David Hogg wants "ineffective" Democrats out of Congress
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
David Hogg began his journey as a political activist after surviving the Parkland school shooting in 2018. Today, he’s a leader in the Democratic National Committee and co-founder of a group called Leaders We Deserve, which focuses on electing young, progressive candidates. The group’s recent announcement that it would spend $20 million to challenge Democratic incumbents in safe seats has stoked controversy within the party – even prompting DNC Chair Ken Martin to propose a rule change that would force Hogg to choose between his two roles.
Today, Colby Itkowitz speaks with Hogg about why Democrats' popularity is cratering and how he thinks primarying established Democrats will strengthen the party.
This show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Sam Bair, who also mixed the episode. It was edited by Reena Flores and Maggie Penman. And special thanks for the video production to Daniel Mich, David Bruns, Justin Scuiletti, Peter Stevenson and Billy Tucker. Watch Hogg’s interview with us on YouTube here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's pretty unusual for a top member of Democratic leadership to openly plot kick incumbents |
| 0:07.2 | out of office. |
| 0:08.3 | And yet, that's what my guest today is doing. |
| 0:12.7 | David Hogg is widely known as a survivor of the horrific Parkland school shooting in 2018. |
| 0:18.7 | He's now the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC, it is the |
| 0:23.5 | party. It sets the agenda. Yet David, he started another organization called Leaders We Deserve. The stated |
| 0:30.6 | goal of that group is to unseat Democrats in Congress, who he says are, quote, asleep at the wheel. |
| 0:36.8 | He's already promised $20 million for that effort. |
| 0:41.0 | David hopes this can solve the Democrats' popularity problem and propel them back into the |
| 0:45.2 | majority in 2026. But can it work? |
| 0:51.0 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 0:55.3 | I'm Colby Echowitz. It's Thursday, April 24th. |
| 0:59.1 | Today, a conversation with a Democratic Party leader who thinks that in order to win, Democrats need to fight each other. |
| 1:09.4 | David Hogg, thanks so much for joining us. |
| 1:11.7 | Absolutely. |
| 1:12.8 | So, David, I wanted to start with, what do you view as being the Democrats' fatal flaw |
| 1:18.3 | right now? |
| 1:19.8 | I mean, how much time do we have? |
| 1:22.8 | I'll just go back to the last election cycle where voters told us two things predominantly. They told us |
| 1:30.0 | that the president is too old and prices are too high. And with $2 billion behind us, we said effectively, |
| 1:35.3 | no, he's not. Then yes, he is. And then we said, no, they aren't. Right. Voters want people who |
| 1:41.3 | are just honest with them that say, is we hear you this is what we're |
... |
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