Dems get Hogged down by activist turned DNC vice-chair
In early February, still smarting from a total wipeout in the 2024 elections, the Democratic National Committee met in National Harbor, Maryland, to select new leadership and chart a long and arduous path back to power. Rather than make headlines for the sober selection of Ken Martin as DNC chair — who would go on to implement some smart innovations — the top story out of the DNC’s winter meetings was outgoing chair Jaime Harrison explaining the rules on gender-balance in the event of a gender nonbinary officer. Add to that a litmus test on identity politics and the elevation to vice-chair of David Hogg — the progressive Gen Z activist who has rankled centrists with his vociferous support of the #abolishICE and #defundpolice movements — and it appeared the DNC learned absolutely nothing from defeat.
A little over two months later the selection of Hogg to DNC leadership is proving especially worrisome. Last week, Hogg announced that the organization he leads — called Leaders We Deserve — will spend $20 million in next year’s Democratic primaries to unseat some of the party’s older incumbents in the House. As Hogg described it to CBS News, his group is targeting “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.
The news sent Democratic operatives fuming, according to the New York Post, and Axios reported that many House Dems were upset by Hogg’s announcement. When ABC’s “This Week” asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about Hogg targeting Democratic incumbents, Jeffries said he was going to “focus on trying to defeat Republican incumbents.”
Jeffries’ comment could be taken as more than just a brushing aside of the controversy. It could be taken as a reminder to Hogg that his No. 1 duty as an officer of the DNC is to defeat Republicans. After all, the main function of the DNC is to support Democratic incumbents and put Democratic candidates in the best possible position to win in the general. Regardless of the potential merits of Hogg’s side project, they are at total odds with the DNC’s agenda.
What’s more, other pundits have opined that Hogg misread the 2024 election. As Jonathan Chait wrote after Hogg’s ascension to DNC vice-chair, Hogg was wrong to conclude that the Democrats’ failure to rally the youth vote was the result of a weak message on such progressive priorities as guns and climate. In fact, according to polling, youth voters were most concerned about the economy, followed by immigration. But according to last week’s Times story, Hogg’s organization will only be supporting progressive candidates.
Of course polling is imperfect and there are many different ways to read the autopsy of the Democrats’ 2024 election loss. Furthermore, Bernie Sanders’ and AOC’s “Fight the Oligarchy” tour shows there’s a lot of untapped energy on the Left. But one thing is certain: If the Democrats are going to be successful in 2026 they need a Democratic National Committee that will show its full-throated support of candidates from across the political spectrum.
Update: On April 24, Axios reported that DNC Chair Ken Martin, when asked about Hogg, said, “Let me be unequivocal, no DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election.”