Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg is partnering with Congress’ youngest-ever member’s campaign manager to establish a new group called Leaders We Deserve. The group’s goal is to support young people running for state legislatures and Congress.
Leaders We Deserve will endorse candidates under the age of 30 for state legislatures and candidates under the age of 35 for the House of Representatives. Hogg, known for his activism with March for Our Lives, is leading the group with Kevin Lata, the campaign manager for Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first member of Gen Z elected to Congress.
“We need to elect more young, fearless progressives to Congress, and especially our state legislatures,” says Hogg, 23, in a video announcing the group. “Join us as we build off that legacy and reshape the balance of power.”
“What we’re trying to do here is basically be an EMILY’s List for young people,” Hogg told HuffPost in an interview. EMILY’s List is a group that supports women who advocate for abortion rights and plays a significant role in Democratic primaries. “We want to come in the early days of a campaign, helping them get up and running.”
Leaders We Deserve will have a regular PAC to directly support candidates and a super PAC to assist candidates with advertising while not coordinating with them directly. The group plans to focus primarily on state legislatures in states that are transitioning from red to blue, such as Georgia, Arizona, and Texas. They will also support a few congressional candidates in deep-blue districts, like the one Frost won.
Members of the group’s advisory board include Reps. Jamie Raskin, Lauren Underwood, Eric Swalwell, Rob Menendez, Jan Schakowsky, and Sen. Chris Murphy. The advisory board also includes Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride and Tennesse State Rep. Justin Jones, both of whom have achieved significant victories in their respective political careers.
Hogg and Lata emphasized that the group is not seeking to remove incumbent Democrats and is not inherently opposed to older individuals staying in office. However, given that millennials and Generation Z will constitute 48% of the potential electorate in 2024, it is necessary to have more young voices represented. Currently, only 32 of Congress’ 535 members are under the age of 40.
“This is not about being against older people by any means,” Hogg said. “This is about creating a cross-generational coalition.”
Hogg noted the importance of having people in office who understand the anxieties faced by young people, including the fears of school shootings. He drew a comparison to the Baby Boomer generation, who enacted environmental protection laws and arms control treaties in response to their experiences with nuclear bomb drills.