David Hogg Launches PAC to Elect Young Candidates Across the Nation
24 Aug 2023
Gun control activist David Hogg, the co-founder of March for Our Lives, has a new message for his generation: Our political system is stacked against young people—45% of the U.S. electorate is Gen Z and Millennial (18-42), but we have nowhere near that representation in government. And he is about to help change that.
Earlier this month, Hogg, an APB speaker, launched the grassroots organization Leaders We Deserve, along with Kevin Lata, Rep. Maxwell Frost's former campaign manager. Frost is currently the youngest member of Congress.
The organization’s mission is to help elect young, progressive candidates to Congress and State Legislatures across the country.
“What I see this as is a second step for our generation and the people in power that we're not just voting,” Hogg said in an interview with NPR. “We're also running. As a generation, we grew up hearing that to survive a school shooting, we had to run, hide and fight. I think, as a generation, we need to reinterpret what that means at a broader scale and that we need to run for office. We need to stop hiding from the responsibility that previous generations often did to protect young people and the future of this country and the future of this planet. And we need to fight for a better future where that never happens and a better system.”
Hogg said the organization will invest in candidates who reflect his generation and values. It will match them with the resources they need to run strong campaigns, win and change the face of power.
On February 14, 2018, Hogg’s life changed forever. As a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, he lost friends, classmates and teachers. A total of 17 people were killed by a lone teen gunman using a high-powered military assault rifle. Hogg’s passionate responses and urgent calls to action following America’s largest school shooting immediately placed him in the national and international media spotlight.
In 2019, Hogg headed to Harvard University and graduated in the spring of 2023. “We will help defeat the far-right agenda and advance a progressive vision for our collective future,” Hogg said about the PAC.