Friend, I am no longer a DNC Vice Chair. 

The DNC Vote to have a new election comes after weeks of contention about
our work here at Leaders We Deserve, especially our plan to challenge
ineffective Democrats in the primaries.

I started Leaders We Deserve for a simple purpose: to be the EMILY's List
for progressive young Democrats. We’ve sought to find the best of the best
of our generation and do everything we can to help them run the best
campaigns possible and get the financial support they need to win. 

We spent millions last year fighting to elect incredible young people:
Molly Cook, Mo Jenkins, Averie Bishop and Kristian Carranza in Texas;
Bryce Berry and Ashwin Ramaswami in Georgia;  Dante Pittman in North
Carolina, Nadarius Clark in Virginia, Christine Cockley in Ohio, Sarah
McBride in Delaware, Nate Douglas in Florida, Oscar De Los Santos in
Arizona and others. We focused on open blue seats and defeating incumbent
Republicans, hoping that these open seats would be space enough to achieve
what we wanted. 

After seeing a serious lack of vision from Democratic leaders, too many of
them asleep at the wheel, and Democrats dying in office that have helped
to hand Republicans an expanded majority, it became clear that Leaders We
Deserve had to start primarying incumbents and directly challenging the
culture of seniority politics that brought our party to this place to help
get our party into fighting shape again. 

We have a real challenge ahead of us. We lost voting share with almost
every demographic across the board, and despite all that Trump has done,
our approvals remain at 27%. 

If we don’t show our country how we are dramatically changing and provide
an alternative vision for the future as a party, we will continue to lose.
Not because we don't have money, but because we don’t have a compelling
vision for the future and we lack the courage we used to have to take on
massive policy fights that have helped millions like the Affordable Care
Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, the first Assault Weapons ban
and more. 

Even if we had gained a three-seat Congressional majority, the three
deaths this session would have once again put millions of Americans on the
line. 

Let me be clear: this is not solely an issue of age — it's an issue of
effectiveness that at times is compounded by age. 

This is not a call for every older person to leave government. There are
lots of great older people who we need; there are lots of terrible younger
people we don’t. 

But it’s clear this culture of staying in power until you die or simply
fail to do a good job, but don’t need to worry about a challenge because
you are in a safe seat, has become an existential threat to the future of
this party and nation that must be addressed. 

This crisis of competence and complacency has already cost us an election
and millions of Americans their rights. Let's not let it cost us the
country.   

This culture simply will not change by only focusing on open seats or just
throwing half a billion dollars into 30 competitive House seats. We must
change the culture of our party that has brought us here and if there is
anything activism or history teaches us, it's that comfortable people,
especially comfortable people with power, do not change. In this moment of
crisis, comfort is not an option. 

The American people are looking for an answer for how to revive the
American Dream that they feel has become more of a fiction than a
possibility. We have a crisis of faith in this country, in our elected
leaders, and in our parties. So far, Donald Trump has convinced many
people that the answer is to look backward instead of forward. At this
moment of darkness, we have a sacred obligation not to this party, but to
this country as a party.

In his 1960 acceptance speech to the DNC to accept the Democratic
nomination to become president, John F. Kennedy said: 

“The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too
high — to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not
here to curse the darkness; we are here to light the candle that can guide
us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.”

We relight that candle by providing a new vision for the future and
leaders to bring us there. That new vision will come from new leaders.
Building a future where voters vote for us not because of who we aren’t
but because of who we are. That is why it is important we not only defeat
Republicans, but we use a healthy competitive primary process to make us a
stronger party. 

The alternative is a continuation of the politics that brought our party
to this place. That is unacceptable. We must embrace a healthy culture of
competitive primaries to build the strongest party possible. 

Being a Democrat means believing in the politics of the possible, like we
did after Parkland. It's about believing in who we could be, not only as a
party but as a country. If we put our minds to it and we work hard enough,
we can do anything, no matter what stands in our way. That’s why I’m a
Democrat. 

I came into this role to play a positive role in creating the change our
party needs. It is clear that there is a fundamental disagreement about
the role of a Vice Chair — and it's okay to have disagreements. What isn’t
okay is allowing this to remain our focus when there is so much more we
need to be focused on.

Ultimately, I have decided not to run in this upcoming election so the
party can focus on what really matters. I need to do this work with
Leaders We Deserve, and it is going to remain my number one mission to
build the strongest party possible.

I’m thankful to everyone who has supported me in this role. I’m proud to
have traveled to 10 states to do 30+ events, raising money for state
parties, organizing with young Democrats, and getting out the vote for
special elections in Wisconsin and Florida. 

I have nothing but admiration and respect for my fellow officers. Even
though we have disagreements, we are all here to build the strongest party
possible.

Let me be extremely clear: Yes, we need to defeat Republicans. Leaders We
Deserve will have many candidates challenging Republican incumbents. But
we also need to build a party not defined by not being the less bad of two
options in voters' eyes. We need to be the best option, period, at every
level of government. 

That change can only come through a full embrace of Democracy, not only to
defeat Republicans but to elect new Democrats to show voters how we are
changing and regain their trust by listening to them, doing all we can to
give them the best representation possible. Leaders We Deserve exists to
do just that.

[ [link removed] ]We need your support to do this work, Friend. If you’re with us in the
fights ahead, consider chipping in $3 (or $30 if you can) to Leaders We
Deserve and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Thank you,

David Hogg


Paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (www.BoldProgressives.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the PCCC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.Have you moved? Want to update your email address? Click below.

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