Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman David Hogg is funding efforts to oust Democratic incumbents in primaries despite being part of party leadership.
Hogg, a Democratic Party activist who gained prominence after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, was elected to be a vice chairman of the DNC in February, but he is still powering forward with efforts from his other organization, Leaders We Deserve. The group is planning to intervene in Democratic primaries with $20 million aimed at electing younger politicians who will be more aggressive toward President Donald Trump, according to the New York Times.
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“People say they want change in the Democratic Party, but really they want change so long as it doesn’t potentially endanger their position of power,” Hogg said in an interview. “That’s not actually wanting change. That’s selfishness.”
The report also said that at a DNC private meeting last month, each of the party’s top officials signed a “neutrality policy” that would cover both their official and personal capacity regarding Democratic primaries. Hogg was the only official not to sign the policy.
Hogg defended his group’s plans and said the media would “aim to destroy my reputation” with stories about them in a post on X Tuesday evening.
Everyone in our party says they want to start winning again, and they do—but that simply will not be possible with our current set of leaders, too many of which are asleep at the wheel, out-of-touch, and ineffective. As a result there are likely going to be stories in the next…
— David Hogg
(@davidhogg111) April 16, 2025
“Everyone in our party says they want to start winning again, and they do — but that simply will not be possible with our current set of leaders, too many of which are asleep at the wheel, out-of-touch, and ineffective. As a result, there are likely going to be stories in the next few days and weeks about me and Leaders We Deserve that will aim to destroy my reputation in order to weaken this effort,” Hogg said.
“Many of them will be lies. Many of them will be contortions of the truth because people want to maintain the status quo even though it is not working. We can not afford to do that. We’re not going to let that happen,” he added.
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Hogg was part of a new slate of leadership elected at the DNC in February following the 2024 losses.