David Hogg Is As Successful a Political Operator As He Was a Pillow Magnate

David Hogg has made a career out of being outspokenly wrong. 

It's been a very good career, all things considered. He grew to prominence as a gun control advocate after the Parkland school shooting, and we can forgive him for his wrongheaded approach to guns, given his legitimately traumatic experience. His subsequent narcissistic use of the tragedy to climb the career ladder, not so much. 

Liberals love Hogg for some reason--presumably the same reason they love Gavin Newsom. He has an oily quality that leaves anybody who is exposed to his arrogance and dishonesty feeling unclean, except for people who think that the appearance of righteous indignation is a good substitute for rational thought. 

Hogg was, briefly, Vice Chair of the Democratic Party until somebody realized he was a white man and kicked him out of his job. At the time, he announced that he was starting a political action committee that would support progressive candidates in primaries to replace more "moderate" Democrats (are there any?), annoying the political establishment. 

W/ @hollyotterbein (oops shuda been in first post)
Leaders We Deserve and its allies argue they need to invest in a grassroots fundraising infrastructure now to compete against incumbent Dems next year and that endorsements will be coming.

Bill Neidhardt — a senior media…

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 2, 2025

So how's that going for him? About as well as his short tenure at the DNC. Or, since this is an independent venture of his, perhaps we should compare it to his time as a pillow company executive. 

Liberal activist David Hogg's political group is off to a shaky start in his mission to knock out Democratic incumbents and usher in a new generation of leaders.

Why it matters: Hogg, 25, was elected the Democratic National Committee's vice chair this year before resigning amid an internal rebellion. He's one of the most divisive figures in the party's civil war over why it lost the 2024 election and how to move forward.

• But Hogg's organization, Leaders We Deserve, hasn't endorsed any challengers to Democratic incumbents in Congress and has been successful in just one of three contests this year.

Driving the news: Hogg's group scored a big victory in June when it donated $300,000 to the Working Families Party PAC to help Zohran Mamdani in the final stretch of his successful campaign in New York City's mayoral primary.

• Since then, however, Hogg's PAC has struggled to pick winning candidates and has frustrated even its own supporters by not endorsing anyone challenging an incumbent.
• The group donated $150,000 to 25-year-old progressive influencer Deja Foxx, even though her opponent in an Arizona congressional primary was backed by progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Foxx lost by nearly 40 points with just 22% of the vote.
• Leaders We Deserve also invested $5,000 in Irene Shin's campaign for Congress in Virginia this summer, and planned to invest more before abruptly retreating from the race. Shin her primary by 45 points.

Zoom out: Hogg told The New York Times in April that his group would spend $20 million backing younger leaders and primary challengers to Democrats in safe congressional seats to help end a "culture of seniority politics."

I suppose you could argue that Hogg did have a success with Mamdani, but only if you are insane enough to believe that Hogg's group had even the tiniest impact on that race. 

If you do believe that, I would visit a neurologist to find out if you have a tumor. It's about as plausible as believing that a fan's cheering for Michael Phelps while watching the Olympics helped Phelps win all his gold medals. It was going to happen anyway, and cheering from the sidelines made zero difference. 

As with most people in politics who complain about the political establishment, Hogg's real beef is that he hasn't been admitted into the club with full privileges. 

By the numbers: Hogg has accused Democrats of being overly reliant on political consultants, but his group is spending most of its money on such companies, according to campaign finance reports.

• Over the first eight months of this year, Leaders We Deserve spent $4.9 million with about $2.5 million going to consultants and $455,000 on helping three candidates.
• The group spent $1.1 million on digital ads and $965,000 on acquiring lists of potential supporters to help grassroots fundraising along with a variety of communications and fundraising consultants.
• It also spent about $4,900 on ClassPass, the fitness class subscription service.
• The group had $1.6 million in the bank at the end of August.

"Political consultants are BAD!" Yeah, right. Hogg just wants the consultants tied to him and his agenda, so he can enjoy all the perks and power that come from being "important."

Perhaps it is just because I am getting older, but the current crop of Democratic Party influencers--at least the beta males in the category--are particularly oily and off-putting. Harry Sisson is similarly annoying, and not because I find his politics stupid. There are plenty of people with whom I disagree that I don't find instantly repulsive, yet the young Democratic Party male "influencers" come off as particularly oily and disingenuous, with second-rate acting skills that remind you of theater kids. 

In any case, Hogg's 3rd rate performance as a political kingmaker is hardly surprising. He is, like Greta Thunberg, only prominent because people in power thought he would be useful as a symbol, not because he has any native talent. His failure is predictable because his self-confidence is based on a false premise: that anybody actually ever cared what he thought. 

His role was to mouth the right words with the right expression at the right time, and as soon as he decided to speak his own mind, his "influence" diminished. A few people who were not bright enough to figure out that Hogg was a creation of the establishment may take him seriously, but nobody who matters does. 

Hogg will likely always have a place in the Democratic Party--those unserious people who bought the idea that his horrific experience as a high schooler means that he should be taken seriously as a political thinker still exist--but he will never be particularly influential. If he moves into a Deep Blue district with an open seat, he may luck into a Congressional seat--he has name ID--but he will never be a power broker. 

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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