David Hogg draws attacks from both sides as his star rises

The Hill

4 days ago

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg is seeing his political star rise — along with the number of attacks lobbed at him from both parties.
Hogg has drawn ire and praise from Democrats for his move to get involved in the party's congressional primaries, part of what he says is an effort to bring about generational change.
Republicans, meanwhile, have long sought to turn him into a foil. And now that the 25-year-old activist-turned-party-leader finds himself at the center of a feud among Democrats, the GOP sees a golden opportunity.
'Someone brought up to me today that your average voter doesn't know who David Hogg is,' said one national Republican operative. 'What's your strategy? Why are you guys talking about him so much?'
'It's the most obvious point to show the national media, which is the Hogg wing taking over the Democratic Party,' the operative continued.
Hogg has seen his profile steadily grow since he first burst onto the political scene following the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when he was a senior. He quickly became one of the leading voices of the gun control movement and later co-founded March for Our Lives.
In February, he was elected a vice chair of the DNC. And in April, he made waves when his group Leaders We Deserve launched a $20 million initiative aimed at primarying incumbent Democrats in safe House seats with the hope of electing a new generation of members. Hogg explicitly noted that the group would not target front-line members or members in competitive districts.
So far, the group has only publicly endorsed one candidate, backing Illinois state Sen. Robert Peters (D) in the open seat race for the state's 2nd Congressional District.
But Hogg's decision to engage in the primaries has drawn criticism. While many members of the party acknowledge that Democrats need to do a better job of paving the way for new voices and a cohort that's more responsive to the party's needs, others have criticized him for overseeing the effort while serving as a DNC leader.
Now, the Gen Z firebrand is contending with the possibility of losing his DNC position altogether.
Members of the organization's Rules and Bylaws Committee decided earlier this month that they would hold an electronic vote in June to determine whether they should redo the elections of the vice chair positions won by Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. The decision was made after one of the candidates who lost, Kalyn Free, challenged the way the election was conducted. Free's challenge is unrelated to Hogg's efforts to primary Democratic incumbents.
Hogg has criticized the move, saying it's 'impossible to ignore the broader context' in which it's being implemented — a nod to the criticism of his primary efforts. Other Democrats have pushed back on Hogg's claims, including Kenyatta.
'David's first statement out of the gate was, here's the Democratic Party doing some maniacal thing to push me out because of what he's doing with his PAC,' Kenyatta said in an interview with MSNBC earlier in May. 'David knows that that is not true.'
In an interview with Fast Company, Hogg did not go into detail about his conversations with Kenyatta but said he sees their disagreement as a 'strategic' one.
Howard Chou, a DNC member from Colorado who voted for Kenyatta but not Hogg during the initial vice chair election, praised Hogg and his ascension within the party, saying that for Hogg 'to rise to a level that he's gotten to is pretty impressive, to be honest.'
But Chou acknowledged Hogg's DNC vice chair tenure 'can be seen as tumultuous' and said he disagreed with the idea of engaging in primaries as an official.
'He's done some revolutionary things, but we should still hold to standards and rules of … what we're doing here … we're the governing body of the national Democratic Party,' Chou said.
DNC Chair Ken Martin, who has lauded Hogg as an 'amazing young leader' and said he had 'great respect' for him, has also told reporters he's against Hogg primarying members while holding the vice chair position.
'No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election,' Martin said on a press call last month.
Some Democrats are more conflicted. For Paul Eckerstrom, senior vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and a former DNC member, it's a question he has struggled with.
'Whether a challenger in a primary is successful or not, I think it's probably a good thing even for the sitting congressperson to at least, you know, pay attention to their constituency, pay attention to certain issues and not get complacent,' Eckerstrom said. 'So I have a hard time criticizing David for doing what he's doing.'
At the same time, Eckerstrom added, 'maybe Ken's got a point' about not primarying members while being a sitting DNC member.
Hogg has defended his plans and says Democrats need to better meet the moment as the party looks to reset heading into 2026 and 2028.
'We can't just hope that Donald Trump screws everything up so much that voters come begging back to us for any alternative.' he told Fast Company. 'We don't want people to feel like they're just voting for the less bad of two options. What we're trying to do is light a fire under everybody's ass in our party. And frankly, if that makes you uncomfortable, maybe you should question whether or not you should run.'
Still, the drama surrounding Hogg and Free's efforts to challenge the election results are threatening to deepen divisions within the party as Democrats look to win back the House and possibly the Senate next year.
Republicans, for their part, can't get enough of Hogg. The party has sought to paint Hogg as a liability for Democrats, tying him to every young, progressive Democrat primarying an incumbent.
'If he wants to work to elect more Democrat crazies and encourage more wokeism and nonsense, I'd say fantastic,' said Brian Seitchik, an Arizona Republican strategist and alum of President Trump's campaign.
Democrats do not necessarily look at Hogg as a threat to their incumbents. While they argue Hogg has seen major success in the activist space in co-founding March for Our Lives, some Democrats note he is not the only influential player in the party and still has more experience to gain.
'He's an unbelievably talented activist and advocate, and he certainly has the ear of many influential people and in the progressive movement he's an all-star,' said one Democratic strategist.
However, the strategist added that they did not understand how Hogg's group primarying other Democrats would be beneficial to the party.
'He's leading an organization that is publicly calling for primaries against longstanding Democrats on the basis of are they good? Like let's define that,' the strategist said.