[Were not just voting. Were also running: David Hogg launches a
young candidate PAC. The success of Maxwell Frost,
advocate-turned-politician and the youngest member of Congress, is a
motivator, says Hogg.]
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GEN Z GETS A PAC  
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Elena Moore
August 9, 2023
NPR
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_ 'We're not just voting. We're also running': David Hogg launches a
young candidate PAC. The success of Maxwell Frost,
advocate-turned-politician and the youngest member of Congress, is a
motivator, says Hogg. _

David Hogg, Leaders We Deserve

 

As David Hogg underwent his own political evolution, he witnessed a
generation of young people find their political voice.

"For every year of Trump's presidency, I think there was a new chapter
of a social movement that was born," the 23-year-old gun control
activist told NPR, "whether it was the Women's March, March for Our
Lives, the environmental movement, or the movement for Black Lives."

Now, as the organizers that cut their teeth on those movements become
eligible to run for office, Hogg wants to support their campaigns. He
is launching Leaders We Deserve, a hybrid political action committee
backing candidates under 35 years old running for federal office and
under 30 years old running for state office.

The group — which plans to primarily focus on state-level races and
a smaller number of congressional matchups — will target open,
Democratic-held seats in the upcoming 2024 primary season.

"[We're] trying to pick them and say, you know, we would like to help
you run for office, we'll supply you with all of the resources that
you need and help basically coach you and hold your hand to get there,
which is kind of the gap that's in the space right now, for at least
young people at the state legislative level," the March For Our
Lives co-founder [[link removed]] said.

[Rural voters lean red, young voters lean blue. So what's a young,
rural voter to do?]
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ELECTIONS [[link removed]]

Rural voters lean red, young voters lean blue. So what's a young,
rural voter to do?
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The move signals a widening political focus for Hogg, who has
remained
[[link removed]] a prominent
voice
[[link removed]] in
the youth-led, grassroots movement to curb gun violence since he and
his classmates survived a mass shooting at their high school in
Parkland, Fla., more than five years ago.

Some members of his activist cohort have already entered electoral
politics, including first-term Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., who came to
Congress after a background in organizing at March For Our Lives. The
first Gen Z member of Congress, Frost is on the advisory board for
Leaders We Deserve, and his former campaign manager, Kevin Lata,
serves as the group's executive director.

Now, Hogg says, Frost's successful advocate-turned-politician path is
a motivator.

"It inspires me to continue. And hope is not a feeling that I often
have in this work," he said, adding, "That's why I'm doing this,
because I follow that feeling whenever I do feel it because I know
that is the right way."

The launch comes nearly 14 months from the 2024 election as
millennials and Gen Z continue to grow
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an influential portion of the electorate.

_Read more of the interview below. These responses have been edited
for clarity and length._

The move marks a new moment for his political work.

DAVID HOGG: What I see this as is a second step for our generation
and the people in power that we're not just voting. We're also
running. As a generation, we grew up hearing that to survive a school
shooting, we had to run, hide and fight. I think, as a generation, we
need to reinterpret what that means at a broader scale and that we
need to run for office. We need to stop hiding from the responsibility
that previous generations often did to protect young people and the
future of this country and the future of this planet. And we need to
fight for a better future where that never happens and a better
system.

[A woman is running for mayor of Uvalde in honor of daughter killed in
school shooting]
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NATIONAL [[link removed]]

A woman is running for mayor of Uvalde in honor of daughter killed in
school shooting
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What goes into picking candidates to endorse?

HOGG: We're looking for candidates that represent our generation, not
just demographically, but also ideologically. The belief that we need
to ensure that we stop school shootings and protect kids and not the
special interests of the NRA, for example, that we need to protect our
planet and not the profits of the oil and gas industry. And we're
looking especially for – basically, the cream of the crop of young
people from the recent social movements that came up during Trump's
presidency. To look for them now that they're starting to graduate
college or the first class of those activists are starting to graduate
college or becoming eligible to run for office and trying to pick them
and say, you know, we would like to help you run for office, we'll
supply you with all of the resources that you need and help basically
coach you and hold your hand to get there, which is kind of the gap
that's in the space right now, for at least young people at the state
legislative level.

So that's kind of our focus here. And most of our work is going to be
at the state legislative level to help turn the tide against this
far-right tsunami that we've seen across the country in state
legislatures that for decades have lacked so much investment and
coordination.

The group steers clear of competitive seats and focuses on open
Democratic ones for now.

HOGG: Well, I think it's important to note that our first step is
focusing on these seats because we want to make sure that as an
organization, we're being an additive force to make sure that we're
helping win.

You know, in some races, it may not be best for somebody who is 21
years old to be running in that seat that's more competitive. But what
our plan here is to do is help elect those young people in those open
blue seat primaries, where for a very small investment, we can make a
major amount of change in terms of the branding of that state
Democratic Party, for example, to show a new face, a new generation.
And with that, I think it can have an up-and-down ballot effect of
turning out more young people because they see people who understand
them.

[Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it
is ]
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HEALTH [[link removed]]

Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is
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Looking ahead: the uncertain future of Hogg's generation.

HOGG: If we have a generation of young people that has been told
democracy is our government and is the best form of government, but
they're dying in their schools or fearing that they're going to die in
their schools every day, I fear that those young people may lose faith
in democracy. That's why this project matters. Because it's showing
young people that, yes, our system is broken, but it's not unfixable.
We can work to fix it and make it better as a generation.

The work that we're doing will compound over time by showing young
people that when you're involved in politics, when you're involved in
these movements, you don't just have to work on the outside. You can
also get involved on the inside. And it doesn't have to be an
either-or situation. We need good people on the inside because I've
seen the difference that that can make.

_Elena Moore [[link removed]] is an
assistant producer for the NPR Politics Podcast. She also reports on
youth politics for the Washington Desk._

_During the 2020 presidential campaign, she worked as an editorial
assistant, doing both research and reporting._

_Before coming to NPR, Moore worked at NBC News. She is a former Paul
Miller Reporting Fellow at the National Press Foundation and a
graduate of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C._

_Moore is originally and proudly from Brooklyn, N.Y._

_Invest in journalism that's in your best interest.
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independent reporting and programs you depend on thrive. It takes all
of us._

* gen z
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* millennials
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* David Hogg
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* Maxwell Frost
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* elections
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* progressive politics
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