David Hogg is on the outs with the Democratic National Committee. He deliberately wanted to clean out all the "establishment" incumbents, which completely goes against the spirit and letter of a political party.
They exist to elect candidates, and they exist to help those candidates win re-election. Only following a thorough vetting and discussion process does a political party pull support from an incumbent and endorse a challenger. Oftentimes, the incumbents stack a political organization with their own supporters so that they don't face challengers to begin with.
David Hogg to push back against that system, which I think in principle deserves some respect and credit. He learned the hard way that the system doesn't want that kind of change!
You have to get elected to office, then you make changes in the political party structure. That's what President Trump did!
Friends -- I am no longer a DNC Vice Chair.
The DNC Vote to have a new election comes after weeks of contention about our work here at Leaders We Deserve, especially our plan to challenge ineffective Democrats.
I started Leaders We Deserve for a simple purpose: to be the EMILY's List for progressive young Democrats. We’ve sought to find the best of the best of our generation and do everything we can to help them run the best campaigns possible and get the financial support they need to win.
We spent millions last year fighting to elect incredible young people, including several scientists backed by 314 Action like nurse Molly Cook in Texas and computer scientist Ashwin Ramaswami in Georgia. We focused on open blue seats and defeating incumbent Republicans, hoping that these open seats would be space enough to achieve what we wanted.
After seeing a serious lack of vision and too many asleep at the wheel, it became clear that Leaders We Deserve had to start directly challenging the culture of seniority politics that brought our party to this place to help get our party into fighting shape again.
We have a real challenge ahead of us. We lost voting share with almost every demographic across the board, and despite all that Trump has done, our approvals remain at 27%.
If we don’t show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose.
Not because we don't have money, but because we don’t have a compelling vision for the future and we lack the courage we used to have to take on massive policy fights that have helped millions like the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the first Assault Weapons ban and more.
Even if we had gained a three seat Congressional majority, the three vacancies in the House this session would have once again put millions of Americans on the line.
Let me be clear: this is not solely an issue of age — it's an issue of effectiveness that at times is compounded by age.
This is not a call for every older person to leave government. There are lots of great older people who we need, there’s lots of terrible younger people we don’t.
This crisis of competence and complacency has already cost us an election and millions of Americans their rights. Let's not let it cost us the country.
The American people are looking for an answer for how to revive the American Dream that they feel has become more of a fiction than a possibility. We have a crisis of faith in this country. So far Donald Trump has convinced many people that the answer is to look backward instead of forward. At this moment of darkness we have a sacred obligation not to this party, but to this country as a party.
In his 1960 acceptance speech to the DNC to accept the Democratic nomination to become president, John F. Kennedy said:
“The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high — to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness; we are here to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.”
We relight that candle by providing a new vision for the future and leaders to bring us there. That new vision will come from new leaders. Building a future where voters vote for us not because of who we aren’t but because of who we are. That is why it is important we not only defeat Republicans but we use a healthy competitive primary process to make us a stronger party.
The alternative is a continuation of the politics that brought our party to this place. That is unacceptable.
I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our party needs. It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about the role of a Vice Chair — and it's okay to have disagreements. What isn’t okay is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we need to be focused on.
Ultimately, I have decided to not run in this upcoming election so the party can focus on what really matters. I need to do this work with Leaders We Deserve, and it is going to remain my number one mission to build the strongest party possible.
I’m thankful to everyone who has supported me in this role. I’m proud to have travelled to 10 states to do 30+ events, raising money for state parties, organizing with young Democrats, and getting out the vote for special elections in Wisconsin and Florida.
I have nothing but admiration and respect for my fellow officers. Even though we have disagreements, we all are here to build the strongest party possible.
Let me be extremely clear: Yes, we need to defeat Republicans. Leaders We Deserve will have many candidates challenging Republican incumbents. But we also need to build a party not defined by not being the less bad of two options in voters' eyes. We need to be the best option period at every level of government.
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Thank you,
David Hogg
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