David Hogg wants Democrats to be less condescending
The new (and first) Gen Z DNC co-vice chair on his vision for the party moving forward. A Grammy takeover, and the rediscovery of Bridget Jones.
As Democrats eye their path forward, some party loyalists are throwing their weight behind the next generation of leadership. That was made official last weekend, when the Democratic National Committee elected 24-year-old David Hogg as one of its vice chairs.
Hogg, who founded Leaders We Deserve to support young progressives running for Congress and state legislatures, has been an outspoken advocate for gun safety and youth engagement since he co-founded March For Our Lives after the tragic Parkland school shooting in 2018.
Over the years, he has become a high-profile figure in progressive politics – polarizing to some but undeniably effective at drawing attention to key issues. His proximity to young voters (he is one, after all), plus his own experience with tragedy, gives him a perspective that few in Democratic leadership share.
As Democrats confront a growing disconnect with young people, especially young men, some question whether Hogg, a Harvard graduate well-entrenched in party politics, is really the right messenger. But Hogg does not mince words when expressing that Democrats fumbled last fall. And he’s fixated on how to reach young men especially as the party works to bridge generational gaps. Since being in the public eye, Hogg has grappled with tragedy first-hand and has personal experience with the very real struggles that unfortunately resonate with many in our country.
I’ve been following Hogg since then (in fact, he was one of the young activists profiled for my college senior thesis), and we’ve had plenty of discussions over the years about young people’s disaffection – not just from the Democratic Party – but from politics writ large. Our latest took place just days after his historic election as the first member of Gen Z to serve in DNC leadership.
Here’s that conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
First and foremost, how do you view your role as DNC Vice Chair, with an eye toward the next generation?
DH: That's obviously one of the main focuses of my role is making sure that we're doing everything we can to win back young voters and also building up young people in the party, building the future the party to build a truly intergenerational coalition, and not in a way where it's just one token young person at the table, but is truly representative of the ages that are part of our coalition.
Young people are critical of all institutions. Can the DNC, as an institution, change the direction of the party?
DH: I think it has to. The results of the election showed that there is a big shift in the direction of the party, especially when it comes to being more inclusive of our young people, with the election of myself and Malcolm Kenyatta. (Hogg said he’s in talks with Kenyatta, who was elected alongside Hogg, and the third DNC Vice-Chair Artie Blanco, as well as the Vice-Chair for Civic Engagement, staff at the DNC, and Chairman Ken Martin to formalize Martin’s vision).
You’ve been an activist for years, in close proximity to political leaders. Your experience with politics differs from the everyday young person across the country. How will you be an effective representative for young people, despite the fact that you’ve existed in this world for so long?
DH: Well I am 24…
I’ve been knocking doors with candidates around the country already with Leaders We Deserve, and I want to make sure that we're building a party that isn't just talking about what we want to do for people, but showing people what we're doing for them.
In particular right now, when we don't have the Senate, we don't have the House, and we don't have the presidency, talking to them about what we're doing for them at the state and local level, in particular, on things like housing, talking to them about what we're doing about gun violence at the state level, and making sure that we're actually getting back to listening to them and building a culture within our party that is about creating a politics of addition and not subtraction, of bringing people in and not shoving them out, and frankly, being less condescending, less judgmental, and just focusing on doing the work to help people.
How do you demonstrate that? You mentioned housing and gun violence prevention. Would you say those are priority issues you’re going to be focused on? Or what should the conversation focus around?
DH: The focus first and foremost is making sure that voters know that we're listening to them. The role of the DNC is not to prescribe policy. We have our elected officials. Our job is to help manage the primary calendar. Our job is to help manage the voter file. Our job is to help raise money for the president and to help fund a lot of our state parties with some messaging stuff when we don't have the presidency. But more than anything, what I'm focused on right now is, how can we get back to winning back the House in 2026 and winning the presidency in 2028.
You’re talking about listening, which is so important. But off the bat, when there’s a vacuum of Democratic leadership, many young people feel like there is no one to look to right now. How can the DNC fill that messaging gap?
DH: This is a broader conversation. It's not just the DNC. It's the party as a whole. It's different news outlets, it's activists, it's influencers, podcasters, and others. The way that we fill it is that we need to make sure that – there's a lot of people saying we can't be constantly outraged about everything, and I agree with that, but we do need to focus on the things that we absolutely do need to be outraged about and right now, we need to be better at highlighting those things and really rallying around them.
The first step with that was one of the executive orders that [President Donald] Trump did that really impacted things like Head Start, Medicaid, a lot of grants for veterans organizations and other other things like that. What we need to be talking about are the real world impacts that Trump's chaos is having on people. I talked to members of the DNC whose children were not able to get medication because of the chaos around Medicaid, for example. I've heard stories from people about how when they showed up to their kids Head Start program, they were told that they might not be able to come back in a few days because the payment system was down.
I do not care that Donald Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico nearly as much as I care about the Afghan refugees who supported our country, who supported our troops and protected our troops, that we were working to get moved here to the United States, that had already been cleared by the intelligence community and everything like that, being turned away right before [they were set to come to the U.S.] by Donald Trump, and how that makes us look to our adversaries and to our allies around the world.
We’re in an attention economy. What’s most important in terms of gaining the attention of young people who feel shut out from politics or disillusioned from politics right now?
DH: The first step is showing them that we care, and that there are young people in our party that are running [for office] around the country, and that we're not just voters anymore. We're also candidates. There were so many of us that marched with us in 2018, so many of us that marched in different protests under Donald Trump[‘s first term] that are now graduating college, and our generation has a real obligation to step up and help to implement this change ourselves. Because if our government does not make the changes that we want on gun laws, if it doesn't make the changes that we want on climate and more – at least in as much of a substantial way that we want them to – it's time for us to change who’s in government.
CJ Pearson, co-chair of the Republican National Committee’s youth advisory council, has challenged you on X to a debate. Have you accepted?
DH: I haven’t seen that, and I’m not aware of it.
(Like any good politician, Hogg pled the fifth there. But guys - if that happens, call me. I’d be happy to moderate.)
Noteworthy reads of the week
Gen Z conquers the Grammy’s, Ann Powers for NPR
Gen Z are over having their work ethic questioned: ‘Most boomers don’t know what it’s like to work 40+ hours a week and still not be able to afford a house’, Orianna Rosa Royle for FORTUNE
Return of Bridget Jones taps into 90s trend as gen Z looks to ‘simpler’ time, Esther Addley for The Guardian
Is It Cool to Be Right-Wing Now?, Josh Code and Suzy Weiss for The Free Press
Substacks to follow