April 16 (UPI) — The Leaders We Deserve political organization led by Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman David Hogg will oppose 20 House Democrats during the 2026 primaries.
Leaders We Deserve supports “young progressive candidates” who “face systemic barriers” to winning House elections and will spend $20 million to challenge older Democratic Party candidates in districts deemed safe for Democrats, Hogg announced Wednesday.
“While [President Donald] Trump creates new existential crises every day, too many elected leaders in the Democratic Party are either unwilling or unable to meet the moment,” Hogg said in a prepared statement.
“We need a stronger Democratic Party that is ready to fight back” by “replacing ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel members with Democrats who have the energy, passion and vision to meet this moment with the urgency our country deserves,” he added.
Hogg, 25, attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when mass shooter Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018.
He won election to the DNC as a vice chairman on Feb. 1 and told Politico he is opposing a “culture of seniority politics” within the Democratic Party while also leading Leaders We Deserve as its president.
“We need people, regardless of their age, that are here to fight,” Hogg said.
Hogg’s announcement will anger many people, he told an interviewer, adding that a “smear campaign” against him is likely to force him to stop the primary challenges.
DNC officials during a March meeting distributed a “neutrality policy” requiring its leaders to remain impartial in party activities and their personal lives, but Hogg did not sign it, Politico reported.
“It is the DNC’s longstanding position that primary voters — not the national party — determine their Democratic candidates for the general election,” DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.
Hogg acknowledged he and Martin have “different views” regarding challenging incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers.
“There are disagreements in our party about the right way to approach this moment,” Hogg told Politico.
He said his position within the DNC includes supporting primary challengers to incumbent lawmakers and “our base is craving dramatic change” by having “younger faces stepping up.”
Hogg did not cite specific House districts targeted for primary challenges but said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., won’t face primary challenges because they are “fighters who are delivering.”
Primary challenges are anticipated in New York, Maryland and Massachusetts, Politico reported.
Hogg co-founded the gun-safety group March for Our Lives and in July endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential election run.
