elites worry about 'division' rather than leveraging the coverage to advance Democratic goals. And when activists create controversy, they are expelled rather than strategically deployed. This isn't about replacing experienced leaders with younger ones. In fact, there are Democrats with nontraditional political strategies across the age range. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 83, commands one of America's largest political digital platforms. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), 34, is a master at using social media to advance progressive policies. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), 51, launched a PAC designed for direct grassroots mobilization rather than traditional fundraising. Age doesn't determine strategic wisdom — results do. The unexpected outcome of the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City reinforces the pattern — and the resistance to change. Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the establishment favorite, despite most of the city's Democratic House delegation endorsing Cuomo. The victory came with financial support from Hogg's 'Leaders We Deserve' PAC. Yet the party's response was predictably cautious: while praising Mamdani's organizing effectiveness, figures such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries avoided endorsement, and some Democrats immediately distanced themselves from the winner — exactly the kind of institutional timidity that limits Democratic effectiveness. Democratic strategy must be updated to match current realities realities — and actually learning from what works. Modern political battles are fought in public, in real-time, through narrative competition. The party that controls attention controls outcomes. This means creating political moments that advance Democratic goals rather than avoiding conflict. It means treating competitive primaries as tools for generating beneficial coverage, not threats to institutional stability. Republicans figured this out years ago. They have mastered creating controversy that generates coverage. That coverage shapes narratives and narratives determine policy outcomes. Democrats have watched this happen repeatedly while responding with carefully crafted talking points that audiences ignore. Democrats can either adapt or keep losing winnable fights. The DNC decision suggests they're choosing the latter. Hogg may be out, but the strategic problems that made his critique necessary remain. Until Democratic leaders updates their obsolete playbook, they'll keep being outmaneuvered by Republicans who understand that controlling the story requires a willingness to make news. The late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) famously urged Americans to make 'good trouble, necessary trouble' in pursuit of justice. Democrats today face a choice: Embrace the kind of strategic disruption that Lewis championed, or continue playing by outdated rules while Republicans dominate the narrative battlefield. The DNC's response to Hogg and Democratic leadership's cautious reaction to unexpected primary victories suggests they are choosing institutional comfort over strategic effectiveness. That's not just bad politics — it's a betrayal of the tradition of productive conflict that built the modern Democratic Party. Dana Dolan teaches public policy at George Mason University.
