David Hogg, a survivor of one the deadliest school shootings who has become a progressive activist, is the first member of Gen Z to be elected as a chair of the Democratic National Committee.
The DNC elected Hogg as vice chair this weekend, calling the 24-year-old “one of the most compelling voices” of his generation.
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The same year Hogg graduated from Harvard, in 2023, he co-founded and became president of Leaders We Deserve, an organization that recruits and trains progressive Gen Z candidates running for state and federal offices.
that he wanted to be a voice in the party who tells fellow Democrats uncomfortable truths.
“Part of the issue is that we’re surrounding ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear,” Hogg told . “I get that it’s uncomfortable to be told what you don’t want to hear, but we need to build that culture as a party.”
Hogg has criticized some of the biggest decisions made in the Democratic Party, including former Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision not to appear on Joe Rogan’s popular right-leaning podcast.
Hogg called the decision part of a “broader problem” during his interview with .
“I don’t think her going on Joe Rogan necessarily would have decided the election, by any means,” he said, “but I think it speaks to a broader problem within the party where we’re choosing to live in a comfortable delusion a lot of the time of where the country actually is, rather than an uncomfortable reality of where it is.”
