Many DU'ers might be interested in supporting David Hogg's upcoming run for Vice Chair of the DNC.

[ancianita]

Hogg was the first to lobby Harris for MN Gov Tim Walz as her running mate.

https://leaderswedeserve.com




The Guardian's report...

Hogg announced on Monday that he would seek one of the party’s top leadership posts due, in part, to his frustration with a lack of accountability among prominent Democrats following Kamala Harris’s loss...
“I’m trying to take that accountability myself and realize it does not make us weaker as a party [or] as a person,” Hogg told the Guardian before his announcement. “It’s an essential part of leadership, just talking about what we could have done differently, so we can build a better future, so that something like this never happens again.”

Hogg also fears voters now associate Democrats with the institutions that they have come to distrust while Republicans have adopted a more skeptical and even combative approach to the so-called “establishment”.

“Over the past three elections, part of what enabled us to win was being so anti-establishment,” Hogg said. “And it seems like in the time since, because Republicans have gone after these institutions that many Americans are frankly rightfully angry at, that we’ve gone in the opposite direction of just defending them at all costs when the reality is that we do need to reform these institutions.”

One of the institutions most in need of reform is healthcare, Hogg argued, and his own personal experiences have guided his thinking on expanding and protecting access to it. Earlier this year, Hogg took a step back from the campaign trail to help care for his father, who was in the final stages of Parkinson’s disease....

Hogg may face an uphill battle in claiming one of the committee’s four vice-chair posts when the party holds its leadership elections on 1 February. At least three other candidates have already launched bids for the vice-chairperson seats: Joe Barbuto, chairperson of the Wyoming Democratic party; Shasti Conrad, chairperson of the Washington state Democrats; and James Zogby, a pro-Palestinian advocate and longtime committee member...

“You can’t go out there and say to me that Donald Trump is this major threat to democracy,” Hogg said. “The world’s going to end. He’s a fascist, and so on and so forth. And then tell me and people in our country after the election: ‘Well, guys, we tried our best. Here’s our participation trophy.’ That’s a loser’s mentality.

“We need to have a winner’s mentality.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/16/david-hogg-democratic-national-committee-vice-chair

[Think. Again.]

1. Count me in.

[wnylib]

17. Ditto. Hogg is the kind of young leader that we need.

[Nanjeanne]

2. Absolutely a great choice. Uphill battle but he is what is needed and love his statement.

[delisen]

3. I greatly admire and trust Hogg.

[atreides1]

4. He's got my support.

[Autumn]

5. Here's a young person Democrats should listen to. Their donors and advisers haven't done so well.

[krawhitham]

6. Hard Pass

[Bluetus]

12. I have serious doubts.We must move away from single-issue politics

Hogg has made his reputation on the gun violence issue. If that is why he is running, count me out. We can't return to power on any single issue. Harris tried that with abortion and it fell short. The problem with these marginal single-issue things is that a) it is easy for the other party to misrepresent our positions or pigeon-hole us as extremists, and b) that we may lose almost as many votes as the single issue gains us.

Hogg's statement at least leaves room that he is thinking bigger picture than his single issue. If so, I think the Party would be wise to have him on the team in some capacity. We need his energy and, frankly, his youth. This is also exactly why we need AOC as ranking member of the Oversight Committee.

Having said all of that, we must recognize that America is deeply angry. They took that out on Harris, not because she ran a bad campaign or had bad ideas, but because she represented the status quo and Americans are enormously pissed at the status quo.

Majorities are with us on gun violence. Majorities are with us on reproductive rights. Majorities (I hope) are with us on civil liberties, especially for POC and LGBT. But these are marginal issues. They do not connect directly with the anger that has been building for 40+ years of Reaganomics. The central issue is economic. Americans understand corporations are ripping us off, especially the health care industry which is nearly 20% of every dollar spent in this country. Americans realize very clearly now, thanks to Merrick Garland, that there has always been a different set of laws for the rich and powerful. Americans hate that. And they completely understand that billionaires have essentially taken over our government as a hostile acquisition, just as they do in business.

We better damn well address ourselves to these economic issues, and right now. We need to be talking about windfall profits taxes, wealth taxes, marginal tax rates for multi-millionaires in the > 50% range and elimination of their favorite tax dodges. We should be talking about prison terms for executives that employ undocumented workers knowingly, and so on. We need to own the economic issues, yet Democrats rarely talk about these things.

I mean, think about it, GW Bush ran us into the deepest recession since 1929, and Trump had our economy practically shut down, yet voters STILL say Republicans are better at economic issues. If we don't fix that, we will never be able to do any good for the single-issue factions of our party that keep dragging us into the quicksand. It really is about economics. So if Hogg gets that, then I'm all for him. But if he is seeking this post as a bigger megaphone to talk about gun laws, sorry, that cannot be our priority today.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. No.

He lacks the experience to do this job. He's a great talent with the brightest of futures, but there is a lot to learn in a high level position of anything.

[ancianita]

9. Hogg was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018.

He's organized a lot for his age, and written a book. He's learned from his mistakes but still understands a good percentage of the Democratic Party's current voters. Which we are losing. So, How else do you recommend one even get experience at the national level but being in the DNC. Suggestions?

On July 20, 2022, Hogg interrupted a House Judiciary Committee hearing to mark up the 2021 Assault Weapons Ban and the Equal Access for Victims of Gun Violence Act. During Republican member Andy Biggs' time, Biggs said that Americans should be armed should an invasion of the southern border happen. Hogg then shouted: "The shooter at my high school: antisemitic, anti-black and racist. The shooter in El Paso described it as an invasion", in reference to the 2019 El Paso shooting. He added, as he was escorted out of the hearing room: "Those guns are coming from the United States of America. They aren't coming from Mexico. You are reiterating the points of a mass shooter sir"...

