Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg is running for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Hogg, 24, is hoping to inject some of his youthful, progressive energy into a party still licking its wounds and pointing fingers after a devastating election night loss in November.
“I think this role is a great way of, for one, bringing newer voices into the Democratic Party,” the Gen Zer told ABC News. “I just want to be one of several of those voices to help represent young people and also, more than anything, make sure that we’re standing up to the consulting class that increasingly the Democratic Party is representing instead of the working class.”
Hogg also took particular aim at what he sees as complacency and a lack of accountability from party leadership, many of whom were quick to defend the Harris campaign while blaming others for their loss. Black men, leftists, and trans people have all been scapegoated. Hogg called this out.
“What really bothers me is, we say to people all the time, ‘Who’s to blame for this election?’ It’s young people, it’s X minority group … but really, who’s to blame for this? It’s us. It’s us. Ultimately, we failed to communicate, and we failed to have a broader strategy within the party to make sure that we were telling the president what he needed to hear, rather than what he wanted to hear, which was that he needed to drop out.”
There are four elected vice chair slots up for grabs within the DNC, with three general vice chairperson roles and one vice chairperson for civic engagement and voter participation. Hogg is younger than anyone else who’s thrown their name in, and his victory would be a generational shift in the party.
“We need to realize that we are increasingly the party of sycophants,” Hogg said. “We are just surrounding ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear; we’re increasingly surrounding ourselves with paid political consultants that … are letting what donors say to them guide their talking points.”