David Hogg-run group announces $20M initiative to support primary challengers to House Democrats

Leaders We Deserve, a political organization led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor and Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman David Hogg, announced Wednesday that it will spend $20 million to help elect younger leaders — including primary challengers to House Democrats who are in safely Democratic seats.

“The first most important thing here is to understand it isn’t necessarily just out with the old and in with the new. I would say it’s out with the ineffective and in with the effective. That is what we are doing here,” Hogg, 25, told ABC News’ Jay O’Brien Wednesday afternoon. “Any person that has eyes can see that we are 27% approval with our base and we need dramatic change.”

The move puts Hogg, a member of party leadership as one of its vice chairs, at odds with the party establishment and other Democratic leaders, who usually shy away from supporting challengers to Democratic incumbents.

But it comes as Democratic-aligned voters express discontent with how the Democratic Party is responding to the second Trump administration — and as some within the party call for a new generation of leadership and representation in Congress amid consternation with some older House and Senate Democrats.

“While [President Donald] Trump creates new existential crises every day, too many elected leaders in the Democratic Party are either unwilling or unable to meet the moment,” he added in an earlier statement.

“We need a stronger Democratic Party that is ready to fight back,” he added. “Part of making that a reality is replacing ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel members with Democrats who have the energy, passion, and vision to meet this moment with the urgency our country deserves.”

A few Democrats have already announced they will challenge longtime House members in the 2026 congressional primaries. Researcher and social media personality Kat Abughazaleh has announced she is mounting a primary challenge to 14-term Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. Schakowsky has not said whether she will run for reelection.

“This cycle, we’re focused on House seats in particular. Those are the types of seats that we are focused on because we want to be as effective as possible in helping to give these young people a chance,” Hogg told ABC News.

The announcement from Leaders We Deserve, a group Hogg co-founded in 2023 and of which he serves as president, did not name any specific candidates the group plans to support. The group said it will not challenge “front-line” members facing tough reelection battles against Republicans or “older Democratic leaders like Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi” who it said have been taking on Trump and Republicans successfully.

The announcement was first reported by the New York Times.

In a statement to ABC News, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin thanked Hogg for his work for the party but reiterated the DNC’s position of not taking sides in primary elections.

“David Hogg is a passionate advocate and we are grateful for his service to the Democratic Party, whether it be in his role as a DNC Vice Chair or in an outside capacity,” Martin wrote. “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.”

According to the DNC, the party does not intervene in primaries both to allow voters to express their views and to maintain relationships with candidates. The DNC also shared that Hogg was the only party officer not to sign a “neutrality policy” that mandates those officials do not take any actions that may throw their or the party’s impartiality into question.

The party said it will be figuring out unspecified next steps with Hogg and party committees.

Hogg was elected as one of the DNC’s vice chairs in the party’s February elections.