Hogg initiated a boycott of companies who advertise during The Ingraham Angle. Hogg called for the boycott after television host Laura Ingraham attacked him in a tweet on March 28, 2018, about his lack of college acceptances, which Hogg characterized as cyberbullying. In response to the boycott, 24 advertisers left the show.[66][67][68] Following the loss of advertisers, Ingraham apologized.[69] Hogg dismissed the apology as insincere.[70][71] ...

Hogg initiated another boycott at the same time against Sinclair Broadcast Group TV host Jamie Allman from station KDNL-TV in St. Louis. On March 26, 2018, two days before Ingraham's tweet and two weeks before Hogg's 18th birthday, Allman wrote a tweet threatening to insert a heated fire poker in the minor's anus.[79] Two weeks after the tweet and the start of the boycott, Allman was fired and his show was canceled on April 9.[80]....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hogg

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Doesn't convince me.

Activist is not experienced party operative, someone who ascends the ladder to see and understand the landscape.

[ancianita]

11. Like I asked earlier, in other words,

how do you suggest he "ascend the ladder," then? And on that ladder, what does one learn of the landscape?

In 2024, older, more experienced DNC members misread the landscape -- Jaime Harrison, possibly -- what happened with him?

[wnylib]

20. He is running for vice chair, not for the top position.

He will add energy, ideas, and his own experience gained from meeting and talking with members of Congress, organizing rallies, dealing with media.

He is the kind of broad thinking, energetic person that we need.

[Bonx]

16. "He's a great talent with the brightest of futures"

He seems like an opportunist with poor judgement, no real skills and i don't think many people like or trust him. But maybe that's just me.

[wnylib]

18. Hogg has learned a lot about politics, negotiations,

media, Congress, public moods, lobbyists, and organization in his gun control movement. He has broader vision than a single issue. He is an energetic asset to the party.

He is not running for the top position. He will be a good addition to party leadership and is the kind of person that we should cultivate.

[Noel Kums]

8. Vice Chair - sure. Count me in. I'd like to see Pete Buttigieg running that show.

He gets it.

[SheltieLover]

13. I'm in!

[Kid Berwyn]

14. Hogg practices what he preaches.

Unlike so many people I can think of.

And Hogg is correct about accountability and who escapes it, election after election.

[Karasu]

15. I'm all for it. We need new blood in our leadership and we need it fucking yesterday.

[H2O Man]

19. Way recommended.

Thank you for this.

[Susan Calvin]

21. Already did. nt

[poli-junkie]

22. I like Hogg. Dems must bring in

disenchanted youth to the party!

[Takket]

23. we're losing his generation. we could use someone like him to help bring them back

I'm not really sure he needs a seat that HIGH UP in the DNC, but he should be there in some role.

Like others I'm questioning if he has the skills and/or experience to do this. BUT....... like I said, we need a youth movement to help us win back his generation. We need a MASSIVE push into the podcast/social media realm. I would hope he can do that.

[wordstroken]

24. Excellent!

[debm55]

25. I like him. He is a no nonsense, strong Democrat going back to his High School years.

[ancianita]

26. Agree. And he needs a shot at building on that with more national party experience!

This party needs more youth voices! He's a Bernie and Walz supporter, a working class youth supporter; he will learn a lot in working with our younger congress people.

[Mike Nelson]

27. I like him...

... David has a great future. If he gets this job, great. If he doesn't, still great. He's not going to give up.

[ancianita]

29. " If he gets this job, great. If he doesn't, still great. He's not going to give up." The DNC should still find a

party role for him to play so that he gains national political experience. He and Moskowitz and Frost might even be able to turn out more youth votes in FL and other red states; that is, if those states don't already rig their elections.

[SWBTATTReg]

28. David H., Pete B. are two good candidates indeed for these top positions, to stand out and rep us.

An NBC online article mentioned a few things, that I found interesting...I summarized briefly (my remarks as well as some of the NBC's article highlights (not all of them)).

David and Pete are both good candidates w/ lots of positives, and we got more such qualified people. My list is not comprehensive by far. Other candidates involve Gov. Galvin of Calif. too, is another good choice but I think he's happy w/ Calif. (or, maybe he's not, so, give him a chance), and rep. Greg Casar, the 35-year-old Texas Democrat who was elected Progressive Caucus chair. I could list tons more people here.

Democrats, who will elect their committee leaders next week behind closed doors, are closely watching the high-profile race to be the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat as a litmus test about the future of seniority in the party. A Democrat working in the Biden administration said the phenomenon is fueled by “the Biden debacle” in the election, which taught younger Democrats that their elders won’t willingly step aside and sometimes need to be elbowed out.

For Democrats, seniority has long played an outsized role, AND THESE PEOPLE ARE IN THESE JOBS UNTIL they faced retirement, scandal or death.

[ancianita]

30. You nailed a core problem: "For Democrats, seniority has long played an outsized role..."

[ancianita]

31. David Hogg is on Joy Reid tonight! Joy is ON IT!

[carpetbagger]

32. Maybe.

First. I have no idea what the vice chairs do. My assumption is that they sit on executive committees and mostly deal with local parties, campaigns, etc., and Hogg will be better after doing that a few times. I'm fully on board with the need for new blood, and people in the trenches like Barbuto and especially Conrad seem to fit the bill. It seems like Hogg would have to grow into the position, so if we're worried about entrenchment, might be better to put in later.