Gun control activist and Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg announced the creation of a political group on Wednesday to fund the election of “badass” young leaders.
“Badass young people have a habit of being underestimated — and I have a habit of scaring the s*** out of Republicans by proving that, while we might be young, we are powerful,” he said in an email announcing the group “Leaders We Deserve.”
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Since the 2018 shooting that killed 17, Hogg has been active in political and gun control circles, but apparently not as much as he wanted.
In his email, he said, “I’m getting into politics.”
The new group will focus on electing younger activists to political office and catching up to Republicans who have had success electing youthful candidates.
“Republicans have made significant investments in down-ballot races, leading to the absolute assault on our rights and freedoms that we’re seeing happen across states — from abortion bans to taking away LGBTQ+ rights to repealing life-saving commonsense gun laws put into place after the Parkland shooting,” said Hogg, who also leads the anti-gun group March For Our Lives.
“Our political system is stacked against us, but incredible young leaders have fought back and beat the odds to get elected to office. It’s time to take more young people from movements like March For Our Lives and elect them to office to be the leaders we deserve,” he added.
Hogg is teaming with Kevin Lata, who was campaign manager for Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), the first Generation Z member of Congress.
The initial goal is to raise millions, and his email included ways to contribute up to $200.
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In his plea, he took a swing at the predominance of older white politicians.
“There’s a reason our political system favors those who are older, wealthier, and white — running for office takes serious resources. Which is one of the reasons I’m reaching out today. Young candidates aren’t seen as viable and often struggle to raise money. They have lower personal wealth and smaller donor networks,” he argued.
