David Hogg’s organization to spend $20 million challenging ‘ineffective’ Democratic incumbents

Hogg’s political group, Leaders We Deserve, announced Tuesday that it will spend $20 million to support younger challengers in Democratic primaries for safe-blue House seats. In an interview with Politico, the 25-year-old explained that the group will not support primary efforts in battleground districts and will not target members solely based on age.

“We have a culture of seniority politics that has created a litmus test of who deserves to be here,” Hogg said. “We need people, regardless of their age, that are here to fight.”

The move is a rare challenge to longstanding Democratic norms. Party committees have traditionally avoided targeting sitting incumbents, choosing instead to direct resources toward flipping Republican-held seats. But Hogg’s push comes at a time when Democrats have struggled to present a clear alternative to President Donald Trump and a surging Republican Party

Hogg acknowledged that his approach differs from that of DNC Chair Ken Martin.

“There are disagreements in our party about the right way to approach this moment. There are certainly disagreements we have,” Hogg said. “What I will say about Chair Martin, even if we do have disagreements, he’s doing an excellent job of building and reforming our party.”

Martin said in a statement that “in order to ensure we are as effective as possible at electing Democrats to office, it is the DNC’s longstanding position that primary voters — not the national party — determine their Democratic candidates for the general election.” The DNC chair also praised Hogg as a “passionate advocate” and said he is grateful for his service “whether it be in his role as a DNC Vice Chair or in an outside capacity.”

According to The New York Times, all DNC officers except for Hogg have signed a “neutrality policy” committing them to stay out of primary races and avoid activity that would “call into question their impartiality and evenhandedness.”