Hogg Takes Flak for Plan to Replace Older Democrats

David Hogg was elected as one of five vice chairs of the Democratic National Committee earlier this year after promising to win back young voters who had drifted to the GOP—but some Democrats are angry about what he has planned. The 25-year-old says a separate group he heads, Leaders We Deserve, will spend $20 million in primary battles in safe Democratic districts to combat a culture of "seniority politics" and elect younger lawmakers who will take on President Trump more effectively.

• "People say they want change in the Democratic Party, but really they want change so long as it doesn't potentially endanger their position of power," Hogg told the New York Times this week. "That's not actually wanting change. That's selfishness." "This is going to anger a lot of people," he said of the effort, predicting there would be a smear campaign against him.

• He was right about the anger. Axios spoke to House Democrats who called Hogg's plan "counterproductive," saying it would divert money and attention from the party's effort to retake the House. "What a disappointment from leadership," said Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten, who represents a swing seat in Michigan. "I can think of a million better things to do with $20 million right now."
• Democratic strategist James Carville, who helped Bill Clinton get elected in 1992, called Hogg's plan the "most insane thing I ever heard," Fox News reports. On CNN, he said, "I'm not part of the hip generation. I'm not very au courant. But I actually thought our job was to beat Republicans? How quaint, how quaint of me." On NewsNation, the 80-year-old called Hogg a "contemptible little twerp" and said he should be sued, the Independent reports.
• Hogg, who started out in politics as a gun control activist after surviving the 2018 Parkland school shooting, told the Times that the goal is to "make room for a new generation to step up and help make sure that we have the people that are most acutely impacted by a lot of the issues that we are legislating on." He said age isn't the only criteria, naming 85-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 80-year-old Rep. Jan Schakowsky as two effective older lawmakers who deserve to be re-elected. "More than anything, it is: Do you want to roll over and die, or do you want to fight?" he said. "And too many people look at our party right now and feel like we want to roll over and die."

(More David Hogg stories.)