Many young Democrats see David Hogg’s exit from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as potentially accelerating his push to wage progressive primary challenges to middle-of-the-road incumbents.
That sentiment was bolstered on Tuesday with Zohran Mamdani’s stunning primary win in New York City’s mayoral race.
“It’s gonna be a fun next couple years,” Hogg wrote Tuesday night, later adding that all establishment Democrats who endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) should be primaried.
Even before Mamdani’s win, young Democrats said Hogg’s high-profile ouster from DNC leadership could be a good thing for the progressive movement.
“I think with what David Hogg wants to do, it does make more sense probably to not let the constant tug of war between that and the party be the news cycle,” said Jake Rakov, a 37-year-old running to unseat Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a septuagenarian who has served 15 terms in the House.
Hogg and other progressives have positioned Mamdani’s victory as a blueprint for advancing a new future for Democrats as the party continues to reckon with its precipitous slides in the 2024 election, especially among young voters.
His group, Leaders We Deserve, is one of several organizations that have risen up in the last several cycles dedicated to electing young progressives.
“The work that he’s been doing at Leaders We Deserve is so much more effective done outside the party infrastructure,” said Amanda Litman, the founder of Run for Something, another progressive group.
Hogg ouster underscores Dem divides
Hogg was elected one of the vice chairs of the DNC in February in a vote that was challenged months later for its adherence to the party’s rules on gender diversity. The rancor only intensified after audio was leaked to Politico of party chair Ken Martin telling DNC officers, including Hogg, that he was unsure of his ability to lead due to the feud.
After the Democrats voted to re-do the election, Hogg announced that he would not run again. Democrats last week elected Shasti Conrad, the party chair in Washington State, to fill Hogg’s vice chair spot.
“It is sad to lose a young person in leadership,” said Stephanie Campanha Wheaton, a DNC representative for the Young Democrats of America and a staffer for Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who cross-endorsed with Mamdani. “However, … at the end of the day, what matters is building power for young people.”
Still, Kaivan Shroff, a 2024 DNC delegate and friend of Malcolm Kenyatta, another DNC vice chair, acknowledged that the optics of his exit were less than ideal.
“I think, sure, does it undermine, unfortunately, trust in the DNC, and does it suggest that the one youngest person that was there didn’t last very long. Is that a good look? Also, no. I think that’s not great,” Shroff said.
“The biggest reaction I had [was] seeing what on the inside was a procedural issue be overblown on the outside [as] ‘Oh, the Democrats aren’t learning from their mistakes,’” added Sunjay Muralitharan, the president of College Democrats of America and a DNC member, about the turmoil.
Dems look forward
On the substantive issue circling Hogg’s exit — whether middle-of-the-road Democratic incumbents in safe blue seats should face primary challenges — most people said they support the idea at least in theory.
“I want to see robust primaries, and I think a part of the way you have robust primaries is that people know that you don’t have 10 party officers in a room trying to utilize the resources or our titles to try to dictate the outcomes of primaries,” Kenyatta said, adding that his job — and the DNC’s — was to support Democratic nominees once the primaries were decided.
Hogg exited a DNC that has continued to struggle with infighting alongside a reported cash squeeze.The New York Times reported last week that two major union leaders opted to leave national party leadership over issues with Martin. Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers had endorsed Hogg’s planned primary challenges.
While infighting about DNC leadership has garnered headlines, Martin has also sought to expand the representation of young people on the DNC’s various committees, and promised a high school Democrat on the party’s executive committee.
“He’s moving College Democrats of America in the right direction, where we can collaborate more with the Democratic Party and where we have a seat at the table,” said Aidan DiMarco, a national board member of the College Democrats of America.
But Martin still faces rising pressure to prove the party under his leadership can refocus on fighting against President Trump and articulating an alternative vision for the country.
“I think we need to come with a message of how we’re going to make people’s lives better,” Kenyatta said, rattling off a host of economic and welfare issues: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans.
“I think that there’s universal agreement that we have to have an ability to go anywhere and everywhere,” he added.
That includes social media and online spaces, a medium that Kenyatta acknowledged the Democrats had been slower to jump on.
Hogg has racked up one million followers on X since he rose to prominence in 2018 as an activist against gun violence. Mamdani led a social media savvy campaign that drew tens of millions of followers, propelling his visibility among younger generations.
“The embrace of new media is historic. I don’t think we’ve seen a candidate ever using the same way that [Mamdani] has,” said Muralitharan, also citing Mamdani’s policy platform and non-English-language outreach.
Hogg was among the high-profile figures who backed Mamdani, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Still, Shroff, a Kenyatta ally, questioned how much weight Hogg’s endorsement carries for young voters.
“I don’t think the reality is that David was some sort of solution to their efforts to try to reach young voters,” he said of Hogg’s DNC departure.
“They had this one prominent gun violence activist, who was resonating on that one issue, which is very important to that generation, and they tried to use that person to speak to all young issues, and it didn’t land,” he continued.
Rakov, who is running for Congress against Sherman, once his boss on Capitol Hill, said he would be happy for an endorsement from the young activist.
“I would love it. I’ve talked to people on his team,” he said. “I know they’re figuring stuff out, but I would welcome them in.”
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